Regulations for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts by full-time study
  1. Before admission to any course leading to the degree of Bachelor of Arts candidates must
    1. satisfy the general entrance requirements specified in the University's Regulations for Admission to Degree Courses
    2. satisfy the requirements for the specific degree course.
    Candidates may be admitted direct to the second or Final Year of a degree course with the prior approval of Faculty Board and in accordance with University Ordinance 7.2.

  2. All candidates admitted to a course for the degree of Bachelor of Arts shall be candidates for an honours degree and shall be registered for one of the following degree courses:
    Archaeology
    Archaeology and Geography
    Archaeology and History
    Archaeology and Iberian Studies
    British Studies
    Contemporary Europe (English)
    Contemporary Europe
    Design (Escola de Disseny Elisava, Barcelona)
    Economics and Philosophy
    English
    English and French
    English and German
    English and History
    English and History of Art and Design
    English and Music
    English and Philosophy
    English and Spanish
    Fashion
    Fashion (Year Zero) (4 year full-time including one year foundation)
    Fashion (Escuela de Artes y Técnicas de la Moda, Barcelona)
    Fashion Studies and French
    Fashion Studies and German
    Fashion Studies and Spanish
    Film and English
    Film and French
    Film and German
    Film and History of Art and Design
    Film and Spanish
    Fine Art
    Fine Art (Year Zero) (4 year full-time including one year foundation)
    French
    French (Cultural Studies)
    French (Linguistics and Language Studies)
    French and German
    French and German (Linguistics and Language Studies)
    French and German (Social and Political Studies)
    French and History
    French and Music
    French and Philosophy
    French and Portuguese
    French and Spanish
    French and Spanish (Linguistics and Language Studies)
    French and Spanish (Social and Political Studies)
    Geography
    German
    German (Cultural Studies)
    German (Linguistics and Language Studies)
    German and History
    German and Music
    German and Philosophy
    German and Spanish
    German and Spanish (Linguistics and Language Studies)
    History
    History of Art and Design
    History of Art and Design and French
    History of Art and Design and German
    History of Art and Design and Spanish
    History of Art and Design (Year Zero) (4 year full-time including one year foundation)
    History and Sociology
    Iberian and Latin American Studies
    Jewish History and Culture and History
    Jewish History and Culture and French
    Jewish History and Culture and German
    Jewish History and Culture and Spanish
    Modern History and Politics
    Modern History and Politics with Economics or Philosophy or
    Quantitative Methods
    Music
    Music and Management Science
    Philosophy
    Philosophy and Mathematics
    Philosophy and Politics
    Philosophy and Sociology
    Politics and French
    Politics and German
    Politics and Spanish (or Portuguese) and Latin American Studies
    Spanish
    Spanish (Linguistics and Language Studies)
    Spanish and History
    Spanish and Latin American Studies
    Spanish and Portuguese
    Textile Art
    Textile Art (Year Zero)(4 year full-time including one year foundation)
    Textile Design
    Textile Design (Year Zero) (4 year full-time including one year foundation)
    Visual Art (part-time)

  3. All degrees other than Contemporary Europe and degrees combining two Modern Languages are normally also available on a part-time basis. Full-time degrees consist of three years study (or four years, including a year's residence abroad, for single and combined honours Modern Language degrees). Part-time degrees will normally be taken over a period of not less than four years (five for single and combined honours Modern Languages degrees) and not more than eight years.

  4. Degree courses are based on a common unit structure as follows:

    1. The subjects available in the Faculty are divided into units; candidates are normally required to take the equivalent of at least eight units in each year to form a coherent pattern of study. Each unit is normally worth 15 credit points (for further details of the Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS) Guide and Regulations seeSection IV).

    2. A unit is a self-contained part of a programme of study. Each unit will have its own aims and objectives, syllabus and assessment requirements. Units will normally be assessed during and/or at the end of the semester in which the student takes the unit.

    3. Departments may specify for each degree course certain units which candidates for that degree course are required to take in each year. Apart from the specified units (if any) the choice of units shall be subject in all cases to Departmental approval.

  5. To qualify to proceed from one year of the degree course to the next, candidates must reach a standard in the examinations deemed satisfactory by the Board of the Faculty, including practical examinations and course assessments where these are prescribed. A satisfactory standard must similarly be obtained in the final year of the course to qualify for the award of Bachelor of Arts.

  6. Candidates who successfully complete Year 1 but do not wish to proceed further with their course may be awarded a Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE). Candidates who successfully complete Year 1 and Year 2 but do not wish to proceed further with their course may be awarded a Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE). (See Section IV for Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme: Guide and Regulations.)

  7. If candidates have not attended the required courses and completed the prescribed work for a degree course to the satisfaction of the Head of Department concerned, the Examining Board will have the discretion to mark or not to mark the scripts.

  8. The pass mark for Year 1 units is 40. Students may proceed to Year 2 provided that either i) they pass in each unit or ii) they fail in one unit only but average at least 48% over all units including the unit failed. (For details of Departmental requirements for specific units, see the Faculty 'Instructions for Examiners' for the current year). Students who are not eligible to proceed will be offered the opportunity to be re-examined/re-assessed in all units they have failed (see 'Failures' below). Failure to become eligible to proceed following re-examination/re-assessment will normally result in termination of the course.

  9. The pass mark for Year 2 and Year 3 units is 35. For student entrants before 1999/2000: in each year students must pass in more than half of those units whose marks contribute towards the final degree. For all student entrants in 1999/2000 or after: to qualify for an Honours degree, a student must not fail more than two units in either of Years 2 and 3 and not more than 3 units overall. To qualify for a Pass degree, a student must not fail more than 3 units in either year and not more than 5 units overall. The Final Year dissertation (if any) must be passed. For all entrants before 1998/99: examinations/assessments held in Years 2 and 3 contribute towards the final degree results according to a weighting set by the Department and agreed by the Faculty Board. For all students who entered in 1998/99 or after: examinations/assessments in Years 2 and 3 contribute towards the final degree result according to a weighting of 1:2 of pre-final year as against final year work. Students who fail to achieve this 'pass threshold' will be offered the opportunity to be re-examined/re-assessed in the minimum number of units necessary to reach the threshold (see 'Failures' below). In each case the Departmental or Combined Honours Examination Board will have final responsibility for deciding which of the failed units will be re-examined/re-assessed. Failure to achieve the threshold on re-examination/re-assessment will normally result in termination. Students who reach the pass threshold but fail one or more units will carry forward these fail marks towards their final degree result.

Failures (all years)

  1. Re-examinations/re-assessments will normally be held in late August/early September following initial failure. Students who believe that an August/September re-examination/re-assessment allows them insufficient time to improve their performance (for example, students who have failed a large number of units) will be permitted to suspend their course for one year and be re-examined/re-assessed in the following session at the normal examination times for their unit(s).

  2. Candidates resitting an examination in the academic year following initial failure will normally be required to take the papers set for that year irrespective of any change in syllabus; their registration will be suspended for a year and they will be required to take the examinations as an external candidate. However, in exceptional circumstances, the Faculty Board may recommend that a candidate repeat a year of the undergraduate course following examination/assessment failure or for other cause.

  3. In any re-examination/re-assessment that is passed the mark awarded will be the pass-mark (for Year 1, 40; for Years 2 and 3, 35).

  4. Where the Departmental or Combined Honours Examination Board concludes, on the basis of written evidence submitted before the examination or due date for assessed work, that a student who would otherwise have passed has failed due to circumstances outside his/her control, the Board may recommend that the student be re-examined/re-assessed as if for the first time or be set other work or, exceptionally, be deemed to have passed on the basis of previously submitted work. Departments making any such recommendation must specify the evidence on which they do so. Failure in re-examination or other set work will be treated in accordance with the regulations on failures set out above.

  5. Those not awarded honours may be awarded a pass degree. In the case of a combined honours degree involving a major/minor division between the two subjects where the minor subject comprises only three examination elements, candidates who do not satisfy the examiners may, if appropriate, be recommended for an award in the subject forming the major component of their degree course. A subject contributing fewer than three examination elements to the final examination will not normally be mentioned in the Degree title.

  6. With the permission of the Faculty Board candidates may transfer from one degree course to another not later than the end of the second semester of their course. In exceptional circumstances the Board may permit a transfer at a later stage.
    1. Philosophy may be begun as a new subject in the combined honours degree in the second year
    2. First-year single honours candidates who have reached an appropriate standard in a first-year Alternative Subject in Music, Philosophy, Portuguese, or Spanish, may apply for transfer to a second-year combined honours course with that subject as one of the two combined subjects*
    3. Candidates reading single honours Spanish, including Portuguese, who wish to transfer to combined honours Portuguese and Spanish will transfer at the end of the first year
    4. Candidates following a combined honours course who pass in one subject only in the qualifying examination may, with the permission of the Faculty Board and subject to the requirements of the department concerned, proceed to the second year of the single honours course in that subject.

  7. Students who have passed the final examination/assessment in any degree course of the Faculty may be admitted to the final examination/assessment in another degree course after not less than one year of attendance at prescribed courses of study for that other degree.

  8. Students whose progress in the first two years of their course has proved unsatisfactory may, subject to their entitlement to resit certain examinations, be given permission by the Faculty Board to take a restricted course in the final year. In the final examination/assessment such candidates will be eligible for a pass degree only.

* Such transfers may also be allowed in cases where the relevant first-year course has not been taken but where an appropriate standard has been acheived, e.g. by study and/or residence in the country concerned.