The Liberal Arts

A liberal arts education empowers students to solve problems, adapt, and collaborate. It also prepares students to become the types of employees organisations want to hire. But a liberal arts education doesn’t just provide great employability. It also enhances students’ personal and social development, providing them with self-confidence, self-understanding and a sense of social responsibility. A liberal arts education at Richmond can foster those qualities and skills, providing choice, freedom and diversity.

Here’s how.

All of our undergraduate students at Richmond take seven Core Curriculum courses in liberal arts, alongside some courses relating to their chosen subject or subjects (students may be exempt from some of these Liberal Arts subjects depending on their qualifications, see below for details). These courses reach across disciplines, building connections between different academic areas such as philosophy, writing, science, business, creativity, communications, digital futures, international relations, history and psychology.

By exploring a wide range of subjects, it enables students to gain a broader perspective of the world around them, developing their intellectual curiosity. It also makes for a much more diverse student experience, working with students taking other subjects in a truly multi-cultural, international learning environment.

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Diversity

Study a global curriculum in London with students from across the world and learn to understand and celebrate what makes us different and what makes us the same.

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Choice

Choose your own path and decide your major and minor as you learn and develop rather than having to decide before you arrive.

Freedom

Enjoy flexibility across your subjects and the chance to study and to intern across the globe – a life-transforming opportunity.

Major or minor? What do these mean?

Based on the US liberal arts system, your main subject will be a ‘major’. Not sure which subject to take? No problem, you can choose your subject in the first year. All majors are supported by a wide range of electives or optional courses, giving you more choice.

You can also choose to take a ‘minor’, an optional, additional subject which doesn’t need to be related to your major but it could be a subject that you’re passionate about. Or it could give you a competitive edge when it comes to graduation. We have no less than 26 minors for you to choose from, mix and match from these options:

Accounting (not available for students majoring in Business Management)
Accounting and Finance (not available for students majoring in Business Management)
American Studies
Art History and Visual Culture

The Liberal Arts Core Curriculum

Your degree at Richmond will usually take four years (or eight semesters), although this can be shortened through the transfer of eligible academic credit. If you enter with A-levels at grade C or above, or equivalent qualifications, you may be exempt from some of these Liberal Arts subjects and could complete your degree programme sooner. Students entering with a US High School Diploma or equivalent usually complete in four years.

The Liberal Arts Core Programme is based on seven core curriculum courses (with a mix of required and optional courses), including an Environmental Studies course in your first, second or third year. The seven courses, which are spread over the first three years of a four-year degree programme, are outlined below.

The Liberal Arts Core – at a glance

A focus on embodying change

7 required courses

Level 3 - 3 required courses

GEP 3180 Research & Writing I
This core course concentrates on developing the students’ ability to read and think critically, and to read, understand and analyse texts from a range of genres. How do you successfully negotiate a path through a sea of information and then write it up? Using essential information literacy skills to help with guided research, this course develops the ability to produce effective and appropriate academic writing across the curriculum. This is the first course in the Richmond academic research and writing sequence.
GEP 3105 Tools for change
In this course, students will discuss and respond to social issues in the local area through group work, reflecting on how they can become both collaborative and independent learners. They will research the context of and plan for service learning in the local area. They will learn to use a range of digital platforms for individual and group project work, focussing strongly on effective communication, including oral presentation and written reports using a range of relevant primary and secondary sources.
GEP 3150 Visual Thinking
This course provides an interdisciplinary grounding in the practice and theory of critical visual thinking. Through theoretical frameworks such as semiotics, it explores predominantly photographic images, from across a range of cultures and contexts: the arts, politics, science, sport and technology. Through visual analysis, it considers digital forms of observation and image making, as well as building understanding by visual practice. It examines questions concerning curating, circulating and making public the images we produce. It asks: What are the values and truths hidden in images? How can the practice of image production advance our thinking around images? How, in the context of a range of disciplines, can we learn to communicate ideas visually and verbally?

GEP 3170 Narratives of Change
This course considers a landscape of global ideas through the lens of contemporary literature. Students will be introduced to pivotal moments of recent thought surrounding gender, race, environment and technology, exploring how literature both shapes and responds to our changing world. Students will analyse literary, political, and theoretical texts from a variety of cultures, exploring the relationship between written form, content and context particularly the ways in which social change might play out in literature. There will be the opportunity to produce both critical analysis in essay form and creative writing that responds to the texts studied.

and

English for Academic Purposes (if tested into)

Level 4 - 2 required courses

GEP 4105 Social Change in Practice
In this course, students will discuss and respond to social issues in the local area through group work, reflecting on how they can become both collaborative and independent learners. They will research the context of and plan for service learning in the local area. They will learn to use a range of digital platforms for individual and group project work, focussing strongly on effective communication, including oral presentation and written reports using a range of relevant primary and secondary sources.
GEP 4180 Research & Writing II
How do you train your critical research and writing skills to be effective in the academic and professional arenas? How do you design and structure an argument that is convincing? This core course focuses on the principles of good scholarship and academic practice that will be required throughout the students’ studies and in the workplace. These skills are developed throughout the course so that students may, with increasing confidence, produce well-researched writing that demonstrates critical engagement with a self-selected academic topic. This is the second course in the Richmond academic research and writing sequence.

Plus

DGT 4110 Data Analytics for Social Change (if no MTH in major)
This course provides an interdisciplinary grounding in the practice and theory of critical visual thinking. Through theoretical frameworks such as semiotics, it explores predominantly photographic images, from across a range of cultures and contexts: the arts, politics, science, sport and technology. Through visual analysis, it considers digital forms of observation and image making, as well as building understanding by visual practice. It examines questions concerning curating, circulating and making public the images we produce. It asks: What are the values and truths hidden in images? How can the practice of image production advance our thinking around images? How, in the context of a range of disciplines, can we learn to communicate ideas visually and verbally?

Level 5 - 1 required course

GEP 5102 Leadership in a Changing World
This is a Service Learning course that focuses on emerging forms of leadership. It aims to introduce students from all majors to the professional, intellectual and personal skills to enable them to understand different approaches to leadership and function well in culturally diverse communities globally. In addition to the hours of field work (typically 30 hours* depending on the organisation), the student will also produce a critical reflective progress report of their experience (a project log), and a portfolio of their work (potentially as an analytical essay, or a video or a Report or an oral presentation). These assessments have been designed to help the student reflect on the application of their specialist knowledge, the leadership skills they are learning, and the benefits gained from the critical experiential service-learning. It will also help them determine if their current career goals are the correct fit for them.This course enables students to engage with organizations and communities outside of the university. During the semester, students will consider topics such as negotiation and behavioral influence. They will devise, plan and carry out their own engagement project for Charities, NGO’s and non-profit organisations. This course combines design thinking and behavioural design theories with global service learning theory, across different employment sectors and aspects of society. It equips students to identify opportunities for influence, leadership and employment both in and adjacent to their field. The course is underpinned by JEDI approaches to justice, equality, diversity and inclusion across the global community.
GEP 5103 Environment & Society
This Environmental Service Learning course is a student community engagement course that aims to provide students from all disciplines and majors with the intellectual, professional, and personal skills that will enable them to build professional links and function well in culturally diverse communities globally and within an Environmental perspective. In addition to the hours of field work (typically 30 hours* depending on the organisation), the student will also produce a critical reflective progress report of their experience (a learning log), a ‘community action’ portfolio (analytical essay), and a final oral presentation. These assessments have been designed to help the student reflect on the application of their specialist knowledge, the skills they are learning, and the benefits gained from the service-learning experience. It will also to help them determine if their current career goals are the correct fit for them. During this service-learning course, the faculty supervisor will work closely with each student to ensure that the community engagement is a successful one.
GEP 5104 Global Citizenship and Migration
This course examines the theoretical, political and sociological conceptions of citizenship and their limitations. It looks at both the theoretical constructs and the concrete policies that have shaped the experience of the citizen and of the migrant. The course therefore considers the development of the nation state and the establishment of legal and social citizenship. It also examines the border as a mechanism of control and security. The course further addresses the intersection of experiences of citizenship across economic, racial and gender differences in the context of international governance as well as the globalization of economies and environmental issues. This is a Service-Learning student community engagement course that aims to provide students with the analytical and inter-personal skills to support key non-governmental and policy-making actors around the broad theme of citizenship and migration as well as to build an understanding of the needs and challenges faced by key stakeholders and local communities globally. Through consultation with key stakeholders, students will produce analytical written assessments on key questions around the theme of global citizenship and migration, they will also produce a range of work introducing them to a range of key employability skills in a range of key sectors related to citizenship, these might include: the local and global charity sector, local and national policy-making, as well as regional or international organisations. Students will be required to maintain a progress report that tracks learning and can act as a reference point for problem solving in the future.

One required ENV course at Level 3, 4 or 5

ENV 3125 Foundation of Environmental Studies
A basic introduction to the major themes of Environmental Studies, this course covers basic ecology, environmental ethics, and environmental science. Well known environmental issues such as global warming, ozone depletion, acid rain, pollution, and population issues are addressed from scientific, economic, politico-sociological and ethical standpoints. An awareness and appreciation of global, local, and personal environmental problems are developed, together with the implications of possible solutions. The concept of interrelatedness is a unifying theme throughout the course.
ENV 3120 Energy: a Global Perspective
A basic introduction to the major themes of modern and historical energy use, this course covers the basic science of energy use and technology and the history and science of humankind's spiralling and sometimes insidious drive for new forms of energy. From pre-history through to the industrial revolution and beyond this course takes a historical, environmental and comparative approach to the development of animate power, windmills, watermills and traditional uses of biomass, through to the industrial revolution and the modern use of fossil fuels, including electricity generation. Investigations of more modern energy use such as nuclear fission and fusion, along with renewable technologies such as wind turbines, hydroelectrics, solar, geothermal, biomass and fuel cells allow the course to explore the possibility of managing energy sources for the benefit of all.
ENV 4100 Endangered Species
This course will give students knowledge and understanding of the underlying concepts and principles of the science of ecology through a study of ecosystems, conservation, biodiversity, and selected endangered or threatened species. The course will address natural and anthropogenic causes of species’ decline and extinction and possible conservation techniques that could have been, are, or could be, used to reverse the extinction or decline. As well as some typical ‘poster species’, other less well known but equally important species will be discussed.
ENV 5100 Environmental Ethics
This course is designed to develop students’ understanding of the concepts of environmental ethics through an analysis of historical and modern issues. The role of humans within nature and anthropogenic effects upon nature will be discussed along with typical environmental issues such as climate change, pollution, population issues, energy issues, conservation, women in the environment, and animal rights.

Subject exemptions

As outlined above, if you enter with A-levels at grade C or above, or equivalent qualifications, you may be exempt from some of these subjects and could complete your degree programme sooner. Students entering with a US High School Diploma or equivalent usually complete in four years.

In order to assess you for potential exemptions we will need to complete a TCE (transfer credit evaluation). For more information please visit our transfer credits page.

Liberal Arts – A History

Liberal arts. What does it mean? Why choose a university with a liberal arts approach? What difference does it make to students?

Liberal arts education has been around for thousands of years, since the time of the Ancient Greeks and Romans, who considered a liberal arts education necessary for a human being to be free.

But what does ‘liberal arts’ mean? It’s not a programme focused only on the ‘arts’ – a collection of subjects generally associated with the humanities. It derives from the classical and mediaeval collection of subjects known as artes liberalis: the knowledge worthy of a free person.

‘The academic course of instruction at a college intended to provide general knowledge and comprising the arts, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences.’ (Collins Dictionary)

Traditionally, there are seven subjects that made up the liberal arts:

The trivium of humanities (grammar, logic, and rhetoric); and
The ‘scientific’ quadrivium (astronomy/astrology, music, geometry, and arithmetic).

Taken collectively, these seven ‘artes’ contributed to the overarching art, philosophy.

The core aim of a liberal arts education remains true to these roots today, providing students with knowledge on topics as diverse as science, visual thinking literature, maths and global development.

Key transferable skills

If you’re considering attending university, think about the relevant skills you will need for the future. Not just your first job when you graduate, but the one you’ll have 20 years from now. Ask employers what they look for in employees, or what the most valuable skills are. The list often includes transferable skills such as the ability to collaborate, view things from multiple perspectives, adapt to changing demands and analyse and interpret data.

These are some of the inter-disciplinary, transferable skills that you can gain with our liberal arts approach at Richmond:

Effective oral and written communication skills
Problem-solving and pattern intelligence skills
Ability to learn and synthesise new ideas
Experience in quantitative and qualitative data analysis
Critical and reflective reading skills

Numerical skills
Effective research skills
Organisation and time-management skills
Information literacy skills
Ability to adapt easily to situations
Ethical decision-making skills

Ability to work in a team
Self-confidence and self-understanding
Ability to be sensitive to others and be tolerant of cultural differences
Cross-cultural knowledge
Ability to pose meaningful questions

A person is sitting in a library room surrounded by furniture, a bookcase, and a computer, actively learning and reading from a book while using their laptop.

Benefits of a liberal arts education

To help outline some of the pros of attending a liberal arts university, here are just some of the benefits given:

Interdisciplinary approach to learning

Integrates different areas of study, providing diversity and exposing students to a wide range of subjects. This broad education in a truly international environment with students and faculty from around the world prepares students to succeed in whatever career they choose.

“Post-graduation I have found that my degrees from Richmond (both UK and US accreditations) have opened many doors both in London and abroad. Explaining how I majored in Economics but also took classes studying the history of Rock & Roll, Mysticism and Magic, Photography, History of Florence (just to name a few), invites conversation from prospective employers and clients alike.

Richmond offers an unparalleled course catalogue alongside a uniquely diverse student population which results in an outstanding liberal arts degree, enabling flexibility for future careers.”
– Katrina

Choice and flexibility

You choose your own path and decide your major and minor as you learn and develop rather than having to decide from day one.

Teaches critical & innovative thinking skills

Through our liberal arts courses, students are provided with the all-important problem-solving and critical thinking skills. They focus on how to think, not what to think. Instead of memorising facts and then forgetting the information at the end of the semester, students learn to examine, think and connect ideas. These valuable skills are even more vital in the workplace.

Personal and social responsibility

With an emphasis on personal responsibility and opportunities for community engagement, all liberal arts students at Richmond undertake some form of service learning or work in the community. This opens their eyes to the world around them and how certain actions affect others. Whether it’s working for a local cancer charity or helping clean a river, liberal arts students at Richmond are engaged and committed to making the world a better place.

Prepares students for jobs yet to be created

A liberal arts education prepares students not only for their first job, but it’s great preparation for future jobs that aren’t even created yet!

There are many jobs that are prominent today that didn’t exist 20 years ago –social media influencers and drone operators to name but two. It’s eye-opening to think about the results of a study from the Institute for the Future which says around 85 percent of jobs in 2030 haven’t yet been invented.

How our students become global citizens thanks to liberal arts

“Richmond is a wonderful place to study, expand your horizons and think out of the box about the challenges facing the global community. Richmond prepared me for a career in both the legislative and executive branches of the US Government and imbued in me a commitment to help make the world a better place.

As a senior civil servant at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) I lead a team that helps American communities become more resilient to disasters. I recall my time at Richmond fondly and hope that current and future students get as much out of their years in London as I did.”

Aaron LevyBA International Relations, now Director, Federal Emergency Management Agency

“Now that I have graduated, I have noticed that employers are especially interested by the wide array of subjects I have taken at Richmond, which focused both on the theory and the practice, as well as by the dual UK/US degree and the study abroad opportunities this has brought. The diversity at Richmond is something I have also seen to be appreciated by employers in the interviews, as nowadays, a multicultural environment is an aspect companies put a lot of importance on.”

Cristina PavelescuBA Economics, Intern Assistant at Julius Baer

“After earning my BA in Political Science and International Relations from Richmond, I went on to earn my MSc from the London School of Economics and JD from Rutgers School of Law. I am currently a Deputy Attorney General for New Jersey in the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability. I joined my current office after practicing at a large international law firm for more than five years.

There is a through line from my time at Richmond to my current practice. Practicing law requires, among other things, the ability to quickly digest facts, see an issue from all sides, and draw key distinctions among competing arguments. At Richmond, the quality of instruction, class size, and diverse community of students helped make me uniquely prepared for my career.”

Trevor TaniguchiBA Political Science and International Relations, now Deputy Attorney General, New Jersey

“My courses at Richmond have helped me gain the necessary knowledge in different areas – economics, politics, philosophy, international relations, environmentalism etc. – that have allowed me to approach my internship experience with the right confidence and make the most out of it.”

Miriam AntoniniBA International Relations

“The course elements at Richmond gave me the ability to create and start various initiatives due to the unique make-up of the University. My Richmond experience allowed me to explore my interests and I was able to determine where my passion and strengths lie, which completely changed my perspective and career path.”

Sanjay RajaBA Economics, now UK Economist (Vice President), Deutsche Bank