Programme Specification for the 2025/6 academic year
MA Shakespeare and Renaissance Studies
1. Programme Details
| Programme name | MA Shakespeare and Renaissance Studies | Programme code | PTA1EGLEGL18 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Study mode(s) | Part Time Full Time |
Academic year | 2025/6 |
| Campus(es) | Streatham (Exeter) |
NQF Level of the Final Award | 7 (Masters) |
2. Description of the Programme
This Masters programme is devoted to the study of Shakespeare and Renaissance Studies and embraces the particular strengths of the Department of English and Creative Writing at Exeter. Students on this programme choose 60 credits of modules and a dissertation in Shakespeare and Renaissance Studies. You select your remaining credits from an expansive list of options. The programme is specifically designed for those seeking high level training prior to embarking on doctoral research, recent graduates wishing to extend and enhance their studies by a year before taking up a career, individuals already in employment who are interested in career development, and those who simply wish to broaden their intellectual horizons.
English at Exeter
Our Masters degrees offer excellent opportunities to broaden and deepen your work in modern and contemporary English Literary Studies and to learn the skills needed for further postgraduate research. The English Literary Studies MA offers an unusually large choice of modules, with expert tuition in all areas of English Literary Studies. Thus, students on this programme benefit both from specialisation (120 credits of modules in Shakespeare and Renaissance Studies, including dissertation) and from the flexibility of our wider offering in Medieval Studies, Romanticism, Victorian literature, American and Atlantic Studies, Modern and Contemporary Literature, World Literature and Critical Theory. Many of our MA students go on to undertake PhD research here, where they are joined by research students from universities from across the world. The Queen’s Building, where the Department of English and Creative Writing is based, offers a dedicated postgraduate common room with computer facilities and a number of study carrels available for research students.
Shakespeare and Renaissance studies is a particular strength in Exeter's Department of English and Creative Writing, with a number of internationally-recognised scholars based here working on Shakespeare and performance, Milton and Civil War writing, manuscript studies, and much more. Masters students benefit from the University of Exeter’s outstanding special collections relating to English Literary Studies, and from other relevant local collections such as those at the Exeter Cathedral Library and the Devon and Exeter Institute.
You will join a vibrant postgraduate and research community. The Department hosts a series of events, conferences and symposia every year and is home to several research groups and centres, including the Centre for Early Modern Studies and the Centre for Literature and Archives. The Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences also houses the Digital Humanities Lab, a state of the art facility offering unique spaces, equipment and training for staff and students. A specialist team conducts and supports innovative Digital Humanities research, offers training and teaching, and undertakes the digital preservation and display of historic material and artefacts using advanced technologies. For more information view our Digital Humanities Lab page.
Advice and guidance on your programme can be sought from your personal tutor and programme director, both of whom have weekly office hours during which they are available for consultation.
3. Educational Aims of the Programme
1. To offer an in-depth, focused and critical degree which is based on the latest research in major areas of English Literary Studies and which combines specialisation in the area of Shakespeare and Renaissance Studies with a wide-ranging choice of optional modules.
2. To develop academic and individual skills that equip you for further study, employment, or further professional development, and to foster intellectual agility and adaptability, so as to enable you to deploy these skills to implement systematic and balanced judgements in a variety of circumstances.
3. To provide methodological skills and specialist knowledge, for advanced study or research in various fields, for professional development, or for employment.
4. To provide a stimulating and supportive environment for you that is informed by research.
4. Programme Structure
The MA Shakespeare and Renaissance Studies programme is a one-year full-time or two years, part-time programme of study at National Qualification Framework (NQF) level 7 (as confirmed against the FHEQ). If the programme is taken part-time, 60 credits are taken in year 1 and 60 credits plus a further 60 credits (dissertation) are taken in year 2.
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.
Details of the modules currently offered may be obtained from the Faculty website.
https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/studyinformation/
You may take one optional module of up to 30 credits outside of the MA Shakespeare and Renaissance Studies from the MA Creative Writing 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. This replaces a 30 credit optional module from the MA Shakespeare and Renaissance Studies.
Providing you have not taken 30 optional credits from the MA Creative Writing, you may alternatively take elective modules up to 30 credits from another MA programme offered at the University (subject to availability, timetabling, and where appropriate, the required prerequisites). This replaces a 30 credit optional module from the English Literary Studies MA.
Stage 1
120 credits of compulsory modules and 60 credits of optional modules
Compulsory Modules
a Students must take 60 credits from EASM192 and one of either EASM109 or EASM191. Please note, EASM109 and EASM191 are offered in alternate years
b Part-time students must take EASM192 in Term 1 of their first year of studies
| Code | Module | Credits | Non-condonable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| EASM023 | Dissertation | 60 | Yes |
| EASM109 | Bodies Politic: Cultural and Sexual Politics in England, 1603-1679 [See note a above] | 30 | No |
| EASM191 | Environments of Early Modern Drama [See note a above] | 30 | No |
| EASM192 | Global Voices: Shakespeare and the Early Modern World [See notes a and b above] | 30 | No |
Optional Modules
Students must choose 60 credits of option modules
| Code | Module | Credits | Non-condonable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| MA ELS Shakespeare and Renaissance options 2025-6 | |||
| EASM151 | Modernism and Material Culture | 30 | No |
| EASM184 | World Literature and Postcolonial Studies | 30 | No |
| EASM152 | Criticism and Theory: Critical and Literary Theory in a Global Context | 30 | No |
| EASM167 | World Cinema / World Literature | 30 | No |
| EASM171 | Expanding Queerness: Critical Debates in Theory, Literature, Film and Television | 30 | No |
| EASM174 | Writing Women in the English Middle Ages | 30 | No |
| EASM206 | Global Victorians: Making the Modern World, 1837-1914 | 30 | No |
| EASM024 | Disunited States: Contemporary American Literature, 1970s-Present | 30 | No |
| EASM197 | Global Romanticisms | 30 | No |
| HASM031 | Global Classrooms: Health Humanities and Geographies | 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. demonstrate a sophisticated and intellectually mature ability to analyse literature and to relate its concerns and its modes of expression to its historical and other contexts. | The taught components of the MA Shakespeare and Renaissance Studies are delivered in the first two terms, leaving the third for your dissertation. Modules are taught in seminar groups, with lots of time for discussion and interaction. In seminars you will be expected to take part in debate and present your work. Seminars will be supported, where relevant, by film screenings, field trips and archival trips.. | Modes of assessment are combined in a varied way across each module in line with the module’s intended learning outcomes. You should consult module descriptors for a detailed breakdown of assessment modes within each module. The range of assessment modes employed across the programme include the following
|
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: | |
6. Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the area under investigation, employing relevant conceptual frameworks and creative processes to the topic of investigation | Modules are taught in seminar groups, with lots of time for discussion and interaction. In seminars you will be expected to take part in debate and present your work. Seminars will be supported, where relevant, by film screenings, field trips and archival trips. | 6. This will be assessed through the coursework that students complete on the modules they take. Coursework may include some or all of the following: individual and group presentations, research reports, critical essays, creative portfolios and annotated bibliographies. |
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: | |
9. Demonstrate initiative and originality in problem solving, act autonomously at a professional level, and make decisions in complex and unpredictable situations | Modules are taught in seminar groups, with lots of time for discussion and interaction. In seminars you will be expected to take part in debate and present your work. Seminars will be supported, where relevant, by film screenings, field trips and archival trips. | 9. This will be assessed primarily through the Dissertation. |
7. Programme Regulations
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
We have a number of specialist research resources and projects available to postgraduates: the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum is the largest film-related archive in the UK outside the British Film Institute; the Chris Brooks Collection is a major resource for scholars of Romanticism and 19th-century fiction and culture; and the Global Circulation Project on cultures in contact is based in Exeter. Our unique collections of writings and correspondence by authors connected with the South West such as Daphne du Maurier, RD Blackmore, Agatha Christie, William Golding and Ted Hughes supplement research resources held in the University library. The University library holds a number of resources important for our research, including the Hypatia Collection of women’s literature and history as well as online resources.
Advice and guidance on your programme can be sought from your personal tutor and programme director, both of whom have weekly office hours during which they are available for consultation.
Students have access to a wealth of online information including: over 400 online journal titles; Early English Books Online (which contains facsimile texts of virtually all books printed in England, 1475-1700); the extensive Gale Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) research archive; search tools such as FirstSearch; the digital journal repository JSTOR; and other similar databases providing access to full text articles. For further information about research in our English Department, please see the English Research webpages.
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
MA Shakespeare and Renaissance Studies
19. UCAS Code
Not applicable to this programme.
20. NQF Level of Final Award
7 (Masters)
21. Credit
| CATS credits | ECTS credits |
|---|
22. QAA Subject Benchmarking Group
23. Dates
| Origin Date | 22/11/2023 |
Date of last revision | 02/04/2025 |
|---|
