Programme Specification for the 2025/6 academic year
BA (Hons) BA Religion, Culture and Society with Employment Experience Abroad
1. Programme Details
| Programme name | BA (Hons) BA Religion, Culture and Society with Employment Experience Abroad | Programme code | UFA4CTHCTH23 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Study mode(s) | Level 1 |
Academic year | 2025/6 |
| Campus(es) | Streatham (Exeter) |
NQF Level of the Final Award | 6 (Honours) |
2. Description of the Programme
The BA in Religion Culture and Society with Employment Experience Abroad offers you the chance to study religion/s in the public square and contemporary contexts from a range of different perspectives, to understand how religion/s have shaped societies from the ancient past until the present day and continue to play a part in understanding and responding to global challenges.
You will have the opportunity to choose modules that reflect your interests – ranging from debates around gender identity to the ethics of AI and their intersection with religion, and how cultures and societies respond to, and/or remember traumatic events. The first year offers an introduction to key concepts and an overview of different approaches to the study of religion, culture, and society. In the second and third years you will have the opportunity to choose modules that reflect your own interests as you build a programme that follows your personal interests and passions.
Opportunities are available to add value to your academic studies by going on field trips, taking a work placement, or studying abroad. You can also take develop your understanding of related cultural topics by studying other subjects such as Arab and Islamic Studies, Sociology, Philosophy, Politics, History or Classics and Ancient History, and you can deepen your knowledge of the Jewish and Christian traditions by studying Biblical Hebrew or New Testament Greek.
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 outside of the UK.
Employment Experience 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 Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, you can also demonstrate adaptability and resourcefulness by organising suitable placements in areas of employment related to your interests and potential future career.
You are required to find your own placement with suitable employers and organisations and there is support within the Faculty to help you do this. You are strongly encouraged to take modules HUM2000 or HUM2001 (Humanities in the Workplace) at stage 2 and must participate in the pre-departure briefing sessions for Humanities Employment Experience. You are also required to take the non-credit bearing modules HAS1905 and HAS2905 in years 1 and 2 respectively which form part of the ‘with employment experience abroad’ pathway.
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, and the department also has a dedicated Pastoral Mentor.
3. Educational Aims of the Programme
The BA in Religion, Culture and Society aims to:
- introduce multidisciplinary contexts required for exploring and learning the subject, including both key aspects of the discipline and other topics of your choice. This involves proactively analysing and evaluating information from a variety of sources and setting this information within theoretical frameworks, to understand, interrogate, and structure the material.
- enable you to study and reflect upon the nature of religion, including beliefs, rituals, sacred spaces and objects, visual arts, music, funerary practices, and other key elements.
- train you in a variety of theories and methods of study and engagement in critical analysis of relevant data and arguments, engaging with methods also found elsewhere in the humanities and social sciences. This will involve studying and employing their methodologies, including fieldwork, digital ethnography, statistical analysis, media research, and the study of material culture, and critical reflection upon these methodologies and their ethical ramifications.
- engage in a culturally intelligent way with ethics, morality, and values, both as historically significant elements of religion and as key factors influencing individuals’ and communities’ engagement with society today as part of a multicultural and diverse world.
- study, analyse and interpret texts, particularly those that have been sacred or significant to one or more practising communities. These studies will often focus both on the historical contexts that generated the texts and on hermeneutical questions concerning their meaning and application for believers, or for other readers, today.
- engage with some major religious thinkers, prophets, teachers, ascetics, mystics, healers, or leaders through their extant work or subsequent influence.
- understand the history of the particular subject(s) covered by the programme, including the major theories, movements and thinkers.
- Incorporate a work experience placement into your degree programme
4. Programme Structure
The BA Religion Culture and Society with Employment Experience Abroad is a 4-year full-time programme of study at Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) level 6 (as confirmed against the FHEQ). The programme may also be taken part time in up to 7 years. This programme is divided into 4 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/
Details of the modules currently offered may be obtained from the Faculty website: https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/studyinformation/
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.
You may take elective modules up to 30 credits outside of the programme in the 1st, 2nd and final stages of the programme 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
75 credits of compulsory modules, 45 credits of optional modules
Compulsory Modules
| Code | Module | Credits | Non-condonable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| THE1120 | What is Religion? | 30 | No |
| THE1121 | Religion and Material Culture | 15 | No |
| THE1122 | Introducing Social-Scientific Approaches to Religion | 15 | No |
| THE1076 | Religion in the Modern World | 15 | No |
Optional Modules
Not all options are offered every year and options on the programme may change periodically
THE1072 and THE1070 run in alternate years
| Code | Module | Credits | Non-condonable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| BA Religion, Culture and Society Stage 1 Option Modules 2025-6 | |||
| THE1101 | The Bible: Past and Present | 15 | No |
| THE1123 | Reform, Retreat and Reinvention: A History of Christianity | 15 | No |
| THE1124 | God and the World: Constructive Christian Theology | 15 | No |
| THE1125 | Religion, Philosophy and Ethics | 15 | No |
| THE1072 | Introducing Biblical Hebrew | 15 | No |
| THE1070 | Elements of New Testament Greek | 15 | No |
| ARA1041 | Religious Communities of the Middle East: Culture, Endangerment and Survival | 15 | No |
Stage 2
120 credits of optional modules plus non-credit bearing compulsory module HAS2905 "Employment Experience HASS"
Compulsory Modules
| Code | Module | Credits | Non-condonable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| HAS2905 | Employment Experience HASS | 0 | No |
Optional Modules
Modules at stage 2 and final stage are taught together, so will not run in consecutive years. The list below is indicative.
| Code | Module | Credits | Non-condonable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| BA Religion, Culture and Society Stage 2 Option Modules 2025-6 | |||
| THE2224 | Modern Jewish History and Thought | 30 | No |
| THE2221 | God, Food and Alcohol in Israelite Cultures | 30 | No |
| THE2225 | Trans Studies in Christianity and Judaism | 30 | No |
| THE2227 | Military Ethics in Religious and Philosophical Perspectives | 30 | No |
| THE2152 | Evolution, God and Gaia | 30 | No |
| THE2147 | Early Christian Women: Eve, Mary, Thecla | 30 | No |
| THE2173 | Life and Death in Israel and Judah | 30 | No |
| THE2185 | Incarnation: Topics in Philosophical Theology | 30 | No |
| THE2226 | The Transformation of Modern Orthodox Christianity | 30 | No |
| THE2214 | Building God's House: The Origins of Church Architecture | 30 | No |
Stage 3
120 credits of compulsory modules
Compulsory Modules
| Code | Module | Credits | Non-condonable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| HUM3997 | Employment Experience Abroad | 120 | Yes |
Stage 4
30 credits of compulsory Dissertation, 90 credits of optional modules
Compulsory Modules
| Code | Module | Credits | Non-condonable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| THE3121 | Dissertation: Religion, Culture and Society | 30 | No |
Optional Modules
Modules at stage 2 and final stage are taught together, so will not run in consecutive years. The list below is indicative.
| Code | Module | Credits | Non-condonable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| BA Religion, Culture and Society Final Stage Option Modules 2025-6 | |||
| THE3026 | Postcolonial Theology | 30 | No |
| THE3210 | Encounters between Religions | 30 | No |
| THE3196 | Encounters in Philosophy and Theology | 30 | No |
| THE3199 | Theology and Criminal Justice | 30 | No |
| THE3218 | The Invention of God | 30 | No |
| THE3219 | Religion and Holocaust Memory in Public Life | 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 detailed and critical understanding of the different roles that religion plays in society, both historically and in the modern world (links directly to ILOs 19 and 21) | ILOs 1-5 form the basis of the programme at all levels. However, more sophisticated analysis and understanding is expected in the final stage. These skills are developed in stages 1 and 2 by means of lectures, which are a key element of module teaching methods and are used to provide information, and to model modes of argument and interpretation. There is also an element of interaction in lectures, whether that be simply an opportunity for questions, or more substantial elements such as full class discussions or breaking down into small group conversations. The prevalence of such interactivity tends to increase over the three or four stages, as you increase in your ability and willingness to contribute publicly to discussion.
Seminar presentations are another key element of module teaching methods. Some seminar presentations are prepared and delivered by groups rather than simply by individual. Seminar presentations are normally accompanied by written handouts. Seminars regularly involve students in commentary upon specific primary texts and/or specific secondary texts. | The assessments of ILOs 1-5 are made through a combination of seminar presentations, written work, and in particular by essays of varying kinds and lengths. During stage 1, you will begin with fairly short formatively assessed essays, and will move on from these to summatively assessed essays only once you have received feedback on them. Small group tutorials are often provided to prepare essays for summative assessment.
ILOs 1-5 are also, in part, assessed by written examinations, usually in a take-home format. These normally involve you either answering essay-style questions, or commenting on short extracts from primary texts, within a fixed time-limit. Examinations show how well you can recall material, arguments, and points of view, express these concisely and use them creatively in arguing for a particular case in answer to previously unknown questions. |
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 comprehension of and intelligent engagement with the variety of different academic sub-disciplines studying religion (links directly to ILOs 19 and 21) | ILOs 6-14 are delivered through all modules, and developed throughout the programme by means of lectures, essay writing, workshops, discussions and oral presentations in seminars and study groups, tutorials, work experience and other learning activities throughout the programme.
In the second and final stages you are expected to prepare longer and more sophisticated seminar presentations, and write longer essays in order further to develop these skills. In the final stage there is a focus on developing, in the context of your particular subjects, the more complex analytical skills listed opposite. | The assessment of ILOs 6-14 is made through a combination of essays, examinations and written work which involve detailed textual commentary on primary texts and secondary texts in which you are expected to engage critically with various authors.This written work may take a range of forms, such as wikis, blog entries, and creative work as well as essays and critical commentaries.
ILOs 6-8, 10-14: You will also be expected to demonstrate most clearly that you appreciate the complexity of your subject matter, that you are becoming proficient with the appropriate methods of study, and that you are capable of building convincing arguments backed up by appropriate evidence.
ILO 9: As the stages progress, you will find an increasing expectation that you will explore bibliographies for yourself, find the most appropriate literature on them, and begin to develop the ability to locate additional material for yourself. This progression also includes the use of online materials, where you are given very careful guidelines on appropriate sources earlier on, and then helped to develop the judgement to make more independent use of online materials as the programme progresses. |
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: | |
15. innovative problem-solving, with experience in creating ideas; identifying and solving problems; spotting innovative opportunities strategic thinking; and decision-making | Key skills are delivered through all modules, and developed in lectures, workshops, study groups, tutorials, work experience and other learning activities throughout the programme.
ILOs 15, 17, 18, 19, and 20 are developed though the dissertation, which involves students negotiating a question with a supervisor and, with minimal guidance, producing an independent, creative and critical answer to that question.
ILOs 16, 17, 20, and 21 are developed through the preparation and delivery of oral presentations in most modules at all levels, and through the oral discussion of challenging material in all modules in the programme, in both seminars and tutorials.
ILOs 15-21 are developed through researching essays, seminar presentations, and the dissertation.
ILOs 20 and 21 are developed through participation in study groups with other students in most modules in the programme. It is also developed through meetings with personal tutors, one-to-one tutorials giving feedback on written work and through discussion in seminars. | The assessment of these skills is through a combination of presentations and participation in seminars, creation of digital media, essays, exams, other written reports/projects, and a dissertation.
ILOs 15, 17, 19, 20, 21 are also strongly developed in the course of the portfolio of assessed essays and other written work produced through Stages 1, 2, and 3. 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.
ILO 21 is developed through discussion in both formal and informal contexts, with students being encouraged to reflect critically upon their learning by relating it to their own and their peers’ different experiences and cultural contexts. You may develop further specific skills and knowledge in relation to this ILO in particular modules. There is also the opportunity to experience different cultures and religious contexts through study abroad.
ILOs 15, 19 and 20 are also accomplished in the course of ‘real-time’ formal assessments such as presentations and end of module exams, which occur in all three levels of the programme. |
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
All students in on this programme have a personal tutor for their entire programme of study and who are available at advertised ‘office hours’ (staff changes are likely due to Research Leave etc.). 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 also be provided by module leaders. You can also make an appointment to see individual teaching staff.
The Department has a Pastoral Mentor available to all taught stduents who can support you if you are facing challenges that impact your ability to study and be successful in your programme. They are also a point of contact for Personal Tutors (also known as Academic Tutors) and provide end-to-end support for student queries, including signposting to expert services as required
Programme handbooks and other useful information can be accessed via ELE.
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
Not applicable to this programme.
18. Final Award
BA (Hons) BA Religion, Culture and Society with Employment Experience Abroad
19. UCAS Code
Not applicable to this programme.
20. NQF Level of Final Award
6 (Honours)
21. Credit
| CATS credits | 480 |
ECTS credits | 240 |
|---|
22. QAA Subject Benchmarking Group
Level 1
23. Dates
| Origin Date | 11/12/2024 |
Date of last revision | 6/3/25 |
|---|
