Foundation Year Humanities and Arts

Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) Gold award

Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) Gold award

Our commitment to high quality teaching has been recognised with a TEF Gold rating. The University has received an overall rating of Gold, as well as securing a Gold award in the framework's two new student experience and student outcomes categories.

Why choose this course?

Are you thinking of returning to education after a break? Do you want to have another go at getting some qualifications? Are you contemplating a different degree, and want to get a flavour for it before committing to three years?

This foundation year offers you an entry route into university if you lack A-levels, have A-levels in unrelated subjects, are a mature student or would simply like an introduction to degree-level study.

Classes are interactive and student-focused and provide regular opportunities for feedback, discussion and critical thinking, encouraging deep and reflective learning.

If you want to be part of a creative, vibrant, and cutting-edge humanities programme, then this course is for you.

To apply for the foundation course, please use the application link on the course page of your chosen pathway.

Choose your pathway

Attendance UCAS code Year of entry
1 year full time UCAS codes are included on the relevant webpage for the course you would like to study 2024
2025
Main location Penrhyn Road

Reasons to choose Kingston

  • This course will provide you with the essential skills needed to study for an undergraduate degree. We're here to help you reach your potential; at the end of the foundation degree, you'll be well equipped and qualified to study a range of humanities and arts disciplines, either as single subjects or in combination.
  • The foundation year is not subject-specific; you'll be able to explore a range of subjects, including literature, language, creative writing, journalism and media.
  • As well as gaining subject-specific knowledge, you can attend events with award-winning published authors, participate in Centre for Modern and European Philosophy debates, and hear readings from members of our Writers' Centre, Kingston.

The Art School Experience

As part of Kingston School of Art, students on this course benefit from joining a creative community where collaborative working and critical practice are encouraged.

Our workshops and studios are open to all disciplines, enabling students and staff to work together, share ideas and explore multi-disciplinary making.

Two students collaborate on a design project.

What you will study

You will study four year-long creative arts and humanities modules during the degree. Classes are interactive and student-focused. They provide regular opportunities for feedback, discussion and critical thinking, encouraging deep and reflective learning. In addition to the credit-bearing modules, you can learn a language for free as part of the innovative Kingston Language Scheme.

Foundation year

You will study four year-long creative arts and humanities modules during the degree. You will study a range of different texts, including our Big Read novel, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce, Shakespeare's Henry V, and the 2017 Oscar winning film Call Me By Your Name.

Core modules

Radical Imaginations

30 credits

Introducing ways in which written texts are reimagined, adapted and transformed by creative artists, including writers, theatre makers, choreographers and film directors, this module explores in both theory and practice the relationship between page and stage, word and image. In doing so, it enables you to explore creative imagination at its most radical and relevant.

How and why do television dramas such as Sherlock and Elementary create dramatic interventions into established narratives? How has innovative, controversial and experimental work, made by contemporary playwrights such as Caryl Churchill, debbie tucker green and Sarah Kane, drawn on classic texts to challenge and alter our perceptions of the world? What does The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter's creative appropriation of various fairy tales, reveal about this genre and by extension what does Neil Jordan's The Company of Wolves tell us, both about Carter's stories and the tales that informed them?

Questions such as these, addressed in a series of interrelated case studies, will enable you to examine the practices and negotiations involved in work of transition and appropriation. You will develop skills in textual analysis required for writing effective argumentative essays that engage with diverse literary and cultural materials. In addition, the module will harness and develop your creative skills: through a series of workshops you will work on short creative writing and group performance projects that respond to the texts and contexts introduced on the module.

Being Human: History and the History of Ideas

30 credits

Throughout time, people have drawn on history and on ideas to explore, question and record the experience of being human.

This module provides an introduction to the study of that experience, in all its variety. It considers how people, events and ideas, past and present, shape our thinking about society, politics, race, gender, art, culture - and life. It enables students to learn how knowledge and awareness of the past is formed and shaped; how it changes and yet in some ways also remains the same. Students debate and reflect critically on the nature of historical knowledge and how 'history' may differ from 'the past', and they consider the ways in which contemporary cultures and societies are shaped by histories of ideas.

The module draws on a rich store of experience, knowledge and expertise relating to history, philosophy and the history of ideas. It asks students to consider how history relates to memory and how history is used and mis-used. History is personal and communal. It is national, international and global. How are all those histories linked? How did people in the past experience things in terms of equality and inequality, in terms of gender, sexuality and race? Why and how was that experience documented, if at all? What can we learn from it?

Artists, writers, historians, philosophers, musicians, filmmakers and journalists: all have responded to those and other questions. For this module we introduce students to a range of texts and other representations, using history and the history of ideas to explore and debate what it means to be human. 

Humanities in Action: Identity, Voice and Style

30 credits

This module is designed to introduce students to the themes, ideas and frameworks central to the study of the Humanities and the Arts, within the foundation year and in preparation for undergraduate level. Topics covered will vary year-to-year, but will include the study of a diverse range of texts, methods and debates and the development of the core academic skills required for the studies of the Humanities and the Arts, including critical thinking, reading and writing; analysis and argument development; essay writing, planning and drafting; enhancing self-confidence and academic voice; and library and digital literacy skills. There will also be the opportunity to discuss the 'value' of studying the Humanities and the Arts (financial, moral, personal, other), which will allow students to connect the practical skills they are acquiring to a larger conceptual sense of why they might study the Humanities and the Arts and how this connects to the relevance (or difficulty) of such study in the context of their own lives.

Communication in Context and Practice

30 credits

This module introduces you to media communication and will explore a range of texts on a variety of subjects and forms, for varying audiences and purposes across a range of popular media genres and specific texts. You will look at texts from a variety of genres and forms. You will learn ways of classifying these texts and how to describe significant features using concepts from media analysis. You will demonstrate your new knowledge in an assessed presentation.

You will also explore the importance of the audience, aka the reader or listener, for effective media communication in different contexts. Through considering and critically analysing the structure, style content of articles published on websites, in newspapers and magazines you will begin to develop an understanding of how journalism is directed at specific readerships.

You will also learn the practical conventions, contexts and functions of written journalism. You will study how to: originate ideas, undertake journalistic research, interview, organise your material, write well, develop your presentation skills and adhere to house style.

Future Skills

Knowledge to give you the edge

Embedded within every course curriculum and throughout the whole Kingston experience, Future Skills will play a role in shaping you to become a future-proof graduate, providing you with the skills most valued by employers such as problem-solving, digital competency, and adaptability.

As you progress through your degree, you'll learn to navigate, explore and apply these graduate skills, learning to demonstrate and articulate to employers how future skills give you the edge.

At Kingston University, we're not just keeping up with change, we're creating it.

A female engineering student, in the engineering lab.

Entry requirements

Typical offer 2025

UCAS tariff points: 64

Level 3 qualifications (i.e. two A2 subjects, BTEC Diploma, etc.).

Typical offer 2024

UCAS tariff points: 64

Level 3 qualifications (i.e. two A2 subjects, BTEC Diploma, etc.).

Additional requirements

Entry on to this course does not require an interview, entrance test, audition or portfolio.

Alternative routes

Access to HE Diploma (pass with minimum of 60 credits of which 45 must be at higher level).

International

All non-UK applicants must meet our English Language requirements. For this course it is Academic IELTS of 6.0 overall, with no element below 5.5.

Make sure you read our full guidance about English language requirements, which includes details of other qualifications we consider.

Applicants who do not meet the English language requirements could be eligible to join our pre-sessional English language course.

Applicants from a recognised majority English speaking countries (MESCs) do not need to meet these requirements.

Country-specific information

You will find more information on country specific entry requirements in the International section of our website.

Find your country:

Typical offer and UCAS points explained

Like most universities, we use the UCAS Tariff point system for our course entry requirements.

Find out more about UCAS Tariff points and see how A-level, AS level, BTEC Diploma and T-level qualifications translate to the points system.

Teaching and assessment

Modules are assessed by a variety of methods, including essay, practical project, learning journal, and presentation. There are no formal exams.

Guided independent study (self-managed time)

When not attending timetabled sessions, you will be expected to continue learning independently through self-study. This typically will involve reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking preparing coursework assignments and presentations, and preparing for final assignments. Your independent learning is supported by a range of excellent facilities including online resources, the library and CANVAS, the online virtual learning platform.

Academic support

Our academic support team here at Kingston University provides help in a range of areas.

Dedicated personal tutor

When you arrive, we'll introduce you to your personal tutor. This is the member of academic staff who will provide academic guidance, be a support throughout your time at Kingston and show you how to make the best use of all the help and resources that we offer at Kingston University.

Your workload

17% of your time is spent in timetabled learning and teaching activity.

Type of learning and teaching

Foundation year

Foundation year
  • Scheduled learning and teaching: 198 hours
  • Guided independent study (self-managed time): 1002 hours

How you will be assessed

Assessment typically comprises exams (e.g. test or exam), practical (e.g. presentations, performance) and coursework (e.g. essays, reports, self-assessment, portfolios and dissertation).

The approximate percentage for how you will be assessed on this course is as follows:

Type of assessment

Foundation year

Foundation year
  • Coursework: 95%
  • Exams: 5%

Feedback summary

We aim to provide feedback on assessments within 20 working days.

Your timetable

Your individualised timetable is normally available to students within 48 hours of enrolment. Whilst we make every effort to ensure timetables are as student-friendly as possible, scheduled learning and teaching can take place on any day of the week between 9am and 6pm. For undergraduate students, Wednesday afternoons are normally reserved for sports and cultural activities, but there may be occasions when this is not possible. Timetables for part-time students will depend on the modules selected.

Class sizes

To give you an indication of class sizes, this course normally attracts 30 students. However, this can vary by module and academic year.

Who teaches this course?

This course is taught by academic staff from the School of Creative and Cultural Industries.

Facilities

The campus at Penrhyn Road is a hive of activity, housing the main student restaurant, the learning resources centre (LRC), and a host of teaching rooms and lecture theatres.

At the heart of the campus is the John Galsworthy building, a six-storey complex that brings together lecture theatres, flexible teaching space and information technology suites around a landscaped courtyard.

Fees and funding

Fees for this course

Please refer to the relevant course page for further information about fees:

Note for EU students: UK withdrawal from the European Union

The Government has recently announced that new students from the European Union and Swiss Nationals starting their course after August 2021 will no longer be eligible for a student loan in England for Undergraduate or Postgraduate studies from the 2021/22 academic year. This decision only applies to new EU students starting after 2021/22. If you are an existing/continuing EU student, you will continue to be funded until you graduate or withdraw from your course.

Additional costs

Depending on the programme of study, there may be extra costs that are not covered by tuition fees which students will need to consider when planning their studies. Tuition fees cover the cost of your teaching, assessment and operating University facilities such as the library, access to shared IT equipment and other support services. Accommodation and living costs are not included in our fees. 

Where a course has additional expenses, we make every effort to highlight them. These may include optional field trips, materials (e.g. art, design, engineering), security checks such as DBS, uniforms, specialist clothing or professional memberships.

Textbooks

Our libraries are a valuable resource with an extensive collection of books and journals as well as first-class facilities and IT equipment. You may prefer to buy your own copy of key textbooks, this can cost between £50 and £250 per year.

Computer equipment

There are open-access networked computers available across the University, plus laptops available to loan. You may find it useful to have your own PC, laptop or tablet which you can use around campus and in halls of residences. Free WiFi is available on each of the campuses. You may wish to purchase your own computer, which can cost from £100 to £3,000 depending on your course requirements.

Photocopying and printing

In the majority of cases written coursework can be submitted online. There may be instances when you will be required to submit work in a printed format. Printing, binding and photocopying costs are not included in your tuition fees, this may cost up to £100 per year.

Travel

Travel costs are not included in your tuition fees but we do have a free intersite bus service which links the campuses, Surbiton train station, Kingston upon Thames train station, Norbiton train station and halls of residence.

After you graduate

Upon completion of this year-long course, you will be well prepared for an undergraduate degree in a range of arts and humanities subjects.

Course changes and regulations

The information on this page reflects the currently intended course structure and module details. To improve your student experience and the quality of your degree, we may review and change the material information of this course. Course changes explained.

Programme Specifications for the course are published ahead of each academic year.

Regulations governing this course can be found on our website.