Teaching And Learning Portal

Carl Gombrich, Programme Director of UCL’s Bachelor in Arts and Sciences (BASc), explains how the new course will work.

The Bachelor in Arts and Sciences (BASc), UCL’s flagship undergraduate degree programme, is launching this month (September 2012). The degree has been created to reflect a growing demand from both students and employers for interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary degrees.

UCL intends to challenge the nature of the undergraduate experience with the BASc, providing the leading degree for the demands of the 21st century. The course is far-reaching and ambitious in providing breadth and depth, and students will graduate well-equipped for work in a wide range of sectors as well as being prepared to enter most masters programmes and other areas of further study.

Arts and Sciences is structured around a Core curriculum and four Pathways. In the Core, students will study a foreign language and learn interdisciplinary skills such as quantitative methods and research methodologies.

The four Pathways are Cultures, Societies, Health and Environment and Sciences and Engineering, of which students choose one major Pathway and one minor. All students will be required to study a mix of arts and sciences throughout their degree, and a Pathway Representative will mentor students to help them link their studies together, using the interdisciplinary learning of the Core, to achieve depth and coherence in an area of the student’s choice.

Arts and Sciences students are also offered the opportunity to study abroad for a year and there is a work placement before the final year in which students will be encouraged, as far as possible, to use the skills they have learnt on the degree. The final year on the degree will then involve reflection on this work experience alongside an interdisciplinary dissertation and a study of advanced modules on the Pathways.

Arts and Sciences has a strong commitment to improving teaching and learning for its students. As part of this commitment, the Director and the Arts and Sciences team are engaged in looking at innovative ways to use technology for lectures and assessments. We are also looking to build on the excellent work already happening at UCL in object-based learning, peer-assisted learning, mentoring and personal tutoring, all of which – a growing body of evidence shows – are valued by UCL students as part of their experience here.

• Visit the BASc website