This course offers you the opportunity to study a broad range of English Literature in small groups, led by the research experts in the field, in an atmosphere of creative, scholarly enterprise in order to develop skills of critical analysis that are highly valued by employers.

Placement Year

This course is available as a 4-year ‘with Placement Year’ option. Please apply for English Literature with Placement Year BA 82HP. Find out more about 'with Placement Year' coures here. 

The placement year provides you with a fantastic opportunity to broaden your horizons and develop valuable skills and contacts through working with a self-sourced organisation relevant to your degree subject. The Placement Year is undertaken at the end of the second year and students are away for the whole of the academic year. The minimum period in placement (at one or more locations) is seven calendar months; more usually you would spend 10-12 months with a placement provider. You would normally start sometime in the period June to September of your second year and finish between June and September the following year. Placements can be UK-based or overseas and you will work with staff to plan and finalise the placement arrangements.

You will be expected to find and arrange a suitable placement to complement your degree, and will be fully supported throughout by a dedicated member of staff at your academic School and the University’s Skills and Employability Services.

Internships

Bangor University runs a paid internship scheme within the university’s academic and service departments.

Career

A degree from the School of English Literature provides our students with excellent transferrable skills valued by employers in a range of sectors. Our graduates have gone on to work in: teaching, publishing, advertising, journalism and the media, the law, social work, business, politics, accountancy, the performing arts, civil service, the police, human resources, and academia. Our degree will teach you the skills of critical analysis, imaginative problem solving, and presentation. Another option is postgraduate study, which offers the opportunity to further deepen your knowledge and expertise. There are great opportunities for this at Bangor.

In a recent Salaries and Vacancies Survey the Association of Graduate Recruiters lisited the top ten skill areas that employers seek right now:

1. Motivation and enthusiasm
2. Interpersonal skills
3. Team working
4. Oral communication
5. Flexibility and adaptability
6. Initiative/productivity
7. Problem solving
8. Planning and organisation
9. Managing own development
10. Written communication

All these skills are central to an English degree. Employers repeatedly say that they do not want ‘trained’ recruits. They want intelligent, rounded people who have a depth of understanding, can apply themselves, take responsibility and develop their role in the organisation, demonstrating the traditional high-level academic abilities of analysis, reflection, critique and synthesis. What they do not want is graduates trained for a job, not least because jobs change rapidly.

When graduates in English reflect on the skills they developed through their degree which they have found most useful in their new jobs, they speak of advanced literary and communication skills, writing for project-based work, independent thought and judgement, and good time-management.