Creative Writing (Joint Honours)

UCAS code: Y002

Start date: September

Course length: full time: three years, part time: four-six years

Campus: Kedleston Road site, Derby Campus

This course is available to international students

This Joint Honours course degree offers you the opportunity to learn from award winning internationally respected novelists, short story writers, poets, songwriters and performers, scriptwriters, editors, publishers, and new media writers. You'll mainly focus on practical work, utilising key examples from the greatest writers to inform your work. The sessions are run by enthusiastic writers in supportive relatively small groups. Through a combination of creative workshops, seminars and tutorials, you will be able to gain skills and confidence. Ranging across traditional forms of writing to more experimental work, this degree in creative writing will give you a thorough grounding in the art, craft and processes of writing, within a stimulating environment. You will also study key themes in contemporary writing - representation, narratives and responsibility - which support the academic side of the degree, deepening your knowledge of writing, both critically and creatively.

Over the last 25 years, we have established creative writing in the UK, as we were one of the first universities in the country to offer this course. Many of the skills you will develop on this degree - writing, editing, groupwork and presentations - are essential in today's job market, since employers always need people who can write and communicate well.

Many of our students have won prizes for their creative writing and have had their work published or produced on BBC TV, radio or on stage. There are several in-house publications at Derby, where you can get involved and learn more about the processes of writing and editing. We have a thriving literary scene in Derby, and you'll live on the doorstep of one of the most beautiful areas in the country, with a rich literary heritage. In the most recent research assessment exercise that was commissioned by outside experts, our staff publications were peer reviewed by outside experts and were judged to be 'outstanding' and of 'international excellence'.

• BSc (Hons) in Architectural Design and Creative Writing
• BA (Hons) in Creative Writing and English
• BA (Hons) in Creative Writing and Film & Television Studies
• BA (Hons) in Creative Writing and History
• BA (Hons) in Creative Writing and International Relations & Global Development
• BA (Hons) in Creative Writing and Law
• BA (Hons) in Creative Writing and Marketing
• BA (Hons) in Creative Writing and Mathematics
• BA (Hons) in Creative Writing and Popular Music Production
• BA (Hons) in Creative Writing and Psychology
• BA (Hons) in Creative Writing and Sociology
• BA (Hons) in Creative Writing and Theatre Studies
• BA (Hons) in Creative Writing and Third World Development
• BA (Hons) in Education Studies and Creative Writing
• BA (Hons) in Professional Writing and Creative Writing

You'll study a total of 120 credits per year. This will be made up of single or double modules.

Stage one

You'll study these modules:

• Creative Practice: Introduction
• Creative Practice: Life Writing, Prose and Poetry

And you'll choose from these modules:

• Focus on: Representation
• Writer's Toolbox: Introduction

Stage two

You'll study these modules: 

• Creative Practice: Writing Processes
• Creative Practice: Product and Placement

And you'll choose from these modules: 

• Writer's Toolbox: Research and Investigation
• Focus on Narration
• Short Fiction
• Poetry

Stage three

You'll study this module:

• Creative Practice: Professional Development

And you'll choose from these modules:

• Independent Study in Creative Writing (double module)
• Focus on Responsibility
• Writer's Toolbox: The Written World
• Genre Fiction

Our entry requirements are usually 220-300 UCAS points, of which at least 200-240 will be from your core A2s (full A levels) including English, or equivalent qualifications such as BTEC Diploma, International Baccalaureate, Scottish Highers etc.

We'll accept up to 60 points towards the total from level 3 qualifications such as AS levels (where those AS levels are not taken on to A2 level), the Extended Project or Music qualifications.

We don't accept points from Key Skills Level 3. If you have any questions about what is or isn't accepted, please contact our Admissions team.

We also accept the Access to HE Diploma.

Your points at level 3 will be in addition to 5 GCSEs at grade C or equivalent level 2 qualifications.

The UCAS tariff points are a guide - we'll also consider all the information that you've included in your application. We'll also want to see that you're enthusiastic and motivated to take this course and that you have the potential to benefit from coming to university.

General undergraduate entry requirements

Fees for 2013/14

This is a classroom based course.

UK/EU students

Full time:

• If you combine this subject with another classroom based subject or a resource intensive subject it will cost £7,700 per year.
• If you combine this subject with a specialist subject it will cost £8,250 per year.

We'll be announcing our part time and international fees for 2013/14 later in the year.

*These fees apply if you're starting this course between September 2013 and August 2014. We recommend you check fee details with us though, as they can change. Costs can increase each year.

Our students have gone into a wide range of jobs including working at the BBC, arts development, librarianship, archive and record keeping, teaching, administration, marketing, computer games and website design, copywriting, law and NHS project planning. Some choose to carry on studying, and take a postgraduate course, so there are many job opportunities for you when you graduate.