All students on 3-year Philosophy courses may undertake a study abroad placement either as an integrated year abroad, or an intercalated year abroad.

Intercalated Year Abroad

Philosophy students have the option of taking an intercalated year, usually to spend a year at a University in continental Europe under the Erasmus scheme between your second and final year. This will add a year to your overall period of study and you will thus complete your degree in four years. The Department has existing Erasmus-links with universities in Rome, Turin, Madrid, Seville, Dijon, Jena, Cologne and Vienna. Students will typically be expected to have completed at least level 3 in the target language (or equivalent) prior to studying at these Universities. We also have Erasmus-links with universities in Istanbul, Rotterdam and Copenhagen where the language of instruction is English, as well as university-wide links with Monash university and universities across Asia. Places are always limited, and admission to an exchange programme is competitive.

Integrated Year Abroad

As part of your Philosophy degree, you may choose to replace your second year at Warwick with an integrated study year abroad at a partner university as part of the North American Exchange Programme. In past years, places have been available at universities such as Queen’s University and the University of Waterloo in Canada and the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the United States.

This enables second year Philosophy students (Single or Joint Honours) to spend a full year studying abroad. Modules and examinations taken at the host university will usually count towards the Warwick degree, and applications from first year students who wish to spend their second year at one of these universities will be invited towards the end of Term 1. However, if you think you might be interested in participating in the programme, it would be worthwhile discussing the matter with your Personal Tutor before then.

Even if you are selected for the North American Exchange Programme, permission to participate in it may be withdrawn in cases of unsatisfactory module performance (e.g., loss of monitoring points). Furthermore, to qualify for the exchange, students need to pass their first year exams at the first attempt, since resits cannot always be arranged before the start of the North American academic year.

Although primarily an exchange year, it may be possible for second year students to spend a year in North America as an intercalated year abroad.

Work Placements

Students on Philosophy programmes can take a year out from their studies to complete an undergraduate work placement. Students who wish to do this should apply in their second year to spend their third year on a work placement, and then return to Warwick for their final year. Students in their first or final year of study are not eligible to apply.

More information about study abroad and work placement opportunities can be found on the Student Mobility Webpage.