History including Foundation Year
The Foundation Year in History forms part of an integrated four-year degree programme and is designed for students who do not currently meet the admissions criteria for direct entry onto a degree course.
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Key Course Details
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UCAS Code
V10F
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Start Date
September
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Location
Pontypridd
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Campus Code
A
Fees
Home students
£5,760*
International students
£15,850*
- Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.
This course allows students to explore themes and subjects related to History while developing the critical thinking, research and communication skills that will benefit you at university and beyond. It is designed to equip students with the confidence and skills to progress onto the History degree and into a successful career after graduation.
DESIGNED FOR
If you love exploring history and want to develop your researching, critical thinking and analysis skills but you do not currently meet the entry criteria for entry onto the degree course, or you are returning to education after a break, this foundation year in History will be perfect for you.
Career paths
- Teaching
- Heritage
- Museums and archives
- The Civil Service
- Management
Skills taught
- Communication
- Time management
- Research and Evaluation
- Critical Thinking
- IT Skills
Course Highlights
Module Overview
This foundation year is designed to prepare you for further study at degree level through various modules covering essential academic and IT skills that will help you as you progress through university. You will begin to develop independent research skills, learn how to analyse various sources, and understand historical methods and approaches giving you a strong foundation to complete your History degree.
Study Skills
This module will teach you the required skills to progress to higher education study whilst developing your academic reading, writing, speaking and examination abilities.
Digital Capability
Develop your confidence using the digital tools required for higher education including Blackboard, Google Scholar and Microsoft.
Investigative Project
You will independently research a topic of your choice before planning, evaluating and presenting your findings.
Studies in Narrative and Presentation
This module will give you the skills to read and analyse texts as well as giving you the confidence to write your own. You will get to study a range of texts from various fields of media, novels, drama and journalism.
Childhood and Youth Studies
This module explores how ideas about childhood and adolescence have changed over time. It considers the historical theories, legislation, events and policies that have shaped today's debates over parenting, education, youth justice and young people's rights.
Crime, Media and Culture
You will gain an overview of key themes and approaches in the field of media and cultural studies with a reference to understandings of crime in modern Britain.
Course Highlights
How you'll learn
You will be taught through a range of methods including traditional lectures and seminars as well as interactive workshops and group work. Our smaller class sizes create a supportive learning environment giving opportunities for meaningful assistance and feedback from lecturers throughout your studies.
Our modules have been designed to be delivered across two days per week, giving you the time and flexibility to learn at a comfortable pace and build on key skills such as time management and independent study over the course.
Assessments range from examinations and written assignments to oral presentations designed to grow your confidence in university-style assessments and prepare you for the rest of your time studying following completion of the Foundation year.
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Teaching staff
Our teaching staff are dedicated to creating a supportive, student-centred learning environment and are all qualified academics with significant experience working in higher education.
Each student is assigned a Personal Academic Coach (PAC) in the foundation year and the first year, so that students can benefit from support and guidance throughout their studies. Students can also choose to be mentored by peers in higher years of the degree. These mentors can provide support with transitioning to university life, dealing with assessments, time management as well as a range of other questions you may have along the way.
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Placements
The skills you learn on a History degree are highly sought after by employers. Students who progress onto the full degree program will undertake a work placement that will help prepare you for your future career. This will be in your second year of study (third year if you are completing the foundation year).
Our course team and USW careers team will help you to find a suitable placement. Previous students have had work experience in schools, museums and businesses and collaborated on various projects that we run in conjunction with external partners including a Black Lives Matter inspired project in Rhondda Cynon Taf called History on the Edge.
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Facilities
Positioned in the Welsh town of Pontypridd, just a 20-minute drive from Cardiff, our Treforest campus is host to a range of creative and inspiring courses. We've invested in the latest technology, software and equipment to make sure you're ready to start your career with confidence and experience. Our Treforest campus also has plenty of dedicated workspaces, allowing you to work collaboratively on creative projects with friends and colleagues.
With an onsite student union, sports centre, restaurants, shops, and more, it boasts a great student community with the added benefit of Cardiff on the doorstep.
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ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
48 UCAS Points (or above)
Typical qualification requirements:
- A Level: DD
- BTEC: BTEC Extended Diploma Pass Pass Pass or BTEC Diploma Pass Pass
- Access to HE: Pass the Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 48 UCAS Tariff points
Additional requirements include:
GCSEs: The University normally requires a minimum 3 GCSEs including Mathematics and English at Grade C/Grade 4 or above, or their equivalent but consideration is given to individual circumstances.
International applications welcomed:
We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence, please view our dedicated country pages.
English language requirements
International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 72 overall and a minimum of 18 in reading, 17 in listening, 20 in speaking and 17 in writing or equivalent.
Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.
If you have previously studied through the medium of English, IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.
If you do not meet the English entry criteria, please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.
Contextual offers
We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended, for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer, and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.
USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.
We're here to help
Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch, and we'd love to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.
Additional Costs
Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of stationery, printing, or equipment during your foundation year. For costs after you progress to year 1 of your degree programme, please see the list below.
University Quality Assurance
At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.
If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.
Life at USW
Halls are a big part of your student experience and there’s accommodation at all three of our locations. If you don’t want to live near the campus, there are great transport links to keep you connected.
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How to apply
All applications for full-time undergraduate courses or foundation degrees should be made via UCAS. Take the next step: Apply through UCAS. You can apply to us directly for all part-time undergraduate courses, if you’re seeking advanced entry or you’re an international student. To apply directly, please choose the application form below for your preferred start date and mode of study (full-time or part-time.)
Advanced entry
If you already have a relevant qualification or experience related to the course you're applying for, you may be eligible to start at a later stage of the course. For example, students from partner colleges can ‘top up’ their qualifications to a degree by joining us in Year Two or Year Three of a course. This process is known as ‘advanced entry’, you can apply directly to the University for 'advanced entry' using the application forms provided above.
International admissions
International applicants can apply to us directly. If the University has an in-country team in your region, your application will be assigned to them for assistance.
