Entry Requirements
| GCE A/AS-levels | 300 points (BCC) GCE A and AS-level Tariff points typically from 3 A-levels together with either 1 AS-level or Extended Project Qualification (typical offer BCC plus a C in either an AS or EPQ). |
| General Studies/Critical Thinking | Not accepted as third A-level. |
| Advanced Diploma | Society, Health and Development may be accepted. |
| BTEC ND | DDM in a related subject |
| IB Diploma | 32 points |
| Irish |
Tariff points from 5 subjects. |
| Scottish | Tariff points from 3 Advanced Higher plus 1 Higher. |
| GCSE | For all of the entry requirements, 5 GCSEs or equivalent at Grade C or above are also required, to include English. |
| Mature Applicants | Considered on an individual basis. |
Access: Pass, including at least 50% of units with Merit or Distinction
Please note that the above are the requirements for 2010 entry. Please click here for the 2009 entry requirements.
Why Anthropology?
Anthropology offers a unique and powerful means for understanding cultural and social diversity in the modern world. It is concerned with such contemporary issues as multiculturalism, identity politics, racism and ethnic nationalism, changing forms of the family, religious conflict, gender, and the political role of culture. It also addresses the perennial questions about human nature: what do we have in common with each other cross-culturally, and what makes us different?
If you are intrigued by these questions and want to study a discipline that will enrich your everyday life as well as equip you for a great variety of occupations, anthropology is for you. The Brunel BSc gives students a broad comparative knowledge of cultural and social systems around the world as well as a fresh, informed perspective on their own backgrounds
Our team has carried out fieldwork in Oceania, Africa, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Britain and other parts of Europe, and our teaching scope is genuinely worldwide. Take the plunge and rediscover the world!
Why Brunel?
Uniquely, Brunel offers two alternative pathways to the BSc, a three-year degree or a four-year 'thin-sandwich' degree, which includes two six-month work placements (shorter if unpaid). Over half our students do a placement/fieldwork abroad, in places such as India, Nepal, Australia, Southern Africa, Papua New Guinea and Jamaica.
Recent UK placements include the BBC, Foreign Office, Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, Amnesty International and the Department of Health. Students gain experience and contacts vital for future employment in a world that increasingly expects job candidates to offer something more than a degree certificate.
Our broad-based social sciences first year programme gives anthropology students a grounding in the sister disciplines of psychology, sociology, media and communications and further strengthens their career prospects.
Course Content
Anthropology is concerned with studying human cultural diversity. This degree will introduce you to the history, theory and main contemporary issues within the discipline.
Level 1 (Year 1)
Students take modules in anthropology, psychology, sociology, media and communications. Students doing the four-year degree also embark on their first Work Placement.
Typical Core Modules
- Research Methods
- Main Currents in the Human Sciences
- Introduction to Anthropology I
- Introduction to Anthropology II
- June-Dec. First Work Placement (four-year degree only)
Level 2 (Year 2/3)
Students take modules in anthropology, research methods, and options in sociology. Students doing the 4-Year degree also embark on their second Work Placement.
Typical Core Modules
- Sex and Gender
- British Ethnic Minorities
- Issues in Social Anthropology
- History and Theory of Social Anthropology
- Ethnography of the Contemporary World
- Year 3, Jan-Sept. Second Work Placement (four-year degree only)
Level 3 (Year 3/4)
Advanced options in anthropology, including Kinship, Medical Anthropology, Film, Anthropology of Childhood, and Anthropology of the Body.
Typical Modules (optional)
- Anthropology of the Body
- Anthropology of Childhood and Youth
- Anthropology of Education
- Themes in Psychological and Psychiatric Anthropology
- Anthropological and Psychological Perspectives on Learning
- Anthropology of the Person
- Anthropology and Public Health
- Anthropology of Disability and Difference
- Kinship and New Directions in Anthropology
Dissertation
All students write a 10,000 word dissertation in their final year (which, on four-year degrees, usually combines with the second Work Placement). This is on a topic of your choice.
Examples of past topics
- The Impact of New Information Technology in the Workplace
- The Effectiveness of Aids Education Programmes
- The Role of Indigenous Healers in a South African Village
- Community Radio: Dilemmas and Predictions
- Noncompliance to Drug Therapy and Outpatient Care
Teaching and Learning
Our approach
We pursue excellence in both teaching and research. Our aim is to produce degree programmes which combine innovative and classical teaching methods with leading-edge research, and which recognise the value of practical work experience in the learning process. We take great pride in both the quality of teaching and the extensive pastoral care of our students.
The latest thinking
All members of the academic staff are actively engaged in research and many have international reputations in their field. Their innovative findings feed into your courses to help to ensure that teaching is topical and interesting.
How will I be taught?
The course is taught through a mixture of lectures, seminars, tutorials, practical laboratory sessions and small group projects.
Lectures - Most modules involve one or two hours of lectures a week. These provide a broad overview of key concepts and ideas relating to your course and provide you with a framework from which to carry out more in depth study.
Seminars - These relatively small groups (3-15 students) are used to discuss the content of lectures and issues arising from the modules. Seminars are often student-led. You can use seminars to clarify your own ideas in an atmosphere of discussion and debate.
Laboratory/research work- All students take part in practical modules. In the first year you will experience the similarities and contrasts between methods of enquiry used in psychology, sociology and social anthropology.
The investigative methods used in projects include observation, interviewing, questionnaire design, psychological testing, experimentation and more specific research techniques. As you progress through the course, direction by staff over the design and implementation of projects is reduced.
One-to-one - You will get one-to-one supervision on your final year dissertation and at all levels you will have a personal tutor who is available to discuss personal and academic problems. When you go on placement, you will also be allocated a work placement tutor who will monitor your progress and provide further support if you need it.
Lecturers are usually available to answer particular queries outside of scheduled hours - either in one-to-one tutorials or by email.
Assessment
Level 1 does not count towards your final degree mark but you have to pass this level to continue with your degree. Level 2 is worth a third - Level 3 is worth the rest. The final year dissertation is worth a third of Level 3 marks.
Methods of assessment vary and depends on which modules you select. Some courses are assessed on coursework only, some by (seen or unseen) examination only, and some by a combination of the two.
Careers
Students of Social Anthropology can go on to develop both private and public sector careers including work with governmental organisations like the United Nations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) like Save the Children and Oxfam.
Facts and Figures
School of Social Sciences
Psychology, sociology, anthropology and communications together constitute the Social Sciences at Brunel, and we offer a wide range of BSc courses across these subject areas.
The focus of study is upon all aspects of human behaviour: its personal, social and cultural dimensions. We have a strong research reputation that enhances all our undergraduate teaching, with particular expertise in areas such as: neuropsychology; psychoanalysis; developmental psychology; social psychology; contemporary social structure and social change; the role of science and the media; ethnicity and kinship; and power, inequality and prejudice in modern societies. All of our academic staff are actively engaged in research and many have international reputations in their field.
We provide a stimulating introduction to the social sciences by teaching a broad base of cross-disciplinary modules in the first year. Thereafter, you specialise increasingly in your particular disciplines.
Our courses will help you to develop specific skills in the practical methods associated with your discipline, including ethnographic fieldwork. A full range of laboratory and technical facilities is used in the teaching of experimental psychology, video production, psychophysics and the use of information technology.
Special Features
- Anthropology at Brunel is virtually unique because it offers both a conventional three-year degree and a 'thin-sandwich', four-year degree, which allows you two 15 or 22 week work/field placements during your studies.
- This course differs from social anthropology courses at other universities because of the broad social science (rather than biological or archaeological) perspective from which it is taught.
- You are encouraged to seize the valuable opportunity offered by our membership of the European Union's SOCRATES scheme to study at one of 15 continental European universities. You also have the possibility of visiting the University of New Mexico's world-renowned Anthropology Department.
- Students can carry out fieldwork placements overseas. Roughly half of our students spend their second work placement abroad, engaged in research in countries such as: South Africa, Botswana, India and Nepal.
- Research has an international reputation, with particular expertise in child-focused anthropological research.
- Students of Social Anthropology can go on to develop both private and public sector careers including work with governmental organisations like the United Nations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) like Save the Children and Oxfam.
- Students specialise in social anthropology in their second and third years, but also gain a broad introduction to all the key social sciences - psychology, sociology, communication and media studies.
- Rigorous training is provided in a range of methodologies and research skills appropriate to social anthropology.
- We are particularly strong in medical anthropology.