You will meet and work with others who will be embarking on a similar journey to your own, in an environment designed for adult learners. The course is designed for adults living in the local area and we don't ask for previous qualifications, and successful completion guarantees you a place on the University of Warwick’s part-time BA (Hons) Social Studies Degree

Learn more from the course tutor

Flexible entry requirements with consideration given for non-traditional qualifications, work and life experience. Applicants are interviewed by the course selector, and there will be a short written exercise.

Successful completion (good attendance and marks in assessed work) guarantees a place on the BA (Hons) Social Studies Degree.

• You can study part-time at your own pace around work and family commitments
• You will develop skills, knowledge and confidence to study at one of the top universities in the world
• The Gateway course is an equivalent level of study to Access or A-levels
• Successful completion (attendance throughout the programme and passing all 3 pieces of assessed work), guarantees a place on the BA (Hons) Social Studies Degree
• We will also endorse successful students who intend to apply to other universities

The course is intended to prepare you for higher education study by:

• Introducing key concepts within the social sciences
• Introducing important ‘social science’ disciplines
• Embedding key skills for HE study
• Visiting the University library and learning study skills such as referencing

This course develops from your own experiences – encouraging you to think about your own identity. The course looks at wider issues that impact on you – exploring themes around the local, the national and the global environment. We start by drawing very much from your personal experiences – using these experiences to introduce ‘academic’ ways of thinking and talking about familiar and local contexts. We then move onto wider social themes such as shopping, work, the environment, before widening still into global issues – challenging you to consider the relationship between the global and the local.

The course is currently being taught online and has been carefully adapted. The materials for each session are provided in advance, the online platform allows for interaction in different ways depending upon how comfortable you are. How you interact online and how much you interact is up to you – your tutor will never make you interact in a way you are not comfortable with. All sessions will be recorded and can be watched at any time. Your tutor will also provide a short email summary of the class each week. There will be lots of opportunities to contact your tutor during the course.

• Media
• Food
• Family
• Education
• Shopping
• Work
• Care
• Environment
• Migration
• Globalisation

Applications for the Gateway to HE starting in November 2021 are now open. Apply here.

Free course. View potential additional fees

For details of student funding for anyone who progresses on to our BA (Hons) Social Studies degree please visit the student funding webpages.

The next Gateway to HE will start in November 2021. The few first sessions are scheduled to take place online, with a view to move to face-to-face teaching in January.

Please note, as all delivery methods can change dependent on government guidelines and university measures our website and students will be kept up to date with any changes.

Sessions are planned to take place every Tuesday on the following dates and times:

• 23 November, 30 November, 7 December (online, 10am-11:30am)
• 11 January, 18 January, 25 January, 1 February, 8 February, 15 February, 22 February, 1 March, 8 March, 15 March, 22 March (face-to-face, 10am-12:30pm)
• 26 April, 3 May, 10 May, 17 May, 24 May (face-to-face, 10am-12:30pm)

If you are considering making an application for the Gateway course, have a look at our application guidance page here