Arts degrees are like opinions, everyone has one but it doesn't mean it's any good. But one Irish college wants to change the dire prospects for so many arts graduates: UCD arts degree changes are coming.
UCD's Bachelor of Arts - the biggest third-level degree course in the country - will soon have new degrees with internship options, and will extend the length of some courses from three to four years. Oh and existing students, listen up: the changes are due to come into effect from September 2018.
The Irish Times reports UCD said its changes are aimed at “enhancing students’ educational and employment opportunities”, which essentially means improving the chances of students gaining employment after graduation because let's be honest, an arts degree doesn't exactly guarantee you much of anything except working in retail or an unpaid internship for the rest of eternity.
UCD’s registrar, Prof Mark Rogers said the refreshed Arts degrees are the outcome of “a deep reflection on how we can best expose our students to the world leading expertise and knowledge of our faculty” i.e. they realised just how dire the jobs sitch is out in the real world.
“These degrees allow students to explore traditional arts and humanities and social sciences subjects in new and exciting combinations, while encouraging awareness of the core skills and competencies developed through this study,” he said. “This is further honed through internship, work experience, or study abroad.”
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- Three new arts and humanities degree programmes
- Four social science programmes
- The main degree will have five options over four years, as well as internship, study abroad and extended research options
- The economics, psychology and sociology degrees will all stay at three years
- The BA degree will become a joint-honours degree run over three years, with an option of a fourth year in an overseas partner university
- Students may choose a two-subject major (such as art history, English, geography, etc), or a major plus a minor, from a choice of 19 subjects.
- A new four-year humanities degree with nine different options such as Celtic studies, art history and history, or English, drama and creative writing.
- A new four-year modern languages programme, with the choice of a two-subject combination from French, German, Italian and Spanish.
The changes will also hopefully stop parents from questioning whether an arts degree is the best idea - because it actually is for so many talented and creative people out there.
Fingers crossed these changes mean happy times after college.
