Social Sciences
University of the West of Scotland
UCAS Code: L310 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)
Scottish HNC
Entry to Year 1 with HNC in one of the following titles: Social Sciences; Social Studies; Social Care/Services; Legal Services; Police Studies; Working with Communities; Applied Science. Entry to Year 2 with HNC in one of the following titles, with B in the Graded Unit: Social Sciences; Social Studies
Scottish HND
Entry to Year 1 with HND in Childhood Practice Entry to Year 2 with HND in Social Sciences or Social Studies with B in the Graded Unit. Entry to Year 3 with HND in Social Sciences or Social Studies with BB in the Graded Unit.
Scottish Higher
T Level
UCAS Tariff
About this course
**OVERVIEW**
The UWS BA (Hons) in Social Sciences focuses on the central themes of social justice, power and inequalities.
The first two years of this degree equip you with a firm grounding in the essential disciplines of politics, policy and sociology. Thereafter you can specialise your studies through the selection of a number of optional modules according to your career preferences.
The suite comprises:
// BA (Hons) Social Sciences - both campuses
// BA (Hons) Social Sciences (Politics & Policy) - Paisley Campus
// BA (Hons) Social Sciences (Sociology & Policy) - Paisley Campus
// BA (Hons) Social Sciences (Sociology) - Lanarkshire Campus
The specialist pathways provide you with the opportunity for in-depth exploration of social issues such as health, migration, development, international relations, gender, nationalism and welfare.
By studying social sciences, you will investigate social and political change, explore both how we understand society and how we can change it for the better. You will investigate the driving forces behind and potential solutions to complex local and global challenges in society, using a range of theoretical lenses and research methods. You will also develop your critical thinking alongside a wide range of research and transferable skills that are highly valued by the public, private and voluntary sectors.
**CAREER PROSPECTS**
**Jobs**
Graduating with a BA Social Sciences will enhance your core cognitive, interpersonal and communication skills, knowledge and competences. Graduates have gone on to work in the public, private, and third sectors in areas including: politics, working for or even as elected representatives; contributing their skills to public services industries, such as housing and planning; working in health and social care; undertaking employment in the private sector; and, following conversion courses, teaching in primary and secondary schools.
**Further Study**
Graduates from this courses may be able to undertake further study at master's level study in areas such as: International Politics, Social Policy, Applied Social Science, Policy Analysis; International Development; International Relations; Global Governance; Public Administration etc.
Modules
In Year 1, you will be introduced to social science disciplines by developing your ‘sociology imagination’ and understandings of the key issues in modern society such as social class, gender identity and gender inequality, masculinity, health and race and ethnicity. You will also be introduced to research and academic skills and competences. You will also learn about the world of social sciences research and will be introduced to the study of politics as well as the critical role of policy in supporting employment, health and education.
In Year 2, you will deepen your engagement with the key debates in social sciences. Core modules will equip you with knowledge of comparative politics and the classical works of social and political thought, global society and will focus on the relationship between social policy and social change. You will also develop your qualitative and qauntitative research skills and knowledge.
In Year 3 you can choose a specialst pathway. Apporporiate modules will be selected and your studies will be augmented by further develoiping your research skills in order to help you design your disseration for Year 4.
In your final year of study, you will undertake your independent research project (a 40-credit dissertation). You will be supported by staff in using the methods skills that you have developed throughout the course to explore, in depth, the programme theme that has most interested you. In addition, you will increase the range of your specialist knowledge by choosing from a variety of electives.
Assessment methods
The BA (Hons) Social Sciences degree suite embraces a variety of formative and summative assessments, ranging from traditional exams and essays to case studies, group and individual presentations, real life scenarios (e.g. policy briefs, research proposals) or policy analysis and evaluation.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
Extra funding
Visit www.uws.ac.uk/scholarships
The Uni
Lanarkshire Campus
Paisley Campus
Education and Social Sciences
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.
Social sciences (non-specific)
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.
Social sciences (non-specific)
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 section covers a range of subjects that are often very different, so if you have a particular course in mind, the data here might not fully reflect the possible outcomes from your particular choice. Graduates from these subjects tend to do similar sorts of things to graduates from other social studies courses, so welfare and community roles are common, as are education, whilst graduates also often go into management, marketing and HR jobs and jobs in the police, and employment rates are good in general — but talk to course tutors and attend open days and try to get stats for the course you’re interested in.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Social sciences (non-specific)
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£18k
£22k
£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.
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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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