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School of English

Why study with us?

Image of the Main Arts Building
  • English has been taught at Bangor since the University opened in 1884 and therefore has a wealth of experience and a strong sense of tradition
  • In our Welcome Week survey, first year students have described the School of English as vibrant, inspiring, friendly and as having the highest academic reputation, experts in their field and accessible staff
  • The English Library has one of the highest allocations of money per student
  • The English degree at Bangor covers literature from c 700 AD to the present
  • The School of English offers a wide range of courses including our ‘English with’ degree that gives you the option to spend a third of your time on other subject areas: Film, Journalism, Theatre Studies, Creative Writing , American Literature and culture, or English Language
  • The BA Creative writing degree allows you to combine Creative Writing, Film Studies, Journalism and/or Theatre Studies with English in a wide variety of degree programmes
  • The School is firmly committed to close consultation between individual students and teaching staff
  • We take pride in knowing our students personally and have a well developed pastoral system to help and support them during their studies
  • We have a 1:15 staff: student ratio
  • We focus on small group teaching and have one-to-one teaching for the English BA dissertation students.
  • At Bangor you will be taught by the people who write the books as ALL of our staff are successful poets, authors, critics or novelists in their own right.
  • We have over 40,000 volumes on English literature in the English Library, 2000 of them on Shakespeare
  • Bangor has a number of student clubs and societies dedicated solely to drama and poetry: including SODA , ROSTRA , ARCANII and BEDS .
  • We are rated the top university in the UK for the help and support provided to students (The Times Higher Educational Supplement (June 17, 2005)
  • In a survey by the Accommodation for Students website, Bangor was voted one of the best university cities in the UK for facilities and location.
  • The most recent Research Assessment Exercise confirms that the School of English at Bangor is in the top third of English departments in UK.
  • We have one of the largest Peer Guiding schemes and one of the lowest drop-out rates in comparison with other UK universities
  • The crime rate for North Wales is one of the lowest in the whole of the UK
  • Our Centre for Careers and Opportunities Careers is recognised nationally as being one of the most active careers services in the UK ensuring that over 87% of School of English graduates enter employment or further study within six months
  • The Bangor area has a low cost of living. We have cheaper accommodation and lower living costs in comparison with most university cities. According to The Independent's A-Z of Universities and Higher Education Colleges, Bangor is "one of the cheapest places in Britain"
  • We have on-line services through ‘BangorPortal’ which has information about your course and modules ( Which modules am I studying? What are my marks? etc )
  • Bangor is situated in a stunning location, between the Snowdonia Mountains and the Menai Straits. The area is also a paradise for sporty students