BA Italian A and Politics

Year 4

(Award available for year: Bachelor of Arts)

Learning outcomes

On completion of the year/programme students should have provided evidence of being able to:
- being able to communicate fluently and appropriately, maintaining a high degree of grammatical accuracy, in Italian with native or other competent speakers;
- being able to communicate effectively information, arguments and analysis in a variety of forms;
- having consolidated and extended knowledge and understanding of complex structures and registers of Italian;
- being able to demonstrate sophisticated receptive and productive language skills, and having had some practice in mediation language skills, in a variety of contexts;
- being able to demonstrate an ability to evaluate critically one or more aspects of the literatures, cultures, linguistic contexts, history, politics, geography, social and economic structures of Italian society;
- demonstrate an awareness and understanding of one or more cultures and societies, other than their own, that will normally have been significantly enhanced by a period of residence in Italy;
- work autonomously within a structured environment.

On completion of the year/programme students should have provided evidence of being able to:
- understand and demonstrate a coherent knowledge of the main issues in the contemporary scholarship of the disciplines;
- understand and use the main conceptual ideas in the disciplines;
- analyse and evaluate political issues;
- appreciate the uncertainty of knowledge within the academic disciplines;
- evaluate and make appropriate use of the scholarly literature;
- write, present and support arguments in a scholarly way;
- initiate and undertake an extended project;
- in the dissertation students should be able to demonstrate conceptual grasp and an ability to make a sustained argument;
- show an understanding of scholarship and recent research in Sociology;
- have the knowledge and ability to deploy various techniques of analysis and enquiry within Sociology, and develop a conceptual understanding of Sociological debates and describe and comment on particular aspects of scholarship and recent research in Sociology;
- demonstrate proficiency in the application of Sociological concepts and techniques;
- demonstrate a familiarity with the concepts, information, practical competencies and techniques of Sociology;
- demonstrate an ability to evaluate the appropriateness of different approaches within the discipline of Sociology; and appreciate their strengths and weaknesses as learners;
- demonstrate an awareness of the boundaries between Sociology and other disciplines;
- be able to apply generic and sociological qualities to standard situations outside the context in which they were originally studied;
- be furnished with a historically informed and theoretically aware academic understanding of the dynamics of political phenomena and an in depth understanding of political processes, both at the domestic and international levels;
- have a broad and balanced knowledge and understanding of key political theories, concepts, institutions and processes;
- have an up to date knowledge of the main political theories that structure our political systems, and the wider social forces that shape political life;
- have the ability to critically analyse British politics and international issues.

The programme will:
- provide students with an opportunity to study the engagement between Sociology and Politics;
- allow the study of the two disciplines to the same depth as any single honours student but with less the breadth in each discipline;
- provide a basis for further advanced study in either of the disciplines or in a cognate interdisciplinary area.

Transferable (key) skills

Students will have had the opportunity to acquire, as defined in the modules specified for the programme:
- qualities and transferable skills related to the subject area(s) studied, valuable for employment, eg. be able to gather and critically evaluate information from a variety of paper, audio-visual and electronic sources, be able to use IT effectively both as a means of communication and as an aid to learning;
- the ability to appreciate their strengths and weaknesses as learners;
- skills necessary for the communication of information;
- skills necessary for the exercising of personal responsibility and decision making.

Students will have had the opportunity to, as defined in the modules specified for the programme:
- demonstrate transferable skills necessary for employment such as initiative, analysis of information, problem-solving, finding information;
- the skills of communication of concepts, facts and issues in a variety of ways;
- demonstrate an ability to apply a broad range of disciplinary aspects;
- draw on the scholarly material;
- evaluate the scholarly arguments;
- conduct independent work within the discipline;
- use critical ability.

Assessment

Achievement will be assessed by a variety of methods in accordance with the learning outcomes of the modules specified for the year/programme and will include:
- demonstrating the ability to apply a broad range of aspects of the discipline;
- work that draws on a wide variety of material;
- the ability to evaluate critical opinion;
- demonstrating a knowledge base that is both broad and, sometimes, specialized.

Achievement will be assessed by a variety of methods in accordance with the learning outcomes of the modules specified for the year/programme and will include:
- dissertation;
- oral assessment;
- written reports and log books;
- assessment essays;
- examinations.

These will demonstrate the ability to
- use the scholarly literature;
- analyse and evaluate arguments;
- show self-discipline and self-direction;
- conduct independent work.