Liberal Arts in Venice

Liberal Education in the
Floating City

Use your Liberal Arts education to confront Venice's global challenges by signing up for the School for Cross-Faculty Studies (SCFS) Venice Programme.

About the programme

If you’re interested in thinking about problems of sustainability, rising tides, over tourism, gentrification, and grassroots resistance movements to global forces, come study Liberal Arts with us in Venice!

Venice is often referred to as a “mirror” on the world – both because of its shining reflective lagoon and because the city has always been at the crossroads of global currents (to say nothing of the global reach of its film festivals, art and architecture exhibitions, and its rich musical, theatrical, and dance cultures).

There are, however, imperfections in this mirror… cracks that reflect the profound global challenges we all face today, may of which are accelerated and accentuated more strongly in Venice than elsewhere, making Venice the perfect site for an immersive learning experience about such challenges.

Interested? Click below to learn more. Come join the only UK Liberal Arts programme that features regular summer teaching in Venice.

Dr. Bryan Brazeau, Head of Liberal Arts and Venice Academic Lead (SCFS)

We run two intensive modules onsite in Venice every summer, and Liberal Arts students have priority access to these. These modules count towards the 45 CATS of optional core module credits in Liberal Arts and you can take them in the summer before your final year to reduce your final-year workload. There are no additional costs for taking these modules or the field trips; all you need to do is fund your travel, room, and board in Venice for the duration of the module. Each module runs for two weeks (intensive) and is worth 15 CATS. You can take one or both modules as you wish.

A Sustainable Serenissima: Water and the Future of Venice

This module examines the ways in which contemporary Venice confronts sustainability challenges and develops resilience.

We will consider past, present, and future threats to a sustainable Venice, along with complex and unique local solutions using the three main pillars of sustainability (social, environmental, and economic areas) as lenses to focus our interdisciplinary discussions.

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Venice: Resistance and Representation

This module uses an interdisciplinary lens to examine Venice as a site of cultural, ecological, intellectual, social, and political resistance while also interrogating the representational strategies and legacies of such defiance.

We will explore how Venice demonstrates a long legacy of resistance and complex representational regimes that continue to this day and can practically inform resistance movements in the future.

Explore module

Study Liberal Arts (BA)

Ranking as the best Liberal Arts degree outside of London (The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023 and 2024), our course is radically different from any other Liberal Arts programme around the world.

Learn more about Liberal Arts

Our entry requirements

We welcome students with Arts backgrounds, Science backgrounds, and those who have studied a range of A levels (or equivalent). If you are interested in building your degree around your passions (with our support), this could be the right course for you.

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Get in touch

For any further questions about the Liberal Arts course or our Venice modules, feel free to drop us an email or come and meet us face-to-face at one of our upcoming Open Days.