Anthropology
Entry requirements
A level
Access to HE Diploma
We require 60 credits with a minimum of 45 credits at level 3 (or equivalent).
Cambridge International Pre-U Certificate - Principal
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
Seventeen points (6, 6, 5) from Higher Level subjects.
Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)
OCR Cambridge Technical Extended Diploma
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Scottish Advanced Higher
Scottish Higher
We will normally make offers based on Advanced Highers. If an applicant has not been able to take 3 Advanced Highers, offers may be made with a combination of Advanced Highers and Highers, or on a number of Highers.
At Durham we welcome applications from students of outstanding achievement and potential from all educational backgrounds. We will consider applicants studying T level qualifications for entry to many of our courses. Where a course requires subject specific knowledge and this is not covered within the T level being studied, you may need to supplement your T level studies with a suitable qualification to meet this requirement, for example at A level. Where this is needed this will be clearly stated in our entry requirements. Detailed entry requirements can be found on individual course entries on our courses database: https://www.durham.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/
UCAS Tariff
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About this course
**Course details**
You will receive broad training in the scientific and social scientific study of humanity encompassing our evolutionary origins and relationship to other primates, cultural diversity, as well as interdisciplinary perspectives on health, politics and the environment.
**Year 1**
In your first year, you will receive a thorough grounding in the theory and practice of anthropology in the broadest sense, addressing the core disciplines of social and biological anthropology as well as interdisciplinary perspectives on culture, society and health. Currently, students take five modules in anthropology and select one elective module offered by another department, including the option to study a module in a modern foreign language.
**Compulsory modules:**
Peoples and Cultures
Human Evolution and Diversity
Being Human: An Introduction to the History and Practice of Anthropology
Doing Anthropological Research
Health, Illness and Society.
**Year 2**
In your second year, you will develop a deeper and more complex grasp of biological and evolutionary anthropology and continue to gain "hands-on" experience of conducting research through a series of regional field trips and activities that form our Anthropological Research Methods in Action module. You will also begin preparation for your dissertation through modules that are designed to support you to follow either a more social or biological pathway as you design your own research project, in addition to a core module that will help you develop plans for your dissertation and prepare to do your own research. You will also take two elective modules that will enable you to pursue your interests in specific topics from the wider anthropological discipline.
**Compulsory modules:**
Anthropological Research Methods in Action
Research Project Design
Evolution, Variation and Adaptation
Our Place in Nature
And one of the following modules:
Biology, Culture & Society
Reading Ethnography
Examples of optional modules:
Kinship and Religion
Politics and Economics
Global Health and Disease
Sex, Reproduction and Love.
**Year 3 (Year 4 if undertaking a Year Abroad)**
In your final year, you will design and carry out your own dissertation project and take part in our Anthropology Field Course Module. The Field Course usually takes place in the September prior to your final year and offers an intensive two-week fieldwork experience at one of the department’s residential field schools. You have a choice of up to six advanced optional taught modules, and you can take an elective option from another department if you wish.
Optional modules are generally based on the research expertise of staff, and reflect the University’s ideal of research-led education. Options available in the Department cover the full disciplinary spectrum, from the entirely biological to the entirely socio-cultural, or a mixture of anthropological sub-disciplines. Options change slightly from year-to-year, with a minimum of 18 different options to choose from every year.
Throughout your degree you are also invited to attend the regular round of departmental research seminars given by visiting scholars or Durham-based researchers and can participate in a key forum for current innovative research.
**Core modules:**
Field School Module
Dissertation
Modules
Year 1
Compulsory modules:
Peoples and Cultures
Human Evolution and Diversity
Being Human: An Introduction to the History and Practice of Anthropology
Doing Anthropological Research
Health, Illness and Society.
Year 2
Compulsory modules:
Anthropological Research Methods in Action
Research Project Design
Evolution, Variation and Adaptation
Our Place in Nature
And one of the following modules:
Biology, Culture & Society
Reading Ethnography
Examples of optional modules:
Kinship and Religion
Politics and Economics
Global Health and Disease
Sex, Reproduction and Love.
Year 3 (Year 4 if undertaking a Year Abroad)
Core modules:
Field School Module
Dissertation
Examples of optional modules:
Evolution of Cooperation
Comparative Cognition and Culture
Cultural Evolution of Music
Technological Primates
Decolonising Anthropology
Primates in Peril
Primates, Predators and the Ecology of Fear
Homo Narrans: Evolutionary Anthropology of Fiction
Forensic Anthropology
Palaeoanthropology and Palaeoecology
Anthropology in the Contemporary Middle East
Anthropology, Art, and Experience
Poison, Pollution and the Chemical Anthropocene
Exhibiting Anthropology
Capitalism in Ruins
Social Anthropology of Hormones
Anthropology of Ethics and Morality
Anthropology of Sport
Anthropological Skills for Climate Change Survival
Power and Governance
Violence and Memory
Anthropology of Tobacco
Anthropology of Health Inequality
Anthropology of Physical Activity and Health
Evolutionary Medicine: Maternal and Infant Health
Human Reproductive Ecology
Development, Conflict and Crisis in the Lower Omo
Assessment methods
Assessment on the BA Anthropology degree varies by module, but may include written examinations, coursework in the form of essays or research projects, and presentations.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
The Uni
Durham City
College allocation pending
Anthropology
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?
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Anthropology
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
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Anthropology
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
This is a pretty flexible degree and a good one if you want to keep your options open. Just over 1,250 graduates completed anthropology degrees last year, and they were well spread out across a whole range of jobs — many industries have jobs that can be done by anthropology graduates and unlike a lot of degrees, there aren't many jobs we can point to and say ‘graduates from this degree do that job’. Management, marketing, housing and recruitment jobs are the most popular, though, and many graduates go into the education or social care sectors. Graduates are also rather more likely than average to work in London, or to go overseas to work. This is quite a popular subject at postgraduate level, and if you want to go into research, you'll need to think about postgrad study - and it's one of the few where numbers are on the up at the moment.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Anthropology
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£22k
£27k
£31k
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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Graduate field commentary:
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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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