Liberal Arts (Global Engagement Year)

BA Hons

  • UCAS code Y002
  • Entry year 2026
  • A level requirements AAB
  • Duration Full time 4 years
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We welcome applications from the United States of America

We've put together information and resources to guide your application journey as a student from the United States of America.

Overview

Top reasons to study with us

  • 3

    3rd for French

    The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide (2025)

  • 3

    3rd for Iberian Languages

    The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide (2025)

  • 4

    4th for Italian

    The Complete University Guide (2025)

Studying Liberal Arts at Lancaster offers you the opportunity to expand your mind and become a creative and critical thinker, able to take a holistic view of global issues. Engage with local communities, tackle societal challenges, and explore influential ideas.

By exploring ideas from a range of arts, humanities and social science subjects, you will develop a sophisticated understanding of the key issues facing humanity, hone your problem-solving skills and innovative thinking. Prepare to become a versatile, global citizen ready to make a meaningful impact in an ever-changing world.

Why Lancaster?

  • Think big and think differently: Develop your creative and critical thinking through dynamic, interdisciplinary approaches in humanities, arts, and social sciences
  • Unleash your creativity: Choose innovative assessments that develop your interests and skills, from producing a podcast to crafting a case study or creating a performance piece
  • Make a real-world impact: Collaborate with local communities to design and deliver meaningful, hands-on projects that make a difference
  • Build a future-ready skillset: Apply your learning in practical, professional settings to master problem-solving, negotiation, communication, and empathy
  • Turn learning into action: Graduate with experiences and skills that demonstrate your ability to innovate, connect, and lead in a rapidly changing world
  • Embark on an adventure: Expand your horizons by studying, working, or teaching abroad and gaining a truly international perspective
  • Expand your horizons: study, work or teach abroad

Apply your ideas to current issues

Many challenges we face today are complex and require input from a range of disciplines and perspectives. You will develop a holistic understanding of real-world issues and learn how to solve problems drawing on a range of methodologies and approaches.

Topics could include the environment and climate change, objectivity and subjectivity in information, relationships between human and non-human, as well as our digital presents and futures. As we explore different topics, we will draw on principles from Fine Art to Politics, from English Literature to Cultural Studies and from History to Philosophy. You will encounter big thinkers, game-changing ideas, and influential theories that shape the way we understand the world, challenge conventional thinking, and inspire innovation across various fields.

You will learn to analyse, critique and question relationships between different perspectives.

You will also learn how to relate cultural artefacts such as paintings, literature, buildings and iconic figures to the contexts of their production and reception and ask how these principles have impact in the real world. For example, what is the link between the literary and industrial heritages of Lancaster and the Lake District? Between the global leisure industry and climate change? How do legacies of colonialism impact local communities?

Learn through real-world encounters

We emphasise the importance of ‘place’ in our teaching, encouraging you to engage with local communities within their own unique locations on their own terms. A key part of the course is connecting your studies to the real world, applying what you have learned to current social issues.

You will develop awareness of and engagement with community partners such as councils, charities, arts and heritage groups, health care partners and businesses; local community settings may also include Lancaster Castle, Preston Archives, the Gregson Community centre or the proposed Eden Project in Morecambe.

As you progress through the course, you will work collaboratively on live briefs aiming to produce creative solutions to social challenges set in various local contexts across the globe. Through these immersive experiences and collaborative projects, you will address pressing societal challenges. You will learn how to apply your knowledge and skills in professional contexts preparing you for your future career and empowering you, as a graduate to make a difference in the world.

New ways of thinking. New ways of assessment.

As you experience alternative ways of thinking and develop your awareness of the relationship between global issues and local realities, your sensitivity to cultural diversity will increase.

You will become a more flexible, lateral and creative thinker. Through human interactions you will develop negotiation skills grounded in empathy and insight. We believe that it’s not about looking for the right answers but finding the right questions to ask.

An innovative approach to study requires alternatives to traditional assessment methods. On some modules you will have creative choice over the kind of work you submit for assessment. For example, you might deliver a podcast, present a theatre performance, create a case-study or make a piece of art!

Expand your horizons with a year abroad

This course includes a year spent living abroad in one or more countries where you’ll be working, teaching, studying or volunteering. To take this option you will need to study a language for the first two years of your degree

The Global Engagement Year is designed to consolidate the skills you have learned during the course via practical experience as well as expanding your horizons and your mind.

Find out more about the Global Engagement Year.

Expand your horizons with a year abroad

Granada. The fortress and palace complex Alhambra.

Your Global Engagement Year

Spending up to a year abroad is an integral and assessed part of our language degrees.

Through studying or working overseas, engaging globally gives you the opportunity to improve your language proficiency, broaden your cultural knowledge and gain transferable skills that are much valued by employers.

The Global Engagement Year is compulsory for students taking Chinese, French, German or Spanish. Please note that there is no placement year for Italian.

Global Engagement Year
Yu Garden or Yuyuan Garden, Shanghai

Study at a partner university

We offer flexibility to split your time abroad between different activities.

You can choose to study courses taught in your target language at one of our partner universities.

If you are studying Chinese, you will be able to study or undertake a work placement in a Chinese language environment.

Global Engagement Year
Graz city centre

Work placements

We offer flexibility to split your time abroad between different activities.

You may wish to spend your Global Engagement Year on a work placement for a company or as a Language Assistant for the British Council. This adds invaluable work experience to your academic skills.

We provide plenty of support to identify opportunities and secure an internship.

Global Engagement Year
view of Jet d'eau fountain Geneva

Work with the British Council

You may apply to spend your Global Engagement Year working as a Language Assistant with the British Council.

This role involves supporting the teaching of English in a school or university, planning activities and producing resources to help students improve their English as well as introducing UK contemporary culture through classroom and extra-curricular activities.

You may also support the running of international projects and activities.

Global Engagement Year

The student experience

Our students share their experiences of spending a year abroad, the skills they gained and learning how to become more independent.

Global Engagement Year
the forbidden city in Beijing

Support

We aim to offer a range of support including:

  • Regular preparation meetings and a dedicated preparation course
  • All aspects covered: organisational, social and cultural, health and safety
  • Dedicated tutors providing individual personalised advice

We take your health and safety seriously and make sure that you feel fully prepared for any issues that may arise during your placement.

Global Engagement Year

Careers

Graduates from a Liberal Arts degree acquire transferable skills that are a real asset to a wide range of professions that require effective communication, problem-solving and leadership skills as well as an ability to work in multicultural environments. Graduate destinations could for example include government and policy-making, education, charity and arts sectors as well as journalism.

Creative and critical thinking skills are in high demand in the workplace as is the ability to communicate ideas at every level. A skilled analyst able to see all sides of an argument, you will be a persuasive negotiator while remaining open to the ideas of others. Your adaptability and flexibility, evidenced throughout your degree, will be an asset in today’s rapidly changing and sometimes challenging work environment.

The practical elements of this course will give you demonstrable experience of real-life situations where you have organised and managed workloads and collaborated as part of a team. You will have developed sensitivity to and tolerance of others along with an ability to make ethical and informed decisions.

With the knowledge, skills and experiences you acquire at Lancaster, you can graduate with ambition and confidence that you will bring real value to whatever you choose to do.

Future careers could include:

  • Broadcasting: Radio or TV work
  • Barrister
  • Public relations manager
  • Teacher
  • Social or community worker
  • Manager or team leader in charitable sector
  • Museum or gallery curator
  • Archivist
  • Politics researcher
  • Documentary maker
  • Journalist
  • Marketing or social media specialist
  • Manager or team leader in an Arts organisation or the Heritage Industry
  • Social responsibility manager

As well as a variety of other roles in local and national public sector, and in the business world in the UK and overseas.

This course also prepares for further study at Postgraduate level; for instance, you could go on to the Global Leadership MAs in the School of Global Affairs:

MA Global Affairs

MA Sustainability and Global Environmental Futures

MA Artificial Intelligence, Society and Global Challenges

MA Global Medical and Health Humanities

Alternatively, you could study postgraduate courses across a wide range of disciplines in the humanities, arts, social sciences and beyond.

Careers and employability support

Our degrees open up an extremely wide array of career pathways in businesses and organisations, large and small, in the UK and overseas.

We run a paid internship scheme specifically for our arts, humanities and social sciences students, supported by a specialist Employability Team. The team offer individual consultations and tailored application guidance, as well as careers events, development opportunities, and resources.

Whether you have a clear idea of your potential career path or need some help considering the options, our friendly team is on hand.

Lancaster is unique in that every student is eligible to participate in The Lancaster Award which recognises activities such as work experience, community engagement or volunteering and social development. A valuable addition to your CV!

Find out more about Lancaster’s careers events, extensive resources and personal support for Careers and Employability.

Careers

Find out about some of the careers our alumni have entered into after graduation.

Entry requirements

These are the typical grades that you will need to study this course. You may need to have qualifications in relevant subjects. In some cases we may also ask you to attend an interview or submit a portfolio. You must also meet our English language requirements.

Find more about these qualifications and others not shown here

Learn about how we will assess your application

Qualifications and typical requirements accordion

Contact Admissions

If you are thinking of applying to Lancaster and you would like to ask us a question, please complete our enquiry form and one of our team will get back to you.

International foundation programmes

Delivered in partnership with INTO Lancaster University, our one-year tailored foundation pathways are designed to improve your subject knowledge and English language skills to the level required by a range of Lancaster University degrees. Visit the INTO Lancaster University website for more details and a list of eligible degrees you can progress onto.

Contextual admissions

Contextual admissions could help you gain a place at university if you have faced additional challenges during your education which might have impacted your results. Visit our contextual admissions page to find out about how this works and whether you could be eligible.

Course structure

Enhancing our curriculum

We continually review and enhance our curriculum to ensure we are delivering the best possible learning experience, and to make sure that the subject knowledge and transferable skills you develop will prepare you for your future.

We will publish more detailed information about the structure of this degree course for 2026-entry in June 2025, ahead of our summer undergraduate open days. This will include overviews of the core modules you will take and examples of optional modules which may be available to you.

Fees and funding

We set our fees on an annual basis and the 2026/27 entry fees have not yet been set.

Fees and funding information

Additional fees and funding information accordion

Scholarships and bursaries

Details of our scholarships and bursaries for students starting in 2026 are not yet available.

You can use our scholarships for 2025-entry applicants as guidance.

Important information

The information on this site relates primarily to 2026/2027 entry to the University and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.

The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.

More information on limits to the University’s liability can be found in our legal information.

Our Students’ Charter

We believe in the importance of a strong and productive partnership between our students and staff. In order to ensure your time at Lancaster is a positive experience we have worked with the Students’ Union to articulate this relationship and the standards to which the University and its students aspire. View our Charter and other policies.

Undergraduate open days 2025

Our summer and autumn open days will give you Lancaster University in a day. Visit campus and put yourself in the picture.

Undergraduate Open Days
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