University home > Unit and programme catalogues in 2016/17 > Programme catalogue > Faculty of Arts > Arts Faculty Office > Foundation Year in the Arts and Humanities > Specification
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Programme code | 1ARTF002U |
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Programme type | Undergraduate Certificate |
Programme director(s) |
Tom Sperlinger
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Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
School/department | Arts Faculty Office |
Teaching institution | University of Bristol |
Awarding institution | University of Bristol |
Mode of study | Full Time |
Programme length | 1 years (full time) |
This programme aims to develop a student’s interest in, and knowledge and understanding of, a full range of disciplines in the arts and humanities.
It combines units that introduce the skills required to pursue undergraduate study in these subjects with period units, which explore how what it means to be human has been understood in different communities and through various conceptual frameworks starting in the present day and working back to Antiquity.
The programme aims to help students develop the confidence and skills required to take an independent approach to their studies and to engage with curiosity and an open mind with the subjects on offer, without passively accepting received ideas.
There are also opportunities for students to specialise within the programme and the aim is that a student should have the requisite knowledge, understanding, intellectual and study skills to progress to an undergraduate degree in the arts and humanities upon completion of the foundation year.
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning and Teaching Methods |
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Students will be able to develop such knowledge and understanding through two 40-credit period units, ‘What does it mean to be human?’ 1 and 2, which will offer a range of teaching methods, designed to help students operate in a variety of contexts (e.g. mini-lectures, seminar discussion and small group work). There will be an emphasis on teaching methods that are designed both to help students develop their knowledge and understanding (1-3) and to reflect on how it may subsequently be applied at undergraduate level (4). In addition, some knowledge of the overall aims and content of disciplines in the arts and humanities (1) will be gained during the unit ‘An Introduction to Study in the Arts and Humanities’, while a student’s knowledge of how a particular discipline may be studied in more depth (4) will be extended in the supported independent study undertaken in the ‘Individual Project’ or other optional unit. |
Methods of Assessment | |
Students will undertake three forms of assessment in each of the period units, normally combining essay writing with at least one other mode of assessment (e.g. an exam). They will be encouraged to engage with a range of disciplines in these assessments. In the first period unit, the unit marks will be an average of the second and third assignment marks. In the second period unit, the unit mark will be an average of all three marks. An attempt will be required in all three pieces of assessment. The unit An Introduction to Study in the Arts and Humanities will be assessed through a reflective portfolio. The Individual Projectunit will be assessed through an extended essay and a presentation. |
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning and Teaching Methods |
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These skills/attributed (1-5) will all be addressed explicitly in the unit ‘An Introduction to Study in the Arts and Humanities’, through seminar and small group discussions and in assignments to be completed week-to-week in independent study. In addition, students will be expected to put many of these skills (1-4) into practice in the two period units, through their contributions to seminar and tutorial discussions, in independent study and in written assignments. The ‘Individual Project’ or other optional unit is designed to give students an opportunity to develop their understanding of the discipline in which they wish to specialise beyond the course (5) and is thus taught in a mode combining seminar discussion and support with individual mentoring and supervision. In this unit, students will thus also be given greater responsibility for the work they are undertaking. |
Methods of Assessment | |
These skills will be assessed through a range of assignments across all units, including essay writing, presentation and an exam. This range of assessment methods will prepare students for progression to an undergraduate degree. In the period unit in Teaching Block 1, the first assignment will be formative, to allow students a less pressurised start to the programme. |
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning and Teaching Methods |
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These issues (1-4) will be addressed primarily in the unit ‘An Introduction to Study in the Arts and Humanities’, through seminar and small-group discussion and in individual consultations with tutors throughout the unit. In addition, the ‘Individual Project’ or other optional unit is designed to enable students to (4) relate the process of making decisions about their future progress to a specialised piece of academic work within the programme. |
Methods of Assessment | |
These skills/attributes will be assessed through the ‘An Introduction to Study in the Arts and Humanities’, in the form of a portfolio of work submitted at the end of the unit. This portfolio will draw on practical tasks set each week, designed to help students reflect on the skills they are developing and their future plans. The exact nature of the tasks set may vary from year-to-year, but they might normally include writing a draft version of a personal statement and/or a CV, to help place the work undertaken in the context of the student’s future plans within or beyond formal education. This work will be assessed on a pass/fail basis as the work is seen principally as being formative and developmental in nature. |
Statement of expectations from the students at each level of the programme as it/they develop year on year.
Level C/4 - Certificate |
This programme is offered at pre-undergraduate level and aims to prepare students to progress to Level C in any discipline in the arts and humanities. Students will be expected at this level to develop knowledge and understanding of a wide range of disciplines within the arts and humanities and a range of skills relevant to study within them; to apply this knowledge in various activities within and beyond taught seminars; and to demonstrate both their comprehension of what is learned and their ability to access, evaluate and analyse materials relevant to these subjects and to make reasoned judgements about them. In order to progress to Level C, students should normally have demonstrated the potential to apply what they have learned at this level with a greater degree of specialisation in a particular discipline at a higher level. |
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The intended learning outcome mapping document shows which mandatory units contribute towards each programme intended learning outcome.
For information on the admissions requirements for this programme please see details in the undergraduate prospectus at http://www.bristol.ac.uk/prospectus/undergraduate/ or contact the relevant academic department.
Workload Statement
In common with the rest of the University, units in the Faculty of Arts
adhere to the credit framework which sets out that 20 credits normally
equates to some 200 hours of student input. Some of this time will be spent
in class, with the remainder divided between preparation for classes and
preparation for, and completion of, the assessment tasks. Some of this
activity may occur within the University’s online learning environment,
Blackboard, which you may use to prepare wikis, to interact with other
students, to download tutorials or to receive feedback.
Assessment Statement
Please select the following link for a statement about assessment. This is University of Bristol access only.
https://www.bris.ac.uk/arts/current/under/assessment.html
We anticipate running four taster courses per annum for the foundation year (starting in 2012/13, in advance of the programme commencing) with local community organisations. Our hope is that these will help us to recruit a diverse range of students to the programme, including those who might not otherwise have the confidence to apply. The taster courses will be informal, non-accredited and free to those attending. Each course will normally adopt the same title as the period units on the foundation year, i.e. ‘What does it mean to be human?, but this question may be explored through a variety of approaches, e.g. in a course on oral history, portraiture in art, the short story, or through an introduction to scepticism in philosophy.
Contact hours: The course will be offered full-time only but, in order to make it widely accessible, it will be taught in particular hours. We anticipate that students would be required to attend university on two days per week, with taught seminars of two hours on one day and four hours on the other; the remainder of time on campus would be dedicated to independent study. Our aim is that all taught hours should be between 10am and 3pm to make the course accessible to this with childcare commitments. We are also exploring whether a dedicated crèche for foundation year students could be offered, possibly with a community partner organisation.
Progression to undergraduate study: A student may progress to an undergraduate degree in the Faculty on satisfactory completion (see below) of the foundation year. However, we cannot guarantee that a student may progress to their first choice of degree, as this will depend on student demand in any given year and on the areas in which a student has chosen to specialise within the foundation year. Where a student cannot progress to their first choice, we will do our best to ensure they are offered a satisfactory alternative. Students may request to suspend studies for a year on completion of the foundation year if there is a strong case, for academic or personal reasons, that it would be in their interests to defer entry to an undergraduate programme. The normal regulations for a suspension of studies would apply.
Overall mark for the foundation year: A student’s overall mark for the foundation year will consist of an average of their unit marks for What does it mean to be human? 1, What does it mean to be human? 2, and the Individual Project or other optional unit, weighted to acknowledge the credit points for each unit. A pass is also required in the unit An Introduction to Study in the Arts and Humanities.
Satisfactory completion: The aim of this programme is to enable students to progress to an undergraduate degree. We are committed to enabling students to progress wherever they have satisfactorily completed the foundation year and thus demonstrated a capacity to succeed at undergraduate level. For the purposes of this programme, satisfactory completion is defined as:
(i) An overall average of 60% or above;
(ii) An overall average of 50% or above and at least one unit mark of 60% or above;
(iii) An overall average of 40% (i.e. a pass) or above, subject to a progression review meeting with relevant academic staff.
Foundation Year in the Arts and Humanities
University of Bristol
Faculty of Arts
3/5 Woodland Road
Bristol BS8 1TB
arts-fyah@bristol.ac.uk
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | ||
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An Introduction to Study in the Arts and Humanities | ARTF00001 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-1 | |
What Does it Mean to be Human? I: The Modern World | ARTF00004 | 40 | Mandatory | TB-1,TB-2 | |
What Does it Mean to be Human? II: From Modern to Ancient | ARTF00005 | 40 | Mandatory | TB-2 | |
Select one of the following: | |||||
Individual Project | ARTF00002 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
French for General Purposes Level 1 Grade 2 (post GCSE) | LANG12022 | 20 | Optional | TB-4 | |
German for General Purposes Level 1 Grade 2 (post GCSE) | LANG12023 | 20 | Optional | TB-4 | |
Spanish for General Purposes Level 1 Grade 2 (post GCSE) | LANG12025 | 20 | Optional | TB-4 | |
Foundation Year in the Arts and Humanities | 120 |
Unit Pass Mark for Undergraduate Programmes:
For details on the weightings for classifying undergraduate degrees, please see the Agreed Weightings, by Faculty, to be applied for the Purposes of Calculating the Final Programme Mark and Degree Classification in Undergraduate Programmes.
For detailed rules on progression please see the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes and the relevant faculty handbook.
Please refer to the specific progression/award requirements for programmes with a preliminary year of study, the Gateway programmes and International Foundation programmes.
All undergraduate degree programmes allow the opportunity for a student to exit from a programme with a Diploma or Certificate of Higher Education.
Integrated Master's degrees may also allow the opportunity for a student to exit from the programme with an equivalent Bachelor's degree where a student has achieved 360 credit points, of which 90 must be at level 6, and has successfully met any additional criteria as described in the programme specification.
The opportunities for a student to exit from one of the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine, and Dentistry with an Award is outlined in the relevant Programme Regulations (which are available as an annex in the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes).
An Ordinary degree can be awarded if a student has successfully completed at least 300 credits with a minimum of 60 credits at Level 6.
The pass mark for the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine and Dentistry is 50 out of 100. The classification of a degree in the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine, and Dentistry is provided in the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
A student’s overall mark for the foundation year will consist of an average of their unit marks for What does it mean to be human? 1, What does it mean to be human? 2, and the Individual Project or other optional unit, weighted to acknowledge the credit points for each unit. A pass is also required in the unit An Introduction to Study in the Arts and Humanities.
For the purposes of this programme, satisfactory completion is defined as:
(i) An overall average of 60% or above;
(ii) An overall average of 50% or above and at least one unit mark of 60% or above;
(iii) An overall average of 40% (i.e. a pass) or above, subject to a progression review meeting with relevant academic staff.
Please note: This specification provides a concise summary of the main features of the programme and the learning outcomes that a typical student might reasonably be expected to achieve and demonstrate if he/she takes full advantage of the learning opportunities that are provided.
University of Bristol,
Senate House,
Tyndall Avenue,
Bristol, BS8 1TH, UK
Tel: +44 (0)117 928 9000