Creative Writing and Publishing (Professional Placement Year)
Entry requirements
A level
A Level - grades BBB-BCC including a Grade B in English or a related subject.
Access to HE Diploma
Typical offers for applicants with Access to HE will be the Access to HE Diploma or Access to HE Certificate (60 credits, 45 of which must be Level 3, at Merit or higher). Applicants will need to demonstrate a strong interest in Creative Writing in their personal statement and may be asked to provide a piece of their own creative writing.
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
A minimum of 32 points are required.
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Extended Diploma grades from Distinction Distinction Merit (DDM) to Distinction Merit Merit (DMM) in any subject. Applicants will need to demonstrate a strong interest in Creative Writing in their personal statement and may be asked to provide a piece of their own creative writing.
T Level
Grade Merit is preferred in a relevant subject.
UCAS Tariff
We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.
About this course
Publishing is one of the UK’s largest creative industries. The Creative Writing and Publishing combination course highlights the collaborative creative process between authors and publishers, and the important contribution they make to our culture.
This flexible course can be tailored to your unique personal interests and career ambitions. In Publishing, you'll learn how to engage intellectually with research, ideas and stories. You'll apply creativity and critical judgement in conceptualising, shaping and disseminating commercially-viable, engaging content for different audiences.
These qualities, combined with wide-ranging interests and an imaginative approach to cultural creation, are typical of our Creative Writing curriculum, and will help you to develop into an entrepreneurial, creative maker and producer.
Please note Creative Writing and Publishing is a combined honours award, to find out more information please refer to our website: https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/courses/ug-creative-writing-and-publishing/
**Combined Honour Awards**
At Bath Spa University many of our undergraduate programmes can be combined, so you don’t have to limit yourself to one subject. If you choose to study a combined award then in Year One you’ll start by studying both subjects in equal depth, then from Year Two you can choose whether to continue with an equally joint course, or a Major/Minor route.
**More about the Professional Placement Year**
A Professional Placement Year (PPY), traditionally known as a sandwich year, is where a student undertakes a period of work with an external organisation for between 9-13 months. The placement occurs between the students' second and third years of undergraduate study. Students can engage in up to 3 placements to make up the total time and are required to source the placement(s) themselves with support from the Careers & Employability Team.
Modules
Year one In your first year, you'll experiment with different writing forms and learn the core skills of editing and copywriting, design, and layout, while also exploring other subjects and experimenting across media, gaining confidence in your making ability. Year two In your second year, you'll start to work collaboratively and discover your own interests - deciding whether to focus on either the novel, poetry or non-fiction - to hone your writing skills. You'll also become familiar with the processes of marketing and learn about the importance of audience. You'll learn to experiment with design and book forms through research, ideas development, and making. Year three is the placement year. In your fourth year, you'll work on high-quality industry projects and live briefs, which will help you develop your specialism and showcase your skills in a professional digital portfolio. You'll also receive specialist Publishing industry careers coaching. During this time, you can develop your novel, poetry or non-fiction writing to a professional level. You'll also collaborate on a major enterprise challenge to work on an original idea, inspired by user experience and new technology.
Assessment methods
You’ll be assessed by coursework, including portfolios, feature articles, essays, reflective commentaries, and industry research reports. In some modules, you’ll share your work through short, informal presentations. This wide range of briefs prepares you for the variety of writing expected in the creative industries. You’ll be taught through industry talks, creative workshops and studio practice, skills labs, challenge days, and lectures. You’ll benefit from the innovative learning environment of the UK's first creative-digital studio-based BA Publishing course in our state-of-the-art Publishing Lab. We work on screen and beyond, creating sketchbooks and prototypes, networking, and finding opportunities.
Tuition fees
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The Uni
Bath Spa University
School of Writing, Publishing and the Humanities
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Creative writing
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
Publishing
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Creative writing
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
The jobs market for this subject - which includes creative writing and scriptwriting courses - is not currently one of the strongest, so unemployment rates are currently looking quite high overall, with salaries on the lower side. But nevertheless, most graduates get jobs quickly. Graduates often go into careers as authors and writers and are also found in other roles where the ability to write well is prized, such as journalism, translation, teaching and advertising and in web content. Be aware that freelancing and self-employment is common is common in the arts, as are what is termed 'portfolio careers', having several part-time jobs or commissions at once - although graduates from this subject were a little more likely than many other creative arts graduates to be in conventional full time permanent contracts, so that might be worth bearing in mind.
Publishing
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Creative writing
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£16k
£21k
£22k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
Publishing
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£16k
£21k
£24k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):
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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).
This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.
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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.
You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.
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Post-six month graduation stats:
This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.
It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
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Graduate field commentary:
The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show
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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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