A postgraduate qualification in Arts and Humanities.

Description

This diploma course, part of our postgraduate programme in the humanities, will suit anyone with appropriate entry qualifications who has a passion for the arts and is looking for an intellectual challenge. It is designed to allow you to tailor your qualification to a particular subject interest. At present our postgraduate diploma includes subject lines in art history, classical studies, English, history, music, and philosophy.

Planning your studies

To study on our postgraduate humanities programme you must hold a bachelors degree at honours level. Your degree need not be in the subject area you intend to study in the programme but you must have the basic skills expected of a graduate in that area. Foundation modules or, in the case of the new degrees, Part 1 modules bring you up to date with the latest ideas and approaches in each subject, but they do not offer remedial undergraduate training for those who have an inappropriate bachelors degree or inadequate experience. Before you enter the degree you must be able to:

• write clear, concise, grammatically correct and accurately spelt prose
• read large quantities of text quickly, accurately and critically
• evaluate evidence precisely and assess its value and reliability
• argue logically, consistently and sceptically
• weigh up often conflicting evidence and construct a coherent and logical argument from it
• find and use different sorts of evidence to support your argument.

If you are in any doubt about your skills, you should consider taking one or two of our higher-level undergraduate modules first. If you would like help to assess your preparedness you can ask our Student Registration & Enquiry Service for advice.

You must begin your studies with a postgraduate foundation module or a 120-credit Part 1 module. If starting with a foundation module, we strongly recommend that you take no more than 60 credits of study each year. We cannot guarantee that the same selection of modules will continue to be available.

You should note that the University’s unique study rule applies to this qualification. This means that you must include at least 40 credits from OU modules that have not been counted in any other OU qualification that has previously been awarded to you.

Career relevance and employability

Studying for a diploma course will provide you with an opportunity to build on skills acquired at undergraduate level. It will further develop your capability to read and analyse large amounts of written material and enable you to apply your skills through the production of a project. These transferable skills are in demand in many areas of the public and private sector, such as advertising, marketing and public relations; educational, charity and development; or government and public administration.

Completing the diploma will give you a worthwhile qualification in its own right, and will also take you two-thirds of the way along the route to achieving a highly respected MA qualification.

There is more information about how OU study can improve your employability in the OU’s Employability Statement from our Careers Advisory Service. You can also read or download our publication OU study and your career and look at our subject pages to find out about career opportunities.

Modules

For this 120-credit postgraduate diploma you require:

EITHER

At least 30 credits from the following module:

Or, subject to the rules about excluded combinations, the discontinued modules A810, A820, A830, A840, A860, A870, AA810, AA820, AA830

And at least 30 credits from the following optional modules:

Or, subject to the rules about excluded combinations the discontinued modules A811, A812, A813, A821, A822, A823, A824, A831, A832, A833, A834, D850, D851, D852, D854, D857

OR

120 credits from the following modules:

Or, subject to the rules about excluded combinations the discontinued module A880

Credit for previous study elsewhere

For this qualification, we do not allow you to count credit for study you have already done elsewhere.

On completion

On successful completion of the required modules you can be awarded a Postgraduate Diploma in Humanities entitling you to use the letters PG Dip (Hum) (Open) after your name.

Regulations

As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the following regulations:

• Student Regulations
• Module Regulations
• General Qualification Regulations
• Postgraduate Diploma in Humanities

These regulations are also available on our Essential Documents website.

How to register

If you want to study for this qualification, read the description and check you meet any specific requirements (for example, some of our qualifications, require you to be working in a particular environment, or be sponsored by your employer). Then select the module you wish to study first and ensure it is suitable for you before following the registration procedure for that module. During the registration procedure you will be asked to declare which qualification you are studying towards.

See a full list of modules available for this qualification

Your questions

Try our frequently asked questions.

Come and meet us at an event near you.

Or contact an adviser by Email or call +44(0) 845 300 60 90 +44(0) 845 366 60 35

Employers' questions

Contact Corporate Enquiries
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The University wishes to emphasise that, while every effort is made to regularly update this site, the material on it is subject to alteration or amendment in the light of changes in regulations or in policy or of financial or other necessity.