Liberal Arts and Sciences
This is the name of a degree style commonly taught in the USA (and American Schools in Europe) where students study a wide range of subjects initially and then declare a major subject part way through.
In the UK there are several universities offering a ‘Liberal Arts’ or ‘Arts & Sciences’ degree. Each university has chosen a different structure but all the courses enable students to combine a number of different subjects and study a wider breadth whilst still having a ‘major’ field of study.
Many Dutch Universities have University Colleges attached to their institution where a ‘Liberal Arts & Science’ curriculum is taught with a similar philosophy to the USA. Each college offers a different range of subjects and often has an area they specialize in.
Almost all Canadian Universities offer a Bachelor or Arts and/or a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences, which gives you similar freedom in class choice and some Colleges teach a Liberal Arts Curriculum.
Typically ‘Liberal Arts’ colleges and courses have smaller class sizes and more contact time with academics. In the UK and Europe this has made them competitive and prestigious programmes to gain a place on.
Digging deeper into subject interests can help you in a number of ways:
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Confirm whether this is (or isn't) something you would be interested in enough to want to study it at university either as the focus of your degree or a minor/elective
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Give you some inspiration to use when creating your questions and topics for IA's (coursework) and your Extended Essay
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Provide you with content for your university application writing in the future, enabling you to reflect on the things you've been doing to explore your interests in a way that is academically relevant to the course or institution you are applying for.
Useful Resources
University of Nottingham e-resources | Blog | Video | Recorded Lecture | The University of Nottingham have a number of resources for students to explore degrees you could study at university. The resources include videos, taster lectures and blogs. Use the menu to select the areas you are interested in to see what they have to offer. | Click Here > | |
Royal SOciety Open Science | Journal | An open journal publishing high-quality research across all of science, engineering and mathematics | Click Here > | |
Coursera | Online Course | Coursera is an online platform for distance learning. They have a range of free courses delivered by universities. Search in this section to find courses of interest to you, often these are courses you can follow at your own pace. | Click Here > | |
EdX | Online Course | The X Series courses on the EdX platform are free online courses delivered by universities and aimed at helping you explore areas of interest. | Click Here > | |
FutureLearn | Online Course | FutureLearn is a free online platform where universities from around the globe host FREE online courses you can undertake in your areas of interest. Browse courses by categories or use the search bar to find courses relevant to your interests | Click Here > | |
Oxford Martin School: Public Lectures and Seminars | Podcast | Recorded Lecture | Public Lectures and Seminars from the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford. The Oxford Martin School brings together the best minds from different fields to tackle the most pressing issues of the 21st century. | Click Here > | |
Game of Kings and Queens | A History Taster Lecture from the University of Nottingham | Recorded Lecture | History is neither ‘better’ nor ‘worse’ than today. It can however help us understand how we got here, why we got here, and perhaps what we can do next. | Click Here > | |
Solving global problems: interdisciplinary thinking | Taster Lecture from the University of Nottingham | Recorded Lecture | Our world is constantly facing new threats and challenges to equality, health, security, technology and sustainability and we need to be able to think and respond differently. In this session, we’ll use case studies and methods from the arts and sciences to show how we must work together. | Click Here > | |
UCL Medical Sciences Lecture: 'One-shot' radiotherapy safer and as effective for treating breast cancer as longer course | Recorded Lecture | Hear about a pioneering breast cancer therapy that requires one shot of radiotherapy rather than conventional weeks-long treatment and the evolution of a patient-centred treatment from an idea to worldwide adoption. From October 2021 | Click Here > | |
Subtitling and dubbing - translating Disney's frozen | A taster lecture from the University of Nottingham | Recorded lecture | In this lecture, we will reflect on two examples of constrained translations – subtitling and dubbing – in the context of Disney's Frozen. | Click here > | |
Why make art? Power | A history of Art Taster Lecture from the University of Nottingham | Recorded lecture | Explore how Renaissance art was used to gain and maintain power. | Click Here > | |
Royal Society for Asian Affairs You | Video | Webinar | Recorded Lecture | A collection of webinars and recorded lectures from the UK Royal Society for Asian Affairs | Click Here > | |
21st Century Challenges: Informed discussion from the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) | Website | Blog | Video | Recorded Lecture | Events | 21st Century Challenges considers the big social, environmental and economic challenges of our time. Join us at events; read articles and commentary informed by the latest geographical research; watch videos, be inspired, think critically, build your networks and share your ideas. | Click here > | |
LIS Learning Hub | Website | Webinar | Recorded Lecture | Blog | Podcast | This is an open source area full of webinars, articles, videos, short reads, mini-lectures, podcasts and more from the London Interdiscipinary school. | Click Here > |