An article in the Guardian discussed these departments amongst others from different universities with "reputations on the rise". Here Rebecca Ratcliffe attributes the success of English and CW at Brunel to "ensuring students are able to pick which options they want to study – something that had proved a problem in previous years."
Head of English at Brunel Dr Nick Hubble mentions factors such as teaching more seminars to remove restrictions on potential students, and providing workshops for support with writing and researching.
The English programme has recently been redesigned to feature study blocks that allow students further opportunities to tailor the combinations of topics they study, and the ways in which they are taught. Study blocks also allow further integration between the two disciplines of English and Creative Writing, such as a recently added option where students learn how genres in fiction operate in order to critically analyse genre fiction produced by others, as well as to create their own.
Max Kinnings, Creative Writing Subject Leader, also added his comments on the success: "this is a very pleasing result which reflects the hard work that we've all put in across the English and Creative Writing subject area ensuring that teaching and student satisfaction are right at the heart of what we do."
The full article can be viewed on the Guardian website.
Brunel's Music department also rose to 7th place in the listings, indicating further success for the School of Arts.