General entry requirements + English B
Merit rating is calculated based on Swedish upper secondary grades achieved, according to specific entry requirement 6/A6.
Structure
The bachelor's programme in English Studies aims to reflect the diversity of contemporary English scholarship while simultaneously reflecting the research interests of the faculty. The programme is therefore designed around current understandings of the theory and practice of language and literature in their various social forms.
In linguistics, we emphasise fields such as phonetics, sociolinguistics, semantics, pragmatics, and discourse analysis, along with how the English language has developed as a global language of communication. In literary studies, the focus is the study of language-centred cultural production in general, particularly with regards to narrative, relations between text and image, and literary and cultural theory. Specific attention is also given to examining how power operates through language, concentrating especially on gender, class, and ethnicity/race, but also on how technology and aesthetics contribute to contemporary understandings of the world. This mix of subjects and perspectives enables the student to develop a sophisticated, critical consciousness and an awareness of the ways in which language is structured and used for different purposes in a range of contexts. In addition to literature, these contexts comprise visual communication, art, music, advertising, and span the emerging global-technological cultures of the English-speaking world.
The programme emphasises the student's own written and oral production, and offers the student the opportunity to include performing arts and creative writing into the curriculum, thus merging critical and creative thinking. English Studies students gain skills that are applicable to a broad range of career opportunities, including teaching, media (for instance editing, publishing, journalism, advertising, TV, radio, and film), as well as business and administration. Students learn to analyse, evaluate, and create a wide range of texts. These transferable skills are favoured by employers who place a high value on: the construction of clearly expressed arguments; the logical presentation and analysis of ideas; the production of creative solutions; the competent management of large amounts of complex information; and the use of initiative in conducting independent research.
The programme provides a suitable foundation for graduate studies in English, creative writing, teaching, and other fields, both in Europe and abroad.
In the final semester of the programme, it is compulsory for the students to select either the literary or linguistics option.
During semester four and five, students take elective courses, with the possibility of completing these at universities abroad.
Terms one, two and six are part of the main field of study and are compulsory for a degree in English Studies.