Bachelor of Arts (Hons)/Diploma in Arts

(Guide for Applicants and Students)

AIMS OF THE PROGRAMME

This programme offers you the opportunity to obtain a Bachelor of Arts (Honours - Level 8) in Humanities regardless of your place of residence, employment, domestic or personal circumstances, or prior qualifications. Students may elect to exit with a Diploma in Arts on completion of eight modules.

The programme is designed to:

• Open access to higher education to a wider community of adult students
• Provide opportunities for individuals to enhance their career prospects
• Provide access to the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to promote full participation in the economic, social, cultural and political spheres of society
• Open access to the wealth of cultures and traditions in Irish and global society
• Enable individuals to proceed to further studies in their chosen area

Programme Subjects

The following five subjects will be presented in the BA:

• History
• Literature
• Philosophy
• Psychology
• Sociology

Each subject is presented as a suite of six modules. Each module is awarded 15 European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credit points. These points are accumulated towards your award of degree.

180 ECTS credit points are required for the BA (Hons) and 120 ECTS credit points are required for the Diploma in Arts.

 

Figure 1 shows the modules Oscail offer in each subject.

N.B. Not all modules are offered every year.

Presentation of BA

2010/11 All Foundation Modules, All Level 3 and Level 4 Modules, All Level 6 Modules;

2011/12 All Foundation Modules, All Level 2 and Level 5 Modules, All Level 6 Modules;

2012/13 All Foundation Modules, All Level 3 and Level 4 Modules, All Level 6 Modules.

Please note that the programme is under constant review and there may be changes to the structure, content and presentation of the programme in future years.

Progressing Through The Programme

In order to be eligible for the award of degree students are required to:

• successfully complete (or be specifically exempted from) a foundation/ level 1 module before proceeding to post-foundation modules in that subject, unless registered as BA Single Module (BASM) students, or by special permission.
• successfully complete at least two, but no more than four, foundation/level 1 modules.
• take a minimum of one, and a maximum of four modules in each registered year.
• take no more than two post-foundation modules in one subject, (one even numbered i.e. 2,4,6 and one odd numbered i.e. 3,5) together in any one academic year.
• successfully complete five modules in one subject (to include the level 1 module).
• successfully complete a total of twelve modules.

Entry Requirements

Students aged over 23 years on January 1st in the year of entry are eligible for admission to the programme, and are automatically granted a place subject to submission of an application form and deposit. Applicants under 23 years on January 1st in the year of entry must satisfy the normal minimum degree entry requirements of Dublin City University which are: Irish Leaving Certificate Grade C3 in two Higher Level Subjects and Grade D3 in four Ordinary or Higher Level Subjects including Mathematics AND English or Irish.

Non-native speakers of English must provide evidence of competence in the English Language. English language requirements of Dublin City University are available here.

How long does it take to complete the course?

The modular structure of this programme gives great flexibility in the workload you can undertake each year. You can take from one to four modules per year. It is possible to complete your Degree in a minimum of three years. The Diploma can be completed in a minimum of two years. The greater the number of modules successfully completed each year, the quicker you obtain your degree. The number of modules you undertake each year will depend on your individual circumstances. If you are returning to study after a long absence, and/or you are in full-time employment it is strongly recommended that you should not take more than two modules in your first year.

Accreditation of prior certificated learning

The BA programme allows for accreditation of prior certificated learning. There are two types of exemptions offered, specific and non-specific.

Applicants can apply for a 'Specific' expemption if they have covered the full content of a module Oscail offer, to successful completion, in another programme, at a similar award level.

Where applicants have comlpeted studies in a subject area not covered in the Oscail programme, yet at a similar award level, they may apply for a 'Non-specific' exemption. Non-specific exemptions simply reduce the number of foundation modules a student is required to complete in order to be eligible for the award of diploma/degree. They do not relate to any foundation module in particular.

Please note that a student may not present the same ECTS credits as qualification for more than one DCU award. Similarly, a student may not claim exemption for ECTS credits towards one award that have already been presented as qualification for another award elsewhere at a similar award level.

Please note that applicants will not obtain exemptions on the basis of work experience only.

A maximum exemption total of 60 credits (four modules, normally a maximum of two in each of the above categories) may be awarded to applicants with appropriate prior qualifications.

Please see the Exemption Form for more details.

The BA Syllabi is available here.

Those interested in applying for exemptions should firstly apply for the BA programme. Exemption Application forms are issued to all applicants and are also available here.

Getting Started on your Humanities Programme

The Foundation Module for each subject integrates activities designed to:

• Assist students in developing study skills necessary to succeed in the subject (e.g. essay writing, sourcing and recording information, structuring assignments)
• Introduce students to the wide range of online and printed resources for the subject.
• Facilitate the acquisition of skills in using information and communications technologies (ICTs) to enhance learning the subject.
• Enable students to demonstrate their achievement of the necessary skills and knowledge through a portfolio of tasks, including essays, bibliographies, reviews of journal articles and websites, using online databases, and participating in online forums.

Intending students should note that students are required to participate in online activities including submission of assignments on a regular basis, therefore access to a PC, the Internet (preferably via broadband), and standard wordprocessing and spreadsheet software are essential.

Tutorials: Face to Face tutorials take place on Saturdays in study centres. The duration and number of tutorials will vary depending on the individual module and students are advised of the schedule at the beginning of the academic year. While participation in tutorials is not compulsory, it is highly recommended.

 

The following are indicative syllabi for the modules on the programme. However modules are continuously updated and may differ from what is indicated below.

HISTORY

The objective of the History stream is to equip students with a wide range of skills and techniques upon which historical research and writings are based. Students will engage in the critical examination of historians' works, and the evaluation of primary sources, and will acquire the conceptual tools with which our view of the past is shaped. The modules provide perspectives on major themes in Irish and European political, economic, social, and cultural history from the close of the Middle Ages to the twentieth century.

His1: History Foundation Module

Part 1 surveys the Reformation period in Europe. Part 2 investigates Europe in the age of enlightenment and revolution from the Ancien Regime to the French Revolution.

His2: Europe and a Wider World

This module analyses developments in Europe from the revolutions of 1848 to the break up of Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and the emergence of Europe and the European idea.

His3: Land, Politics and Society in Ireland 1800-1922

This module provides an in-depth analysis of the interaction of political, economic and social forces in nineteenth century Ireland culminating in the signing of the Anglo Irish Treaty.

His4: Politics, Culture and Society in Independent Ireland

This module chronicles the economic, social and cultural history of the independent Irish state and Northern Ireland in the twentieth century.

His5: Women in Irish and European Society: 1780-1915

This module considers the history of women's role in both the private as well as the public sphere and examines the experience of women ‘on the margins'. Students on this module complete a research essay instead of a final examination.

His6: Researching Local History: People, Place and Time

This module equips students with skills and techniques in local history research. Students produce a piece of original research on a topic in local history. Students are required to attend two one-day mandatory workshops.

LITERATURE

The objective of the Literature stream is to equip students with the skills and techniques to discriminate between literature and other forms of writing and representation, taking account of contemporary perspectives in criticism and theory, including feminism, historicism and post-modernism. Irish, British, American, and other literature in English will be evaluated in terms of their contribution to cultural formation. Students will encounter competing ideas about writing and literature, within different historical and national frameworks.

Lit1: Literature Foundation Module

This module introduces students to the concept of genre through in-depth analysis of key texts: stage and film versions of drama; poetry and fiction.

Lit2: Literatures of the Twentieth Century

This module introduces students to critical approaches to key modernist, feminist and post-colonial texts by Irish, American and British authors as well as works in translation.

Lit3: Literatures of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Students will encounter Jacobean drama, the rise of the novel as well as forms of prose written between 1600 and 1800. Attention is given to lesser-known writings by women in this period.

Lit4: The Renaissance

Renaissance poetry, Shakespearean drama, as well as writing in Ireland in the 1500s are placed in the historical and political context of Renaissance Britain and Ireland.

Lit5: Romanticism to Victorianism

Starting with the work of writers inspired by the revolutionary fervour of the late eighteenth century this module concludes with the texts which emerged from the industrial revolution in the Victorian era.

Lit6: Literatures of the Late Twentieth Century

Contemporary themes, including modernism and post-modernism in the Irish and international context are analysed in the context of key texts drawn from poetry, drama, fiction and film.

PHILOSOPHY

The objective of the Philosophy stream is to equip students with an understanding of the themes and traditions of philosophy, as well as the capacity to think critically for themselves. Students will encounter the work of major philosophers in seeking to answer such questions as: What is the difference between truth and illusion? What is the nature of human life? Does God exist? What indeed, is it for anything to exist at all? How should one live? What are the basic principles which govern our moral, political and social lives?

Phil1: Philosophy Foundation Module

This module chronicles movements in philosophy from the pre-socratics to the moderns, as well as introducing the key methodological and conceptual tools and skills.

Phil2: Reading Philosophers: Plato, Aquinas, Kant

Students are introduced to the classical, medieval and modern traditions through intensive reading of selected texts by Plato, Aquinas and Kant.

Phil3: Philosophy of Values: Ethics and Aesthetics

Part 1 introduces students to the application of ethical principles in the context of modern problems. Part 2 places forms of art in an historical and aesthetic context.

Phil4: Language and Mind

Part 1 reviews developments in the philosophy of language in the twentieth century. Part 2 examines contemporary arguments concerning theories of mind, brain and science.

Phil5: Philosophy of Religion

This module examines philosophical justifications for religious beliefs and analyses the philosophy of religious experience .

Phil6: Contemporary Philosophy

Major themes in contemporary philosophy, both from the continental and Anglo Saxon traditions are examined through the work of key philosophers, including Hegel, Nietzsche, Habermas, Foucault, de Beauvoir, Kristeva, Irigaray, Husserl, Heidegger, Gadamer, Merleau Ponty, Levinas, Derrida and Ricouer.

PSYCHOLOGY

The objective of the Psychology stream is to equip students who wish to specialise in Psychology with a solid foundation in the key concepts, language, and approach of the discipline and an appreciation of the nature of evidence and theory. Research methods and statistics and the relevant practical and laboratory skills are taught and assessed in each module.

Psy1: Psychology Foundation Module

This module provides a foundation for the areas of psychology encountered in later modules: biological; cognitive; developmental; organisational; personality; research; social.

Psy2: Social and Organisational Psychology

Part 1 covers social cognition and perception, attitudes, behaviour, and motivation. Part 2 examines organisational, individual and group perspectives.

Psy3: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Part 1 focuses on the child developing within the individual, family and social contexts. Part 2 reviews behaviour, motivation, and learning readiness in the classroom context.

Psy4: Cognitive Psychology

This module covers attention, perception and memory, language, intelligence and problem solving, representations of knowledge, and neuropsychology.

Psy5A: Individual Differences; Physiological Psychology

Part 1 focuses on biological as well as psychometric aspects of personality differences. Part 2 introduces the neurological basis of mental illness, substance abuse and addiction.

Psy6A: Research Methods

This module covers the research and statistical techniques required to complete an independent piece of research. Students are required to attend a 2-day mandatory Research and Statistics school for this module.

BA graduates who have successfully completed six modules in Psychology may, when they graduate, apply to the British Psychological Society (BPS) for consideration of eligibility for Graduate Membership and the Graduate Basis for Registration (GBR). The BPS will consider their eligibility on an individual basis according to the criteria applicable at that time.

SOCIOLOGY

The main objective of the Sociology stream is to provide students with the techniques and skills to analyse contemporary Irish and European society, in particular the issues and problems associated with its major social institutions such as family, economy, polity, education and religion, as well as the causes and direction of social change. Students will be encouraged to adopt a critical approach to explanations of contemporary social issues offered by sociologists arguing from different sociological perspectives.

Soc1: Sociology Foundation Module

This module introduces Sociology as a discipline and provides an overview of the main institutions, structures and processes affecting contemporary Irish society.

Soc2: The Changing Social Environment

This module considers the impact of globalisation on aspects of social life, the changing rural and urban context, and origins and traditions in European democratic culture.

Soc3A: Power, Social Order; Crime Deviance, Work and Employment

Parts 1 and 2 of this module offers theoretical perspectives on concepts of power, social order, social control and the agents of control. Part 3 examines aspects of crime and deviance. Part 4 covers issues on the sociology of work.

Soc4: Social Inequality and Intergroup Relations

This module considers evidence of and explanations for social, educational and gender inequality, as well as research on prejudice and racism in Ireland.

Soc5B: Language, Culture and Society

This module examines the relationship between language and ethnicity, and the links between popular culture, power and society. It includes a case study of Northern Ireland society.

Soc6B: Research Methods

This module provides an overview of quantitative and qualitative methods used in sociological research. Students complete a thesis on an independent piece of research.

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