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Archaeological Practice with Professional Placement

Entry requirements


We welcome applications from students who are completing an Access to Higher Education Diploma. We normally look for applicants to have studied a course that is in a similar subject and offers are usually made in line with our published tariff point range.

GCSE/National 4/National 5

GCSE in English Language at grade 4 or C, or higher.

T Level

P

UCAS Tariff

96-112

About this course


Course option

4years

Full-time | 2024

Subject

Archaeology

- Spend a full year gaining invaluable experience with our industry placement

- Use our fully equipped laboratory and the latest range of industry-standard surveying equipment, including a ground penetrating radar and geoscan gradiometers

- Graduate with your own professional portfolio to impress employers

- Accredited by The Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA) and University Archaeology UK (UAUK).

Have you always wanted to be a professional archaeologist, getting your hands dirty and making exhilarating finds? Make no bones about it, this four-year vocational course is a great pathway into a career in the field, teaching you the necessary skills to gather, analyse and interpret archaeological evidence to truly bring the past to life.

On our hands-on programme, you use cutting-edge scientific techniques to explore history and prehistory. You go out into the field and discover real artefacts of historic importance, studying a wide range of topics from Prehistoric Europe and Roman Britain to Forensic and Maritime Archaeology. Then you make good use of your knowledge in a year-long placement within the industry and come away with a professional portfolio to impress future employers.

Our department also has a commercial research consultancy (ARCA), where you can learn from highly-trained specialist staff. The consultancy offers valuable laboratory work experience – an opportunity to combine your academic expertise with delivering high-quality commercial solutions.

In Year 1, you learn all the basics for a solid foundation in Archaeology, from prehistory to the historic period and cover topics like Archaeological Science and Fieldwork. This is topped off with an exciting four weeks at a live excavation site.

You cement your knowledge in Year 2 by acquiring practical and applied skills including in Geographic Information Systems, remote sensing and measured survey. You also dig deeper into chosen areas of study, for example in Human Bioarchaeology and the Archaeology of Popular Culture then wrap up the year with an optional field trips and another summer excavation.

Delve into what it’s really like to work as a professional archaeologist in Year 3 with a full year’s placement at an archaeological organisation and develop a Portfolio of professional practice to demonstrate your experience to future employers.

In Year 4, you engage in more vocational learning during classes on project management and cultural heritage law. You write a dissertation, often on a practical topic, such as a site survey. And there’s a final chance to study in-depth topics that really interest you, ranging from Prehistoric Wessex, through Caribbean Peoples and Cultures to Battlefield Archaeology.

The Department of Archaeology, Anthropology and Geography at the University of Winchester is one of only three academic institutes to be a Registered Organisation with the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA), a quality assurance scheme for professional practice.

With the course’s focus on vocational archaeology, it’s no surprise that many of our graduates proceed directly into a career in professional archaeology, often with commercial archaeological organisations undertaking developer funded excavation, survey work and research work.

Modules

For detailed information on modules you will be studying please click on the 'View course details' link at the top of this summary box.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
EU
£16,700
per year
International
£16,700
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course location:

University of Winchester

Department:

Department of Archaeology, Anthropology and Geography

Read full university profile

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.

86%
Archaeology

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.

Archaeology

Teaching and learning

79%
Staff make the subject interesting
92%
Staff are good at explaining things
88%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
82%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

64%
Library resources
92%
IT resources
86%
Course specific equipment and facilities
81%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

93%
UK students
7%
International students
54%
Male students
46%
Female students
62%
2:1 or above
12%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
C
C

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.

Archaeology

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.

£19,000
med
Average annual salary
91%
med
Employed or in further education
32%
low
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

23%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
14%
Natural and social science professionals
12%
Other elementary services occupations

Want to do a job in the arts - with lots of the great outdoors? Try archaeology! There don't tend to be many archaeology undergraduates out there (just under 700 graduated in 2015) - but it's quite a popular subject at postgraduate level. In fact, over a quarter of archaeology graduates take some kind of further study when they graduate - usually more study of archaeology. When you look at the stats, be aware that junior jobs in archaeology are not always well paid at the start of your career, and that temporary contracts are not uncommon. Thankfully, though, unpaid work, whilst not completely gone, is less common than it used to be. The archaeology graduates of 2015 found jobs in archaeology, of course, but also management and heritage and environment work, as well as more conventional graduate jobs in marketing and the finance industry.

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Archaeology

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

£18k

£21k

£21k

£23k

£23k

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.

Explore these similar courses...

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BSc (Hons) 3 Years Full-time 2024
UCAS Points: 112-120
Nearby University
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Archaeology
BSc (Hons) 3 Years Full-time 2024
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Same University
University of Winchester | Winchester
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UCAS Points: 104-120

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This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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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?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here