During the six months duration of the course spread over two academic semesters you will be part of a community of students, quite possibly from different parts of the world, all committed to developing and sharing their theoretical knowledge and research skills across a broad range of disciplines from the Arts, Humanities and Education, Business, Social Sciences and Law.

The modules you will study are:

English for Graduate study

Advanced academic writing

Research skills

Contemporary topics

Cross cultural communications

Discipline specific research project 

You can see an overview of the modules by visiting the Pre-Masters Diploma Course Page here.

As the Pre-Master’s Diploma is open to international students across a broad range of disciplines, no specific pre-arrival activities are set other than that students prepare themselves by engaging with academic texts written in English language in their chosen discipline area. This will not only help in terms of developing English language skills but hopefully allow students to get better acquainted with the contemporary topics in their chosen areas.

For all discipline areas:

Balnaves, M. & Caputi P. (2001) Introduction to Quantitative Research Methods: An Investigative Approach. London: Sage.

Bell, J. (2018) Doing your Research Project. 7th edn. Maidenhead: Open University Press

Caplan, N. (2012) Grammar Choices for Graduate & Professional Writers. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press

Swales, J. & Feak, C.B. (2014) Academic Writing for Graduate Students. 3rd edn. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press

For Business, Arts and Humanities and the Law:

Bell, E. (2019) Business Research Methods. 5th edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Bryman, A. (2016) Social Research Methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

For Arts, Humanities and Education:

Cohen, L. (2011) Research Methods in Education. Abingdon: Routledge.

Holliday, A. (2002) Doing and Writing Qualitative Research. London: Sage

It is useful to note that the University Bookshop offers 10% discount on most titles in print and have some price-beating book bundles. They also price match Amazon on core texts recommended in the module handbooks you will receive when you start in September.