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Queen's University Belfast - Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences BA in English
Queen's University Belfast - Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

BA in English

Belfast, United Kingdom

3 Years

English

Full time

Request application deadline

Sep 2025

GBP 20,800 / per year *

On-Campus

* Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland: £4,750 I England, Scotland or Wales: £9,250 | EU Other and International: £20,800

Introduction

Students undertaking English at Queen's explore literature in English in the widest possible sense and work with some of the leading writers working in the UK and Ireland. From the earliest writings in Anglo-Saxon to contemporary Irish, British, and 'global' literature, students study English in its historical, cultural, and material contexts. Our language modules explore the history, structure, and function of English; its day-to-day usage, including in the media; and the major influences that have shaped its development. Our creative writing modules allow students on that programme to specialise in prose fiction, poetry, and scriptwriting.

English highlights

Global Opportunities

English at Queen’s offers a range of Study Abroad opportunities, from the Erasmus programme with a range of European partners to the chance to study at a number of partner institutions in the United States. We welcome applications from European students who would like to attend Queen’s under the Erasmus programme. This programme enables students who are already enrolled at a university in Europe to take time out from their own institution and spend either one semester or a full academic year at Queen’s. Additionally, the Study Abroad programme is particularly popular with students from North America, Canada and Australia.

industry Links

We regularly consult and develop links with a large number of employers including, for example, BBC Northern Ireland as part of our work-based learning initiatives.

Internationally Renowned Experts

Professor Mark Burnett is a leading scholar of Shakespearean adaptations and their global contexts and his most recent monograph is ‘Hamlet’ and World Cinema, published by Cambridge University Press in 2019. He is the founder and director of the Sir Kenneth Branagh Archive.

Dr Marilina Cesario is an expert on Anglo-Saxon science and collaborates widely with astrophysicists in reassessing our understanding of pre-modern scientific thinking.

Dr Jane Lugea is an expert in the areas of language and stylistics. Her AHRC-funded research project on dementia explored how dementia is represented in the minds of fictional characters, and how these literary representations affect real readers.

Dr Edel Lamb is an expert on childhood and early modern literature and she is currently completing the first book-length study of writing by girls in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Professor Glenn Patterson is the Rooney Prize and Betty Trask Prize-winning author of ten novels. He is the Director of the Seamus Heaney Centre and writes regularly for BBC Radio Three and Four, The Guardian. His co-authored screenplay for Good Vibrations was nominated for a BAFTA for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer.

Student Experience

From Personal Tutors to peer mentoring, we work closely with students to ensure they are supported at every stage of their degree.

Further Study Opportunities

Students can apply for cognate postgraduate taught modules in the Faculty such as:

  • MA in English Literary Studies
  • MA in Media and Broadcast Production
  • MA in Poetry: Creativity and Criticism
  • MA in Creative Writing
  • MSc in Software Development (conversion course)
  • MLaw (conversion course)
  • PGCE in Education

Alternatively, we offer a research-led MRes in Arts and Humanities.

Student Experience

A thriving cultural scene organised by our undergraduate and postgraduate communities, from the English Society and Poetry and Pints to the Lifeboat and the Yellow Nib, makes studying English at Queen’s a unique proposition.

Internationally Renowned Experts

Professor Nick Laird is a recipient of the Betty Trask and Eric Gregory Awards, whose most recent collection is Up Late (Faber, 2023). The central sequence from Up Late won the Forward prize for the best single poem. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and the New York Review of Books.

Student Experience

Students have the opportunity to join events throughout the calendar at the Seamus Heaney Centre.

Read more on the institution's website

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