Joint honours courses
Joint honours courses allow you to combine two different subjects. These could be closely related or from totally different areas.
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Why study two subjects together?
Here are five good reasons to study a joint honours degree at Kingston University:
- It’s flexible – if you can’t choose between one subject or another, you can keep your options open and study a combination.
- It’s adaptable – you can deepen your knowledge across a couple of subject areas and learn to approach problems from various perspectives.
- It helps with employability – a joint honours degree shows employers that you're flexible, multi-skilled, you have wide-ranging interests, are able to learn new things in various subject areas and are a well-rounded individual.
- You'll develop transferable skills – the joint honours combination may help you to develop highly sought-after skills in the work place such as time management, independent study skills and organisation.
- Additional opportunities outside your degree – as an undergraduate in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, you'll have opportunity to study abroad (depending on your choice of course), gain real experience in a work environment and learn a new language.
How does a joint honours degree work?
Usually you split your time equally between the two subjects. But sometimes you spend more time studying one subject (in which case it is your major field) than the other (which is your minor field). For most courses you will study an equal number of modules in the first year in both of your chosen subjects and make the decision whether you wish to continue studying these equally (joint) or to major or minor in them for the rest of your degree.
Most of our courses (single honours and joint honours) consist of four modules* each year. So, for example, if you were studying Creative Writing and English Literature you might choose:
- half-field Creative Writing and half-field English Literature – two modules in Creative Writing and two modules in English Literature (your degree title would be Creative Writing and English Literature);
- major-field Creative Writing and minor-field English Literature – three modules in Creative Writing and one module in English Literature (your degree title would be Creative Writing with English Literature); or
- minor-field Creative Writing and major-field English Literature – one module in Creative Writing and three modules in English Literature (your degree title would be Creative Writing with English Literature).
Whichever route you choose, the total number of modules you take is exactly the same as a single honours student.
*(A module is a unit of study that explores a specific area within a subject.)
Is it more difficult than a single honours degree?
No, you work at exactly the same academic level as students on single honours programmes – you simply study fewer modules from each subject area.
Remember that the total number of modules you take is exactly the same as a single honours student.
What can I study?
We offer the following courses as joint honours at Kingston: