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MA Classics

The Intercollegiate MA in Classics is central to Classics and Ancient History in London, and attracts students from across the world.

The UCL Library (which includes the library of the Institute of Archaeology) is excellent, and also contains a dedicated library of Egyptology. The British Museum and the British Library are both only ten minutes' walk away from UCL; even closer are the University of London Library at Senate House, the library of the Institute of Classical Studies, and the library of the Warburg Institute.

MA students enrolled at UCL are automatically members of the Institute of Classical Studies and entitled to use its library, one of the best in the world. We have a large staff of international experts in Greek and Latin literature, papyrology, ancient history, and classical art and archaeology; all are available to supervise or advise MA students in their research.

General Programme Information

Programme Structure

The MA in Classics enables students to study in-depth key aspects of the languages, literatures and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, the ancient Middle East and their reception. It is an intercollegiate degree programme, taught by the participating Departments of University College London (UCL), King’s College London (KCL), Royal Holloway University of London (RHUL), and the Institute of Classical Studies (ICS). Students taking the UCL Classics programme can take a variety of modules from within UCL designated as relevant and/or modules made available by the participating institutions know as intercollegiate modules.

Students take a total of 180 credits divided as follows:

a)

A compulsory module CLAS0168 Approaches to Classics (30 credits)

How should we approach the study of the ancient world?  What does it mean to study Classics as a critical thinker?  This module offers an advanced survey of methods and approaches in ancient Greek and Roman studies.  

Please see this document  for the module description, assessments, and suggested reading.
b)

Modules to the value of 90 credits chosen from the list of modules approved for the UCL Classics MA from the UCL module list or the Intercollegiate MA list. Each module carries 15 or 30 credits.

Of these; 

At least one module of 30 credits (or equivalent) must test knowledge of Greek or Latin and must be approved by the MA Tutor; this will typically be a module in which texts are read in the original language.

c)

A compulsory module CLAS0051 MA Classics: Dissertation

 Sample MA Dissertation Topic List

This module carries 60 credits (assessment weighting 34%), and has two components:

1. the core module in research methods, skills and resources in the first term. This module is compulsory for all students in the MA in Classics, but is not subject to assessment separate from the dissertation.

2. the dissertation. Dissertation topics must be approved by the MA Tutor and the Chair of the Examination Board.

  • Part-time students will normally take 90 credits worth of modules in the first year and modules worth 30 credits and the dissertation (worth 60 credits) in the second year (flexible study is also available by arrangement). Note that coursework deadlines for part-time students are the same as for full-time students.
  • Students undertaking the MA in Classics are expected to be able to use authors and sources in one or more ancient languages.
  • Students who need to improve their knowledge of an ancient language, or to learn another one, may, subject to the approval of the MA Tutor, take one language-learning module as part of the MA.
  • Students may include, subject to the approval of the MA Tutor and the Chair of Examiners, one appropriate module (not on the two lists provided here) from an MA programme offered by a different department at UCL (for example, Film Studies, Italian Studies, Medieval Studies and Renaissance Studies), subject to the approval of the MA Tutor and by permission of the relevant department.

Modules Available To Classics Students

UCL MA Classics students can take UCL modules or intercollegiate modules. Note that modules taken by UCL students at ICS, KCL or RHUL are subject to the academic regulations and procedures of those institutions. If you take a module from one of those institutions, that mark will be reported to UCL and will be incorporated into your degree; but the rules under which the mark is arrived at are those of the institution which provides the module.

Please note that while core modules will run every year the availability of all other modules whether at UCL or the other institutions involved in module provision may change from year to year depending on staff availability