Programme Specification for the 2024/5 academic year
BA (Hons) Drama with Employment Experience Abroad
1. Programme Details
| Programme name | BA (Hons) Drama with Employment Experience Abroad | Programme code | UFA4DRADRA02 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Study mode(s) | Part Time Full Time |
Academic year | 2024/5 |
| Campus(es) | Streatham (Exeter) |
NQF Level of the Final Award | 6 (Honours) |
2. Description of the Programme
Drama at the University of Exeter is a challenging and flexible degree at an internationally-renowned centre of excellence in theatre practice, research and teaching. Our teaching grows out of our wide-ranging, world-leading research interests and we provide a supportive and high-quality environment for learning. In Drama, you will develop an understanding of performance skills alongside a critical and imaginative engagement with the social, historical and cultural contexts of theatre. Involvement in contemporary theatre is central, both as a subject of research and as a practical experience through performance and community-based activities. Studio-based work also equips you with abilities to communicate effectively, to pursue creative analysis and to initiate and organise complex individual and group projects.
The Drama programme is composed of a series of modules, all of which lay emphasis on the social nature of theatre. Modules progress throughout the programme, building on previous work. Many modules conclude with a presentation, open to other Drama students and staff, to the University at large, or to the general public. In the early stages of the programme the emphasis is on group collaborative work. As you move through the degree this group work becomes the basis for the development of your individual interests and skills. Throughout your time at the University of Exeter, you will receive opportunities and challenges to act, to direct and to write or otherwise create performance events. Opportunities for independent study and practice increase over the three stages of your programme, culminating in the final-year Practical Essay: a performance piece, assessed as part of the final degree, which is entirely the creation of students, created for a specific audience.
This programme is studied over four years. The first two years and the final year are university-based, and the third year is spent gaining employment experience at a suitable location in the UK.
This Employment Experience Abroad variant of the programme is a great way to incorporate graduate-level work placement or placements undertaken outside of the United Kingdom directly into your programme of study, to reflect critically upon these experiences, and for them to count towards the assessment of your degree. There is no better way to gain valuable employment experience that can be rewarded and recognised clearly by future employers. With preparation, support and approval from the College of Humanities, including in foreign languages if required, you can also demonstrate adaptability and resourcefulness by organising suitable placements in areas of employment related to your interests and potential future career. This variant of the programme also provides a great way to demonstrate to employers your adaptability, cultural awareness, independence and resourcefulness. Experiencing the differences and similarities of education and people in another culture will increase your confidence and broaden the ways in which you see and relate to the world and the world of work.
You are required to find your own placement with suitable employers and organisations with preparation, support and approval from the College of Humanities. If you are taking this variant you are strongly encouraged to take HUM2000 or HUM2001 (Humanities in the Workplace) at stage 2 and must participate in the pre-departure briefing sessions for Humanities Employment Experience Abroad.
Advice and guidance on your programme can be sought from your personal tutor and programme director. All staff offer regular office hours that you can drop into without a prior appointment for this purpose
3. Educational Aims of the Programme
The programme is intended:
- to create an environment for scholarship and learning in which the stimulus for independent study is provided by an interest in and involvement with drama’s past, present and future potential, as well as a commitment to drama as a process
- to foster in students an appetite for, and skills to make, effective drama
- to enable students to develop a high level of awareness, collaboration and co-operation in group activity.
- to create a genuine curiosity about the discipline of drama and to recognise that this curiosity has to be grounded in the students' engagement with the practice and analysis of the specific discipline
- to cultivate an awareness of the discipline as a social art, within a global context
- to alert the students to the value of a close association with practitioners within the professions of theatre and performance
- to develop in the students a clear sense of the interdependent relationship between theory/criticism and action
- to enable students to recognise that the discipline offers a multitude of transferable skills, particularly those based on social interaction and communication.
- to foster globally-conscious students, able to work in a variety of academic settings.
4. Programme Structure
The BA Drama with Employment Experience Abroad programme is a four year full-time programme of study at National Qualification Framework level (NQF) level 6 (as confirmed against the FHEQ). The programme may also be taken part time in up to seven years. This programme is divided into four ‘Stages’. Each Stage is normally equivalent to an academic year.
5. Programme Modules
The following tables describe the programme and constituent modules. Constituent modules may be updated, deleted or replaced as a consequence of the annual programme review of this programme.
https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/studyinformation/modules/?prog=drama
You may take optional modules as long as any necessary prerequisites have been satisfied, where the timetable allows and if you have not already taken the module in question or an equivalent module. Optional modules offered are subject to change depending on staff availability and student demand.
You may take elective modules up to 15 credits outside of the programme in the first stage and up to 30 credits outside of the programme in the second and final stages as long as any necessary prerequisites have been satisfied, where the timetable allows and if you have not already taken the module in question or an equivalent module.
Stage 1
120 credits of compulsory Drama modules
Compulsory Modules
| Code | Module | Credits | Non-condonable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| DRA1015 | Theatre Histories | 30 | No |
| DRA1016 | Performance Analysis | 30 | No |
| DRA1017 | Staging the Text | 30 | No |
| DRA1018 | The Creative Actor | 30 | No |
| HAS1905 | Employment Experience HASS | 0 | No |
Stage 2
120 credits of optional modules - Students can only take one practice module and one Drama seminar module per term.
Compulsory Modules
| Code | Module | Credits | Non-condonable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| HAS2905 | Employment Experience HASS | 0 | No |
Optional Modules
| Code | Module | Credits | Non-condonable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drama Stage 2 Option Modules 2024-5 | |||
| DRA2026 | Applied Drama: Interactive Theatre | 30 | No |
| DRA2042 | Puppetry and Object Theatre | 30 | No |
| DRA2044 | Acting Shakespeare | 30 | No |
| DRA2045 | Theatre and Health | 30 | No |
| DRA2047 | Interpretive Acting | 30 | No |
| DRA2061B | Digital Theatrecrafts | 30 | No |
| DRA2072 | Culture in / as Performance | 30 | No |
| DRA2076 | Playwriting | 30 | No |
| DRA2077 | Theatre for Environmental Change | 30 | No |
| DRA2083 | Intermedial Performance Practice | 30 | No |
| DRA2087 | Activism and Performance | 30 | No |
| DRA2089 | Popular Entertainment and Performance Documentation | 30 | No |
| DRA2092 | Modernist Drama in Contemporary Theatre | 30 | No |
| DRA2096 | Voices Across Stage and Screen | 30 | No |
| DRA2104 | Approaches to Comedy | 30 | No |
| DRA2105 | Eco-Theatre: Outdoor and Immersive Performance | 30 | No |
| DRA2108 | Introduction to Creative Producing: Making Change and Shifting Cultures | 30 | No |
| DRA2109 | Ensemble Acting: Co-Creation | 30 | No |
| DRA2110 | Political Theatre: The 1980s | 30 | No |
| DRA2111 | Live Art and Spatial Practices | 30 | No |
Stage 3
120 credit compulsory placement module
Compulsory Modules
| Code | Module | Credits | Non-condonable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| HUM3997 | Employment Experience Abroad | 120 | Yes |
Stage 4
60 credits of compulsory Drama modules and 60 credits of optional modules - Students can only take one practice module and one Drama seminar module per term.
Compulsory Modules
| Code | Module | Credits | Non-condonable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| DRA3061 | Practical Essay | 30 | No |
| DRA3094 | Theatre Dissertation | 30 | No |
Optional Modules
| Code | Module | Credits | Non-condonable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drama Final Stage Option Modules 2024-5 | |||
| DRA3011 | Practice II: Technical Specialisation | 30 | No |
| DRA3012 | Theatre Practice I: Applied Drama | 30 | No |
| DRA3050 | Creative Industries Management | 30 | No |
| DRA3051 | Voice for the Actor | 30 | No |
| DRA3061 | Practical Essay | 30 | No |
| DRA3088 | Women and Theatre 1700-1928 | 30 | No |
| DRA3092 | Theatre for a Changing Climate | 30 | No |
| DRA3094 | Theatre Dissertation | 30 | No |
| DRA3095 | Music Drama | 30 | No |
| DRA3100 | Physical Performance | 30 | No |
| DRA3102 | Audio Dramaturgy: Theatre of the Ear | 30 | No |
| DRA3104 | Approaches to Acting | 30 | No |
| DRA3105 | Theatre for Environmental Change | 30 | No |
| DRA3106 | Acting for Screen | 30 | No |
| DRA3107 | Theatres Against Colonialism | 30 | No |
6. Programme Outcomes Linked to Teaching, Learning and Assessment Methods
Intended Learning Outcomes
A: Specialised Subject Skills and Knowledge
| Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) On successfully completing this programme you will be able to: | Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) will be... | |
|---|---|---|
| ...accommodated and facilitated by the following learning and teaching activities (in/out of class): | ...and evidenced by the following assessment methods: | |
1. Identify and evaluate the variety of approaches and critical traditions taken within the discipline | It is a fundamental aim of the Drama programme that all its students should develop an understanding of performance skills alongside a critical and imaginative engagement with the social, historical and cultural contexts of theatre. Interest and involvement in contemporary performance are central. The programme encourages this both as a subject of study and as a practical experience through performance and community based activities. Most of the teaching and learning is undertaken in the various studios that are our main teaching spaces. A1-8 are acquired through learning activities throughout the programme: Staff-led group/ collaborative and individual studio exercises, rehearsals, training workshops; Staff-led technical workshops, practicals and lectures; Staff-led interactive lectures, seminar discussions, problem-solving exercises, practical classes, use of subject-specific and generic technology; Student-led group/collaborative and individual seminar presentations, workshop exercises, independent research projects, illustrative performances, public performances, restricted audience performances, work-in-progress showings. The degree of specialization of subject knowledge increases during the programme. Your learning is further developed through engagement with assessments, following guidance from tutors and lecturers and through feedback on work submitted. | The assessment of these skills is through a combination of critical and analytical essay writing, critical and reflective portfolio writing, self-assessment and analysis of process and performance product in portfolio, dissertation, research report/scrapbook/project other written reports/projects, performance projects, workshop projects, continuous assessment of process through observation of studio/workshop activity, presentations in seminar and studio, viva voce. The assessment criteria pay full recognition to the importance of the various skills outlined. |
Intended Learning Outcomes
B: Academic Discipline Core Skills and Knowledge
| Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) On successfully completing this programme you will be able to: | Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) will be... | |
|---|---|---|
| ...accommodated and facilitated by the following learning and teaching activities (in/out of class): | ...and evidenced by the following assessment methods: | |
9. Describe, interpret and evaluate performance texts, production techniques and disciplines and performance events sensitively, and to engage creatively and critically with a range of critical and theoretical perspectives. | These skills are developed throughout the programme in all modules, with the emphasis becoming more complex as students move from stage to stage. They are developed through lectures and seminars, written work, and oral work (both in presentation and seminar discussion), and reinforced through the range of modules across all stages. | The assessment of these skills is through a combination of critical and analytical essay writing, critical and reflective portfolio writing, self-assessment and analysis of process and performance product in portfolio, dissertation, research report/scrapbook/project other written reports/projects, performance projects, workshop projects, continuous assessment of process through observation of studio/workshop activity, presentations in seminar and studio, viva voce. The assessment criteria pay full recognition to the importance of the various skills outlined. |
Intended Learning Outcomes
C: Personal/Transferable/Employment Skills and Knowledge
| Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) On successfully completing this programme you will be able to: | Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) will be... | |
|---|---|---|
| ...accommodated and facilitated by the following learning and teaching activities (in/out of class): | ...and evidenced by the following assessment methods: | |
16. Apply advanced literacy and communication skills in appropriate contexts including the ability to present sustained and persuasive written and oral arguments. | Personal and key skills are delivered through all modules, and developed in lectures, workshops, study groups, tutorials, work experience and other learning activities throughout the programme. | The assessment of these skills is through a combination of critical and analytical essay writing, critical and reflective portfolio writing, self-assessment and analysis of process and performance product in portfolio, dissertation, research report/scrapbook/project other written reports/projects, performance projects, workshop projects, continuous assessment of process through observation of studio/workshop activity, presentations in seminar and studio, viva voce. The assessment criteria pay full recognition to the importance of the various skills outlined. Outcomes C16-21 are also strongly developed in the course of the portfolio of assessed essays and other written work produced through the programme. These assessments work on the principle of offering formative feedback to support the development of your written work within as well as between modules. Feedback on one assignment is intended to inform the next piece of work you undertake on the module; the next piece of work on the programme, or the future learning of graduates. Outcome C22 is associated especially with the range of group performance and presentation taking place in modules during the programme. This assessment brings into focus an important range of skills for students, including sharing workloads, responsibility for tasks, team-working, collaborative and communicative skills. Individual contributions to group work are also assessed individually, most often in the form of a reflective presentation report. C23-25 are also accomplished in the course of ‘real-time’ formal assessments such as presentations, performance and exam, which occur in all levels of the programme. C26 is particularly related to the optional module ‘Humanities in the Workplace’, and to the employment experience element of the programme. C27 is specifically related to the module HUM3997 Employment Experience Abroad. |
7. Programme Regulations
Programme-specific Progression Rules
To progress to Stage 2 you must normally achieve an average mark of at least 50% in Stage 1. If you do not achieve an average mark of 50% in Stage 1, you will be interviewed to determine whether you can continue on the Employment Experience Abroad programme; if you do not succeed in that interview you will be required to transfer to the three-year programme. This is to ensure that only those students who are likely to succeed in their Employment Experience are selected. If you are unsuccessful in your application for Employment Experience Abroad, you will be transferred to the three-year programme.
HUM3997 Employment Experience Abroad counts as a single 120 credit module and is not condonable; you must pass this module to graduate with the degree title of BA Drama with Employment Experience Abroad. If you fail the Employment Experience Abroad your degree title will be commuted to BA Drama.
Classification
Full details of assessment regulations for all taught programmes can be found in the TQA Manual, specifically in the Credit and Qualifications Framework, and the Assessment, Progression and Awarding: Taught Programmes Handbook. Additional information, including Generic Marking Criteria, can be found in the Learning and Teaching Support Handbook.
8. College Support for Students and Students' Learning
All students within Drama have a personal tutor for their entire programme of study and who is available at advertised ‘office hours’. There are induction sessions to orientate students at the start of their programme. A personal tutoring system will operate with regular communication throughout the programme. Academic support will be also be provided by module leaders. You can also make an appointment to see individual teaching staff.
The College complies with the Code of Practice on Study and Work Experience Abroad. The name of the member of staff acting as the programme’s co-ordinator for study abroad is made known to you before you leave Exeter, and this person is responsible for liaison and oversight of your progress during the year abroad. Contact will be maintained with you during your year abroad by regular email communication.
9. University Support for Students and Students' Learning
Please refer to the University Academic Policy and Standards guidelines regarding support for students and students' learning.
10. Admissions Criteria
Undergraduate applicants must satisfy the Undergraduate Admissions Policy of the University of Exeter.
Postgraduate applicants must satisfy the Postgraduate Admissions Policy of the University of Exeter.
Specific requirements required to enrol on this programme are available at the respective Undergraduate or Postgraduate Study Site webpages.
11. Regulation of Assessment and Academic Standards
Each academic programme in the University is subject to an agreed College assessment and marking strategy, underpinned by institution-wide assessment procedures.
The security of assessment and academic standards is further supported through the appointment of External Examiners for each programme. External Examiners have access to draft papers, course work and examination scripts. They are required to attend the Board of Examiners and to provide an annual report. Annual External Examiner reports are monitored at both College and University level. Their responsibilities are described in the University's code of practice. See the University's TQA Manual for details.
14. Awarding Institution
University of Exeter
15. Lead College / Teaching Institution
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS)
16. Partner College / Institution
Partner College(s)
Not applicable to this programme
Partner Institution
Not applicable to this programme.
17. Programme Accredited / Validated by
0
18. Final Award
BA (Hons) Drama with Employment Experience Abroad
19. UCAS Code
W403
20. NQF Level of Final Award
6 (Honours)
21. Credit
| CATS credits | ECTS credits |
|---|
22. QAA Subject Benchmarking Group
[Honours] Dance, drama and performance
23. Dates
| Origin Date | 21/08/2017 |
Date of last revision | 09/08/2022 |
|---|
