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BA (Hons) English: Creative and Professional Writing with Integrated Foundation Year

Explore and develop your own creative talent. Acquire skills in pitching, presenting, and networking. Work with established organisations and develop your portfolio for a varied and fulfilling writing career.

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A student writing notes in a notebook
UCAS codeQ301
Duration4 years
Fee (UK)£5,760
LocationOn campus

Course summary

If you’re passionate about storytelling and want to build a career doing what you love, the BA (Hons) English: Creative and Professional Writing degree is for you. This course will help you find your unique voice, grow your writing skills, and prepare for a wide range of exciting career paths.

Blending the best of a traditional English degree with exciting connections to the creative industries, the course is designed to help you thrive as a modern writer. You’ll learn from published authors and academic experts as you explore fiction, non-fiction, poetry, scriptwriting, and digital storytelling.

You’ll also examine important themes like gender, identity, post-colonialism, and eco-criticism – both as a writer and a reader. Through the Business of Writing modules, you’ll gain practical, career-ready skills like editing and proofreading, building your brand, using social media to tell a story, and pitching your work to publishers.

In your second year, you’ll undertake a placement to gain real-world experience, tailored to suit your own career goals. In your final year, you’ll produce a major piece of writing that reflects your interests, supported by guidance from lecturers and industry professionals.

You’ll also have access to amazing resources like our WritingHUB, Spark Sunderland radio station, guest talks from professionals in the creative sectors, and various literary field trips.

When you graduate, you’ll be well-prepared to go into a range of roles such as:

  • Novelist or poet
  • Social content editor
  • Journalist or reporter
  • Copywriter
  • Games narrative designer
  • Publishing assistant
  • Freelance writer
  • Publicist
  • Advertising executive.

Integrated Foundation Year

This course is also available with an Integrated Foundation Year. The Integrated Foundation Year route is an additional year built into your degree, designed to support your success and help you progress with confidence.

If you have valuable work or life experience but no formal qualifications, are returning to education after a break, or want to change direction and explore a new career path, the Integrated Foundation Year offers a supportive way to transition into university study.

If you’ve just missed the entry requirements for a three-year course, the Integrated Foundation Year offers a supportive route to start your university journey.

We’re excited to be enhancing our Integrated Foundation Year to give you an even stronger start to your degree. The updated modules will be more aligned with your chosen subject area and carefully designed to build the knowledge, confidence and skills you’ll use throughout your studies. Full details will be shared soon. We can’t wait to tell you more.

Please note, this route isn’t available to international students.

What you'll study

Many of our courses include a range of modules you can choose from. Some of these options may only be available if you’ve already studied specific required modules. If you’re not sure what you need before picking a module, your course leader can help.

Undergraduate module credits should total 120 credits per academic year. If optional modules are available alongside core modules on your course, you should choose an amount that totals 120 credits.

How you'll learn

You'll be taught via lectures and seminars, with access to our virtual learning environment (VLE). Our teaching is designed to help you become an active, independent, and reflective learner. Lectures are used to communicate the core content of modules, while seminars and workshops provide you with the opportunity to develop your knowledge and skills through a range of tutor-guided activities. These can include creative writing practice, peer review groups, and redrafting, as well as more academic skills such as close textual analysis, and the guided reading of primary and secondary material. We'll encourage you to work in pairs and in small groups, as well as individually.

You'll be assessed via portfolios of creative work and essays, and also through innovative measures such as pitches, group projects, and presentations. There'll also be the opportunity to take up an industry placement.

You'll be supported through one-to-ones with academic staff during office hours, or online, depending on teaching conditions.

Entry requirements

Fees and finance support

UK£5,760

Undergraduate fees are set according to rules from Government in line with forecast inflation. If you're a Home fee-paying student, the fee for your first year of study for 2026/27 will be £9,790. You'll pay tuition fees for every year of study. Fees may increase every year based on the Retail Price Index.

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See all course tuition fees.

If you're a full-time UK/Irish/EU settled/EU pre-settled student on the Integrated Foundation Year route, you may be eligible to receive financial support to cover your fees for the full four years. UK and EU settled students may also be eligible to receive a maintenance loan.

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UK students

Disclaimer

We want to make sure you have clear and accurate information about our courses. Our website always shows the latest updates. If you’ve applied and been offered a place, we’ll contact you in writing if anything important changes.

View our programme specifications(opens in new tab) for further information about what the course covers, learning outcomes and the skills you'll gain when you graduate.