General entry requirements

Minimum requirements

65% in an undergraduate degree (or equivalent) in a related subject.

Applicants are asked to provide a writing sample to demonstrate suitability for the course.

English language requirements

You can find out more about our English language requirementsLink opens in a new window. This course requires the following:

• Band C
• IELTS overall score of 7.5, minimum component scores of two at 6.5/7.0 and the rest at 7.5 or above.

International qualifications

We welcome applications from students with other internationally recognised qualifications.

For more information, please visit the international entry requirements pageLink opens in a new window.

Additional requirements

There are no additional entry requirements for this course.

Core modules

Critical and Cultural Theory Today

Critical and Cultural Theory has never been more vibrant, nor more urgently needed, than today. Work in all areas of the Humanities has long been inextricably intertwined with critical reflection, often drawing from a multiplicity of disciplines, from philosophy and sociology to literary and visual studies.

This module, typically taught by several members of staff with diverse and complementary expertise, explores key stages in the development of critical and cultural theories, charting recent cultural and literary theory in historically and philosophically located ways. Figures explored in recent years include Byung-Chul Han, Andreas Malm, Jean Baudrillard, Mark Fisher, Theodor Adorno, Gargi Bhattacharya, Stuart Hall, Paul Gilroy, Jasbir Puar, and Gayatri Gopinath.

We explore different, often clashing, critical perspectives on culture, from textual, material, philosophical, and other perspectives. These situated, and often transnational, critical platforms, allow us to both map historical developments in the study of the Humanities. The interaction between aesthetics, culture, and societal issues remains a permanent concern throughout the module.

Dissertation

The Dissertation offers you the opportunity to pursue your own distinct research interests. You can develop any idea you’ve discovered in your modules or write on a completely new topic that has always fascinated you. Our students choose an array of topics within the broadly-conceived boundaries of ‘literary studies’, although we’ll discuss your plans with you to make sure an available member of our teaching staff can support your topic.

Students often use their MA dissertations as springboards to PhD projects and have sometimes gone on to publish parts of their work in scholarly journals.

Optional modules

Optional modules can vary from year to year. Example optional modules may include:

• Feminist Literary Theory
• Theory from the Margins: Postcolonialism and the Radical Tradition
• Fundamentals of World Literature
• Modernism and Psychoanalysis
• Petrofiction: Studies in World Literature
• Queer Theory and Praxis

For more information, please visit the Critical and Cultural Theory web page on the English website.Link opens in a new window

Teaching

Course Structure

The MA in Critical and Cultural Theory comprises a Research Methods module, the core module, Critical Theory Today, three further optional modules, and a Dissertation of 16,000 words. You can take one of your three optional modules from outside of the department, including from the Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning.

Class sizes

Seminars consist of 5 to 18 students.

Typical contact hours

Contact hours comprise 4 hours of seminars a week, 2 office hours per member of staff, weekly reading groups and research seminars, and one-to-one Dissertation supervision in terms 2 and 3.

Assessment

All essays are marked by two members of staff. The standard length for essays for modules on this course is 6,000 words; the Dissertation is 16,000 words. Marks are given out of 100.

For more information, please visit the Critical and Cultural Theory web page on the English website.Link opens in a new window

Reading lists 

If you would like to view reading lists for current or previous cohorts of students, most departments have reading lists available through Warwick Library on the Talis Aspire platformLink opens in a new window. 

You can search for reading lists by module title, code or convenor. Please see the modules tab of this page or the module catalogueLink opens in a new window.  

Please note that some reading lists may have restricted access or be unavailable at certain times of year due to not yet being published. If you cannot access the reading list for a particular module, please check again later or contact the module’s host department.  

Your timetable

Your personalised timetable will be complete when you are registered for all modules, compulsory and optional, and you have been allocated to your lectures, seminars and other small group classes. Your compulsory modules will be registered for you and you will be able to choose your optional modules when you join us.

Your career

Graduates from our courses have gone on to work for a range of employers, including: Deloitte; International Institute for Environment and Development; TeachFirst; The Times; V&A Museum; Yale University Press. They have pursued roles such as: arts officers, producers and directors; higher education teaching professionals; journalists, newspaper and periodical editors; management consultants and business analysts and marketing associate professionals.

Our department has a dedicated professionally qualified Senior Careers Consultant offering impartial advice and guidance together with workshops and events throughout the year. Previous examples of workshops and events include:

• Understanding Assessment Centres
• Careers following your English and Comparative Literary Studies Degree
• Discovering Careers in the Creative Industries
• Careers in Publishing and Journalism
• Freelancing
• Careers in the Public Sector
• Warwick careers fairs throughout the year

English and Comparative Literary Studies at Warwick

Have the freedom to follow your own path.

We’re fond of freedom at Warwick. Freedom to learn, through an enormous array of modules to suit your interests, and through a range of innovative assessment techniques. You’re also free to explore the award-winning Warwick Arts Centre on campus or you can travel further afield and visit the home of Shakespeare in Stratford or immerse yourself in the poetry scene in Leamington Spa and Birmingham.

In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework, the Department ranked among the top 10 in the country for research environment: a great place for graduate study.

Find out more about us on our website.Link opens in a new window

Our Postgraduate courses

• Critical and Cultural Theory (MA)
• English and Comparative Literary Studies (MPhil/PhD)
• English and Comparative Literary Studies (MA by Research)
• English and Drama (MA)
• English Literature (MA)
• Environmental Humanities (MA)
• World Literature (MA)

Tuition fees

Tuition fees are payable for each year of your course at the start of the academic year, or at the start of your course, if later. Academic fees cover the cost of tuition, examinations and registration and some student amenities.

Find your taught course fees  

Fee Status Guidance

We carry out an initial fee status assessment based on the information you provide in your application. Students will be classified as Home or Overseas fee status. Your fee status determines tuition fees, and what financial support and scholarships may be available. If you receive an offer, your fee status will be clearly stated alongside the tuition fee information.

Do you need your fee classification to be reviewed?

If you believe that your fee status has been classified incorrectly, you can complete a fee status assessment questionnaire. Please follow the instructions in your offer information and provide the documents needed to reassess your status.

Find out more about how universities assess fee status

Additional course costs

As well as tuition fees and living expenses, some courses may require you to cover the cost of field trips or costs associated with travel abroad.

For departmental specific costs, please see the Modules tab on the course web page for the list of core and optional core modules with hyperlinks to our Module Catalogue (please visit the Department’s website if the Module Catalogue hyperlinks are not provided).

Associated costs can be found on the Study tab for each module listed in the Module Catalogue (please note most of the module content applies to 2022/23 year of study). Information about module department specific costs should be considered in conjunction with the more general costs below:

• Core text books
• Printer credits
• Dissertation binding
• Robe hire for your degree ceremony

Scholarships and bursaries

How to apply

Applications are now open for courses that start in September and October 2025.

Applications will close on 2 August 2025 for students who require a visa to study in the UK, to allow time to receive a CAS and complete the visa application process.

How to apply for a postgraduate taught course