General entry requirements

Minimum requirements

2:1 undergraduate degree (or equivalent). Find out more about our requirementsLink opens in a new window.

We welcome students from different backgrounds and experiences, and particularly those with a strong interest in community engagement and studying across disciplines.

In certain circumstances, we will consider applicants with a lower second-class honours degree, or a normal degree (and their equivalents). This is particularly the case for applicants with relevant professional experience which can be explicitly and directly related to our curriculum.

English language requirements

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

• Band B
• Overall IELTS (Academic, UKVI or Online) score of 7.0 and minimum component scores of two at 6.0/6.5 and the rest at 7.0 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 requirements for this course.

Core modules

The core modules on this course will allow students to come to their own understanding of how we belong in our communities, how to conduct meaningful research around topics related to community engagement, and critically reflect on the duties and responsibilities that we all share both as creators of knowledge and members of overlapping communities. The civic focus of this degree will empower students to think in a rigorous, evidence-based, interdisciplinary manner to transform our complex world.

Term One

The Good Life: Flourishing and Belonging within Communities

Core module for MASc, PGDip, and PGCert students 

What does it mean to live a ‘Good Life’? How can personal development improve our communities? Can we lead a meaningful life if we set aside our responsibilities to each other? These questions sit at the heart of a liberal education.

This two-term module will critically examine the concept of engaged citizenship within communities across time periods, cultures, and disciplinary perspectives. Using a combination of case studies, primary sources, and hands-on workshops, students will be trained to understand and navigate complex interdisciplinary questions. Assessments for this module will be dynamic and student-driven, providing an opportunity to apply theories, models of practice, and research skills from other core modules.

Read more about The Good Life: Flourishing and Belonging within Communities moduleLink opens in a new window.

Creating Knowledge for Change: Foundations of Transdisciplinary Approaches

Core module for MASc and PGDip students 

How can we use and combine different research methods for problem-solving and change-making? In this module, students will engage with the methodologies that underpin interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research. Covering quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research, students will develop a core toolkit of research skills that they can apply to their future projects. An element of the assessment for this module will be to develop a mixed-methods research project plan, including application for ethical approval.

Read more about the Creating Knowledge for Change: Foundations of Transdisciplinary Approaches moduleLink opens in a new window.

Theory and Practice for Community Engagement

Core module for MASc, PGCert, and PGDip students 

This module is designed to help students understand how to build and enhance partnerships between organisations. Students will have opportunities to examine and understand the relationships between knowledge production organisations—such as universities, think tanks, or research and development bodies—and community-based organisations in a range of contexts, from the local to the global.

Read more about the Theory and Practice for Community Engagement moduleLink opens in a new window.

Term Two

The Good Life: Flourishing and Belonging within Communities

Core module for MASc, PGCert, and PGDip students

Continued from Term One (please see above).

Term Three

Core module for MASc students

Choose one of two intensive knowledge-creation projects, to suit your intellectual passions and career aspirations:

Research Dissertation

Liberal Arts staff will provide bespoke support and mentorship for students as they apply their skills and knowledge of interdisciplinary methodologies to original knowledge creation in the form of a transdisciplinary research project. The focus of the project can be on any area, time period, or case study that aligns with the themes of belonging, community engagement, and the dialogue between communities and sites of knowledge creation (broadly defined). Students will publicly present their work to a community of relevant stakeholders, embedding their own knowledge creation within a community context.

Read more about the Research DissertationLink opens in a new window.

Community-Based Learning Dissertation

Liberal Arts staff will provide bespoke support and mentorship for students as they apply their skills and knowledge of interdisciplinary methodologies and public engagement to an embedded form of knowledge creation; the project will be undertaken with a community partner and students will produce a critical reflection on their work. The project will also be supported by our Employability and Placement Manager and students will have the opportunity to apply for an experienced mentor from the Warwick Institute of Engagement.

Read more about the Community-Based Learning DissertationLink opens in a new window.

Optional modules

40 credits for MASc students, 40 credits for PGDip students

In Term Two, students will have the opportunity to explore a variety of optional modules both within the School for Cross-faculty Studies and across other departments. This flexibility will enable students to tailor their degree to their own intellectual passions, interests, and/or career goals. Staff in the Liberal Arts Department have extensive expertise in helping students choose the best optional modules to design a unique degree that suits their interests and students on this degree will benefit from such bespoke support throughout. Students who opt for the Community-Based Learning Dissertation will be encouraged to consider the Warwick Institute of Engagement’s postgraduate module on Public EngagementLink opens in a new window offered intensively or over Term 2Link opens in a new window as one of their optional modules ​(dependent on availability).

Example optional modules from across the University may include:

• Health and well-being across the life courseLink opens in a new window
• Taboo Topics: unpicking the silences behind global challengesLink opens in a new window
• Popular Movements and Sustainable ChangeLink opens in a new window
• Sustainable Urbanisation: from Risk to ResilienceLink opens in a new window
• Care-ful Sustainability: Place, Culture and ValueLink opens in a new window
• Critical Perspectives on business and global sustainable developmentLink opens in a new window
• Topics in Philosophy and the ArtsLink opens in a new window
• Creativity and OrganisationsLink opens in a new window
• Socially Engaged Performance: Interventions and ProvocationsLink opens in a new window
• Critical Theory TodayLink opens in a new window
• Education and SocietyLink opens in a new window
• Leading Educational Change and ImprovementLink opens in a new window
• Civil Society and ActivismLink opens in a new window
• Law and the Global EconomyLink opens in a new window
• Approaching Ancient Visual and Material CultureLink opens in a new window

Please note, optional modules are subject to availability and offerings may change each year to keep students’ learning experience current and up to date. Students will also need to discuss their optional module choices with their personal tutor and receive approval from the Director of Graduate Studies in the Liberal Arts Department.

Teaching

Teaching and learning on this course take place across different disciplines, while also engaging with non-academic partners to bridge the gap between sites of knowledge creation and communities. This is reflected in the distinctive award for this degree: MASc (Master of Arts and Science), encapsulating the inter- and transdisciplinary nature of this programme.

We pride ourselves on a pedagogy of Problem-Based Learning. Students will be taught key course content via interactive lectures and task-guided reading. However, most learning will be through the active, authentic and applied student-self-construction of knowledge. This approach to teaching allows students to develop applied process skills and academic subject content at the same time.

Core modules on this course will be taught mainly by staff from the Liberal Arts Department who are passionate about the civic and interdisciplinary tradition of liberal education and experts in the delivery of interdisciplinary, research-led teaching and learning.

Class sizes

We aim to keep the class sizes for core modules on this course small (around 5-10 students), allowing teaching to be tailored to students’ interests. Students on all versions of the programme will be taught together.

Typical contact hours

In the first term, full-time students will spend six hours (part-time, four hours) each week participating in interactive seminars for their core modules. 

In the second and third terms, contact hours will depend on the options selected. For the part-time certificate, students will spend two hours each week in seminars.

Assessment

Students on this course will be assessed by a variety of methods, linked to practical applications. All assessments in modules offered by the School for Cross-faculty Studies link to practical applications. In these modules, students will complete formative and summative assessments. Throughout their studies, students will have the opportunity to show subject expertise, while continuing to develop process skills.

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, core and optional where appropriate, and you have been allocated to your lecture, seminar and other study groups. Your core modules will be registered for you, and for the MASc and PGDip you will be able to choose your optional modules when you join us.

Your Career

Graduates from this course will be well-equipped to take community engagement forward in a local, national, or global context. Your expertise in community engagement will allow you to access a wide variety of fields, including (but not limited to) Research, Community Development, Project Management, Data Intelligence, Policy Advisory, Humanitarian Aid, and Academia.

Our department’s Employability and Placement Manager has links with employers from the private, public, and third sectors, including Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), think tanks, social enterprises, and sustainability consultancies. These links will be useful for both the capstone project in Term Three and employment opportunities during and beyond the course.

Liberal Arts Department

The Liberal Arts Department at Warwick is home to a close-knit community of passionate and engaged staff and students. We are connected by the values underpinning a liberal education: an enthusiasm for learning across disciplines, an eagerness to think critically, and a desire to make a positive change in the world. The Liberal Arts Department sits within the School for Cross-faculty Studies, a transdisciplinary School committed to community and critical engagement. Students on this course will join our postgraduate community in the School, as well as the wider postgraduate community at Warwick.  

The Liberal Arts Department has established its reputation for outstanding teaching and learning; in 2023 and 2024 the department ranked first in the UK for teaching quality and student experience (The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023/2024). Our dedication to student support is also reflected in our 2023 National Student Survey results, where our undergraduate Liberal Arts course scored 97.4% for teaching satisfaction, and the award-winning personal tutoring offered in Liberal Arts. We hope to build on these foundations as we continue to expand our community and to  welcome further postgraduate students to our department.  

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

The application process for courses that start in September and October 2025 opens on 2 October 2024.

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