English - BA (Hons)

About this course

About

As our exceptional 100% NSS satisfaction rating indicates, you will love studying English with us at Ulster! The part-time degree lets you take one or two modules a semester instead of three, and so you will move through the BA (Hons) at your own pace. We will introduce you to the basics of critical writing and literary theory in year one, allowing you to develop the skills and knowledge necessary for success in your later work. Following this introductory year, you will be able to choose from a range of options reflecting the interests and expertise of the UU English teaching team. We very much enjoy sharing our enthusiasms, and try to make our lectures fun! Even more importantly, we want you to develop your own interests and follow your own passions. UU English allows you to construct your own path to success, writing on whatever engages you most, whether that be Shakespeare, Detective fiction, or 'Game of Thrones'. Having had many opportunities to share ideas with like-minded friends and sympathetic teachers, UU English students graduate as creative, free-thinking communicators; they often go on to do great things! Join us and free your imagination.

More detail is available from the Course Director, Dr Kate Byrne – please feel free to email k.byrne@ulster.ac.uk

Attendance

Part-time

Start dates

• September 2024

Teaching, Learning and Assessment

Teaching is mostly based on regular lectures (various sizes) and seminars (up to 15 students), although other methods - such as workshops, individual and small group tutorials, for example - are also common. Lectures allow the teacher to introduce a subject and flag up significant issues; seminars provide the student with the opportunity to ask questions and share their insights.

There are several methods of assessment, although the most common are the coursework essay (of varying lengths, depending on year) and the examination (two hours long in years one and two, three hours in the final year). Most modules combine these two; some also include an element of assessed seminar participation. You will need to pass all modules in order to progress - the pass mark is 40% - and your degree mark will be calculated through averaging all of your final year marks.

Academic profile

All our staff are research active, international experts in their field.

Modules

Here is a guide to the subjects studied on this course.

Courses are continually reviewed to take advantage of new teaching approaches and developments in research, industry and the professions. Please be aware that modules may change for your year of entry. The exact modules available and their order may vary depending on course updates, staff availability, timetabling and student demand. Please contact the course team for the most up to date module list.

Year one

University English Literature: An Introduction

Year: 1

Status: C

This module offers students a basic introductory guide to literary criticism and interpretation, focusing upon the ways in which the formal structures of poetry, fiction and drama contribute to a diversity of effects and levels of meaning.

Theory and Other Monsters

Year: 1

Status: C

The module offers an introduction to the practice of reading and criticism. It aims to enable students to work with a variety of critical approaches, and to develop an informed awareness of the analytical possibilities available to them as readers and critics.

Writing Matters

Year: 1

Status: C

The module introduces students to various shorter literary genres (literary essay, short story, poem, autobiography / memoir, detective story, science writing, book review and other forms of journalism), exploring questions of genre and examining key themes and issues that have 'mattered' to writers and that have made writing 'matter' from the Renaissance to the present. Students will gain insight into various literary eras, writers, their work, and its contexts; and will further develop their own study, communication, and employability skills.

Year two

Professional and Creative Writing: An Introduction

Year: 2

Status: C

On this module, students actively engage in diverse genres of writing, developing and reflecting on their writing and reading experience in particular genres and for particular audiences, including employers. Reading and critical analysis of sample texts and of texts about each genre are essential elements of the module.

Irish Literature and Society: An Introduction

Year: 2

Status: C

An introduction to some of the key texts and themes of the Irish literary tradition, this module places the texts in their social, historical, and political contexts. Reading a selection of fiction, poetry and drama, students will explore issues such as gender and the nation, rebellion and violence, folklore and the heritage industry, religion and the gothic, language, and identity. Beginning with the Act of Union in 1800, this module will investigate the ways that writers have responded to, and helped to create, modern Irish identity.

Pandemic Prose in the Viral Village

Year: 2

Status: C

In the late 1990s, post-apocalyptic fiction, and, in the 21st century, climate fiction or 'cli-fi' have been some of the bestselling literary genres. This module explores how such works address current environmental concerns and allow readers to reflect on the impact of climate change and the pandemic, and to speculate on ways to deal with future problems and the toll they will take on people both socially and psychologically.

Detective Fiction

Status: O

Year: 2

This module is optional

This module will cover a range of some of the best-known examples of detective and crime fiction, in print and on screen, from the C19th to the present, exploring the genre's social and political importance, and the reasons for its universal popularity.

Year three

Early Modern English Culture 1509-1659: Poetry, Prose, Drama

Year: 3

Status: C

The module introduces students to the culture of Renaissance England. Canonical and non-canonical poetry, prose, and drama as well as artefacts (such as paintings, jewelry, coins, seals, architecture, and clothing) will be studied within a framework of instruction on the sweeping changes brought to England by sectarian tension, increased literacy, nationalism, changing politics, women's complex roles, technical innovation, increased power for the monarchy, expanding commercial enterprise and a major expansion of literary and cultural creativity.

Eighteenth-Century Literature

Year: 3

Status: C

This module provides an introduction to literature from 1660 to 1780 (the 'long eighteenth century'). It helps develop knowledge of relevant contexts including marriage, sickness and health, 'race' and slavery, and encourages you to apply this knowledge critically in class and assessments. It assists in reflection on, and assessment of, skills for post-degree employment.

Tales of the Familiar and the Exotic: The Beginnings of Modern Fiction in English

Status: O

Year: 3

This module is optional

The module is designed to introduce students to the history of the development of early fiction in English, from the early adventure narratives of the Elizabethan era to the emergence of the novel as a leading literary genre in the mid-eighteenth century. It will acquaint students with a range of thematic and formal sub-genres of fiction, ranging from tales of adventure to the philosophical romance, from religious allegory to the oriental tale, and from the picaresque to the epistolary.

Rhymes Of Passion: A Brief History Of Love Poetry

Status: O

Year: 3

This module is optional

This module tells the story of love poetry. Having first asked the question 'What is love?', we will look at significant periods, writers, attitudes, and innovations, starting with love poetry's deepest roots in ancient verse (including Egyptian, Greek, and Roman), and ending with recent Western writers (such as Seamus Heaney and Carol Ann Duffy). The main aim of the module is to help you appreciate both enduring themes and changes in the way love has been understood and has expressed itself over time. Warning: it's not all hearts and flowers!

Modern Drama and Its Influences

Status: O

Year: 3

This module is optional

The module accounts for a diverse range of dramatic genres, staging techniques, and thematic preoccupations inherent to the work of twentieth-century heterosexual, feminist, gay, lesbian, White, Jewish, and Black British and American playwrights. On this module, their work is to be analyzed and critiqued in the context of their theatrical and thematic responses to influential ancient, early modern, and nineteenth-century playwrights and in the context of changing twentieth-century values.

Sex and the City of God: religion and sexuality in American literature

Status: O

Year: 3

This module is optional

This module examines the intersection of religion and sexuality in American literature, with a view to exploring issues of religious discourse, theories of metaphor, the language of desire and constructions of gender. The module explores the Puritan foundations of America, and the long shadow it casts over American culture. As well as literary fiction, the module explores texts from popular culture, as well as sermons, diaries, and other non-fiction prose.

Year four

Writing and Editing

Status: O

Year: 4

This module is optional

This practice-based module aims to advance the writing and editing knowledge and skills of students through lectures and workshops focusing on diverse genres of writing. Students are introduced to methods and techniques in the writing and editing processes. Instruction is given in the collaborative teamwork of writers and editors, with students adopting both roles during the course of the module. Formative assessment ensures that all students get a chance to edit and improve their own work (and some of each other's work) before final submission.

Angels, Madwomen and Whores

Status: O

Year: 4

This module is optional

This module enables students to engage with a wide range of writing by women from the 1790s to the end of the nineteenth century. By examining both poetry and prose, this module will uncover self-determined literary representation of female experience throughout the modern period, allowing students to engage with the central issues of gender and identity which affect women's writing.

Writing the North: Ulster Literature

Status: O

Year: 4

This module is optional

The module introduces students to literary writing from Ulster to representations of, and imaginative responses to, the north of Ireland, and to the central debates surrounding these representations and responses.

Contemporary World Fiction in English

Status: O

Year: 4

This module is optional

The module introduces students to a range of texts from areas of the world that have been oft ignored in academic studies for various geo-political reasons. The role that fiction plays in helping nations construct a sense of identity and community is a key focus of the module.

How It Is: Samuel Beckett Studies

Status: O

Year: 4

This module is optional

This module celebrates Samuel Beckett the man and artist, whose innovations in theme and form pushed the boundaries of literature, redefined the medium of theatre, and made him one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. We will explore Beckett's work chronologically from the early fiction to the late drama, examining its impact alongside historical, cultural, and philosophical influences; we will consider Beckett's depiction of the human condition and will chart his gravitation towards minimalism.

Adaptation and Historical Fiction

Status: O

Year: 4

This module is optional

This module is about the relationship between verbal and visual media (adaptation) and the portrayal of the past in fiction, film, and television (historical fiction). The module is designed to make you think critically about the relationship between literature and visual media; how they shape our understanding of the past through historical fiction; how adaptation and historical fiction give a voice to marginalized/underrepresented people.

Gothic and Romantic Writing

Status: O

Year: 4

This module is optional

This module surveys writing associated with Gothic and Romantic discourses, focusing on the rise of the Gothic novel at the end of the C18th, Gothic imagery in Romantic writing, late-Victorian versions of the Gothic, the concept of decadence both before and during the fin de siècle, and the rise of psychoanalytical models at the end of the C19th.

Writing and Publishing

Status: O

Year: 4

This module is optional

Students on this module learn about the functions, and apply some of the methods, of professionals in the publishing process (by undertaking tasks associated with writers, literary agents, editors, etc.). They workshop their own and each other's writing, and they gain experience in the editing and publishing processes

Year five

Nineteenth Century Literature

Year: 5

Status: C

The module is designed to introduce students to the history of nineteenth-century English literature. It will trace, through the study of a selection of representative works of the period's poetry and prose, the rise and development of Romanticism and its continuation - and gradual transformation - in the writings of the Victorian era.

Twentieth-Century Literature

Year: 5

Status: C

The module offers a broad survey of English literature written during the twentieth century. It will describe, through analysis of significant works by celebrated and representative writers, some of the major aesthetic and cultural developments and thematic preoccupations of modern literature in English, paying particular attention to stylistic and attitudinal changes throughout the century, from late-Romantic melancholy to a post-modern appreciation of multicultural diversity.

English Placement

Status: O

Year: 5

This module is optional

This module provides students with the opportunity to experience life as a professional in the creative and cultural industries as a paid employee of a company. They will gain experience and expertise in the field of their future profession and extend and enhance their skills, capabilities, and practice.

How to be Modern: Writing from the Jazz Age, 1910-1930

Status: O

Year: 5

This module is optional

The urge to be modern was a defining characteristic of a group of creative artists christened the 'Lost Generation'. Born towards the end of the 1800s and reaching maturity around the time of the First World War, these groundbreaking writers modernized English literature (and themselves) through the 1910s and 1920s. Looking at both poetry and fiction, we will explore the breaking of sexual taboos, the impact of psychoanalysis, the trauma of the Great War, the rise of the New Woman, the Harlem Renaissance and avant-garde aesthetics (including free verse, streams of consciousness and unreliable narrators). In all cases we will seek to appreciate how these dynamic authors challenged stale cultural norms left over from the previous century.

Bonnets, Beards and Bastards: The Fiction of the Victorian Period

Status: O

Year: 5

This module is optional

The module is designed to introduce students to the thematic and formal diversity of Victorian fiction, as illustrated through the works of the leading novelists of the period. The key themes studied will include, among others, the social problems of Victorian Britain, 'the woman question', the role of religion in society, and the operation of the literary market; in aesthetic terms, the novels on the module will exemplify a range of formats and story-telling conventions, from the psychological novel to the sensation novel, from realism to symbolism, and from comedy of manners to naturalism.

Twentieth-Century American Literature

Status: O

Year: 5

This module is optional

Examining the history of twentieth-century American literature in its social, cultural, and political context, this module involves close literary study of selected texts by some of the most representative American writers of the period, and discussion of broader issues such as the American Dream and the relationship between the American and English literary traditions. The module links with ENG511 Nineteenth-century American Literature (Year Three, semester 1), with other modules in English and European literature, and related modules in American History.

The Ulster-Scots Literary Tradition 1750 - 2000

Status: O

Year: 5

This module is optional

The module introduces students to the history of Ulster-Scots literature from the middle of the eighteenth to the beginning of the twenty-first century. It will trace the relationship of Ulster writing to Scottish and Irish cultural, literary, political, philosophical, and linguistic influences in this period. The module will investigate the development, revivals, and transformations of Ulster-Scots literature through an examination of its most representative and important authors.

Black Lives Recovered and Remade

Status: O

Year: 5

This module is optional

This module traces the historic presence of people of colour in literature and visual culture. It covers the lives of historical individuals as well as fictional recreations or imaginings. Content covered includes historical fiction, government reports, life writing, cinema, and television. It offers a range of perspectives on race, racism, and their legacies.

The ‘Impact of Translation’ in Modern Irish and British Literature

Status: O

Year: 5

This module is optional

This module focusses on English-language translations of major works from European languages including Irish and Medieval English. No second language is required, as the texts are studied in translation. The translations are the work of leading authors, including Helen Waddell, Seamus Heaney, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, and Simon Armitage. The module explores the translators' motivations and methods, the context and reception of their translation work, the role of translation in each writer's oeuvre, and relevant questions and issues in Translation Studies.

Year six

Dissertation

Year: 6

Status: C

This module offers students an opportunity to design, plan, prepare, write up, and present a dissertation of 6000 words on a topic of their own choice and researched under the guidance of a suitably qualified member of staff.

Nineteenth-Century American Literature

Status: O

Year: 6

This module is optional

An introduction to some of the key texts and themes of nineteenth-century American literature, this module places texts in their social, historical, and political contexts. Reading a selection of fiction, poetry, and autobiography, we will explore issues such as the possibilities and limits of a 'new world', race and exclusion, gender and sentiment, nature and technology. This module will examine the invention of a unique American voice in writing of the period.

Body, Mind and Soul in Novels and Non-Fiction from Addison to Austen

Status: O

Year: 6

This module is optional

A survey of ideas about the human body, mind and soul in texts ranging chronologically from Joseph Addison and Richard Steele's Spectator (1711) to Jane Austen's Mansfield Park (1814). It investigates the links between literature and medicine, psychology and philosophy, and will be of interest to students who want to explore how literature engages with issues such as belief, education, pain, pleasure, sexuality and disease.

From The Vote To The Pill: C20th And C21st Women's Writing

Status: O

Year: 6

This module is optional

This module will enable students to engage with a variety of writing, in different genres, by women writers of the modern and the postmodern period, and will develop their understanding of the ways in which new political, social and sexual freedoms impacted upon women in the last century and beyond.

Writing Ireland: Ulysses to Normal People

Status: O

Year: 6

This module is optional

This module celebrates some of the most influential Irish writers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Through an examination of poetry, drama, and prose, we will explore works that have been deemed classics, future classics, and revolutionary. From Ulysses to Normal People, we will examine the impact and prominent characteristics of key texts, exploring how they have responded to the changing state of Ireland.

Shakespeare

Status: O

Year: 6

This module is optional

The module delivers advanced tuition on the works of Shakespeare. Every genre of Shakespearean drama is studied in detail: from Comedy to Tragedy, from Roman Play to Romance. Diverse appropriations of Shakespeare are addressed too - a political play, a bourgeois film, a diverting television sitcom. Shakespearean plays mean different things to different people in different places but, ultimately, sound knowledge of the primary texts, their genres and contexts must be established.

Narratives of Slavery

Status: O

Year: 6

This module is optional

This module invites students to explore a diverse range of literary texts and other media through which the history and legacy of the Atlantic slave trade has been represented.

Standard entry conditions

We recognise a range of qualifications for admission to our courses. In addition to the specific entry conditions for this course you must also meet the University’s General Entrance Requirements.

A level

Grades CCC.

Applicants may satisfy the requirement for the final A level grade C by substituting a combination of alternative qualifications to the same standard as defined by the University.

Preference may be given to candidates with an A level Grade C or higher in English Literature.

Applied General Qualifications

*** To note that only qualifications defined as “Applied General” will be accepted for entry onto any undergraduate course at Ulster University.***

BTEC Awards

QCF Pearson BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma/ OCR Cambridge Technical Level 3 Extended Diploma (2012 Suite)

Award profile of DMM

RQF Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma/ OCR Cambridge Technical Level 3 Extended Diploma (2016 Suite)

Award profile of MMM

QCF Pearson BTEC Level 3 Diploma/ OCR Cambridge Technical Level 3 Diploma(2012 Suite)

Award profile of Distinction Merit plus A Level Grade C or award profile of Distinction Merit plus A Level Grade C

RQF Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Diploma/ OCR Cambridge Technical Level 3 Diploma (2016 Suite)

Award profile of Merit Merit plus A Level Grade C

QCF Pearson BTEC Level 3 Subsidiary Diploma / OCR Cambridge Technical Level 3 Introductory Diploma (2012 Suite)

Award profile of Merit plus A Level Grades CC

RQF Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate/ OCR Cambridge Technical Level 3 Extended Certificate (2016 Suite)

Award profile of Merit plus A Level Grades CC

Diploma, National Diploma and Subsidiary Diploma applicants may satisfy the requirement for an element of the offer grade profiles (equating to the final A-level grade stated in the standard 3A level offer profile - Grade C) by substituting a combination of alternative qualifications to the same standard as defined by the University.

Irish Leaving Certificate

96 UCAS tariff points to include a minimum of five subjects (four of which must be at higher level) to include English at H6 if studied at Higher level or O4 if studied at Ordinary Level.

Preference may be given to candidates with a H4 at higher level in English.

Irish Leaving Certificate UCAS Equivalency

• View tariff point chart

Tariff point chart

Scottish Highers

The Scottish Highers requirement for this course is grades

CCCCC

Preference may be given to candidates with Grade C in English

Applicants may satisfy the requirement for an element of the offer grade profiles (equating to the final A-level grade stated in the standard 3A level offer profile - Grade C) by substituting a combination of alternative qualifications to the same standard as defined by the University.

Scottish Advanced Highers

The Scottish Advanced Highers requirement for this course is grades

DDD

Preference may be given to candidates with Grade D in English

Applicants may satisfy the requirement for an element of the offer grade profiles (equating to the final A-level grade stated in the standard 3A level offer profile - Grade C) by substituting a combination of alternative qualifications to the same standard as defined by the University.

International Baccalaureate

Overall International Baccalaureate profile minimum of 24 points to include 12 at higher level.

Access to Higher Education (HE)

Overall profile of 55% (120 credit Access Course) (NI Access course)

Overall profile of 45 credits at Merit (60 credit Access course) (GB Access course)

GCSE

For full-time study, you must satisfy the General Entrance Requirements for admission to a first degree course and hold a GCSE pass at Grade C/4 or above English Language.

Level 2 Certificate in Essential Skills - Communication will be accepted as equivalent to GCSE English.

English Language Requirements

English language requirements for international applicants
The minimum requirement for this course is Academic IELTS 6.0 with no band score less than 5.5. Trinity ISE: Pass at level III also meets this requirement for Tier 4 visa purposes.

Ulster recognises a number of other English language tests and comparable IELTS equivalent scores.

• English language requirements
• Your country

Additional Entry Requirements

HND - Overall Merit with distinctions in 15 Level 5 credits entry to Year 1

HNC – Overall Merit with distinctions in 45 Level 4 credits for entry to Year 1.

You may also meet the course entry requirements with combinations of different qualifications to the same standard as recognised by the University (provided subject requirements as noted above are met).

Foundation Degree- an overall mark of 40% in Level 5 modules for Year 1 entry.

APEL (Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning)

The University will consider applications on the basis of experiential learning for those who do not hold the normal entry qualifications.

Transfer from degree level study at other institutions

Those applicants seeking entry with advanced standing, (eg. Transfer from another institution or year 2 entry) will be considered on an individual basis.

Exemptions and transferability

Studies pursued and examinations passed in respect of other qualifications awarded by the University or by another university or other educational institution, or evidence from the accreditation of prior experiential learning, may be accepted as exempting candidates from part of an approved programme provided that they shall register as students of the University for modules amounting to at least the final third of the credit value of the award at the highest level.

Careers & opportunities

Career options

Students completing the BA Hons English course are equipped with the kind of intellectual and communicative skills that employers of all kinds require. Common career destinations include publishing, journalism and the media, business, the creative arts, arts administration, and civil service. Successful students can go on to undertake postgraduate work in all areas of English literary studies. Numerous graduates embark on Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) programmes with a view to pursuing a career in teaching.

For information on postgraduate research opportunities see: www.arts.ulster.ac.uk/rgs

The Employability and Graduate Futures is available to offer friendly and impartial help and advice with career planning and provide opportunities for you to develop your employability skills.

Work placement / study abroad

There is a flexible placement element in the first year of your degree, encouraging you to develop your skills as a writer in the context of a relevant workplace. Opportunities for study abroad, usually during the second year of your degree, are also available: ISEP (International Student Exchange Programme) offers links with over 140 American Universities; Erasmus+ focuses on European destinations.

Apply

Start dates

• September 2024

Contact

For more information visit

• Visit Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
• Visit School of Arts and Humanities

Disclaimer

1. The University endeavours to deliver courses and programmes of study in accordance with the description set out in this prospectus. The University’s prospectus is produced at the earliest possible date in order to provide maximum assistance to individuals considering applying for a course of study offered by the University. The University makes every effort to ensure that the information contained in the prospectus is accurate, but it is possible that some changes will occur between the date of printing and the start of the academic year to which it relates. Please note that the University’s website is the most up-to-date source of information regarding courses, campuses and facilities and we strongly recommend that you always visit the website before making any commitments.
2. Although the University at all times endeavours to provide the programmes and services described, the University cannot guarantee the provision of any course or facility and the University may make variations to the contents or methods of delivery of courses, discontinue, merge or combine courses, change the campus at which they are provided and introduce new courses if such action is considered necessary by the University (acting reasonably). Not all such circumstances are entirely foreseeable but changes may be required if matters such as the following arise: industrial action interferes with the University’s ability to teach the course as planned, lack of demand makes a course economically unviable for the University, departure of key staff renders the University unable to deliver the course, changes in legislation or government policy including changes, if any, resulting from the UK departing the European Union, withdrawal or reduction of funding specifically provided for the course or other unforeseeable circumstances beyond the University’s reasonable control.
3. If the University discontinues any courses, it will use its best endeavours to provide a suitable alternative course. In addition, courses may change during the course of study and in such circumstances the University will normally undertake a consultation process prior to any such changes being introduced and seek to ensure that no student is unreasonably prejudiced as a consequence of any such change.
4. Providing the University has complied with the requirements of all applicable consumer protection laws, the University does not accept responsibility for the consequences of any modification, relocation or cancellation of any course, or part of a course, offered by the University. The University will give due and proper consideration to the effects thereof on individual students and take the steps necessary to minimise the impact of such effects on those affected. 5. The University is not liable for disruption to its provision of educational or other services caused by circumstances beyond its reasonable control providing it takes all reasonable steps to minimise the resultant disruption to such services.

Testimonials

'Climbing the right hill': choosing English at the Ulster University - Kendra Reynolds (Final Year)

Uncertain, anxious, alone, inadequate: any of these sound familiar? Certainly this blend of emotions overwhelmed me when I stood at the bottom of some daunting looking steps, staring at the rather majestic crest hanging above the front entrance to Ulster University at Coleraine. Nobody in my family went to university before me. I did not go to a grammar school. I was not one of those people who passed colossal amounts of A-levels. And I felt when I first faced those steps that I was not capable of getting the high marks that you read about in the newspaper.

On induction day a comment from my sixth form teacher was still ringing in my ear - 'You'll be in a class of hundreds, just a number' - but instead of an impersonal lecturer I was greeted by a happy face and a pleasant tone and instantly felt at ease. As a painfully shy person who rarely spoke out in class at school, I feared that the small group discussions would present a major obstacle. So it was a big shock when I heard my own voice answer a question posed in one of my first seminars! This was made possible by the English lecturers in this university, who are its greatest asset. Extremely talented and enthusiastic in their fields, their humanity and down-to-earth personalities came as a huge surprise. They spare time for every student and enhance the enjoyment and richness of our learning. Instead of being intimidated I've been made to feel like my ideas are valued; it was lovely to hear one lecturer announce that he appreciated our ideas and was looking forward to reading our essays. I was given the option to try out any subject from the Faculty of Arts in my first year, and if it did not suit, to switch to another. This flexibility turned out to be characteristic of the rest of my degree. With only one compulsory module per semester, English offers a wide range of options from which to choose, allowing you to shape your own education and encouraging individual thinking and learning. This is no conveyer belt which churns out a set package of knowledge; the teachers value and reward personal interests and original ideas.

Essay-writing is aided by the excellent range of services that the University's new library offers. Whether you're studying in groups or looking for peaceful solitude, the library caters for all needs: in the busy hub of a twenty-four hour computer facility, a soft-seated area and group rooms for interactive study, or individual rooms for those who need the quiet atmosphere that not even our homes can always provide.

I never saw myself as the kind of person who would be eager to stay on in education, but I'm now aiming to get into postgraduate study, and not in any other university, but right here because the support that I have been given has helped to instil in me such confidence and self-belief. In Shakespeare's words, 'We know what we are, but know not what we may be'. The lecturers have shown me that you don't have to be an Einstein to succeed. All you need is the enthusiasm and willingness to make the most out of your experience.

Little did I know that those daunting looking steps would reflect the ladder of achievement that I would climb in the next few years. Leaving school can seem like being pushed out of a comforting nest and being expected to fly before you feel like you can even walk, yet after taking those first tentative steps I've never looked back. It reminds me of a quote I have seen somewhere that asked, 'Are you climbing the right hill today?' At Ulster University, I know that I am.