Employability
The Faculty of Arts and Humanities embeds the concept and practice of employability into various course modules from Foundation to Postgraduate level to provide students with opportunities to develop the necessary skills that can benefit their future employability.
In addition to a strong academic record, employers want to see evidence of a whole range of skills and attributes from new graduates, including communication skills, problem solving, interpersonal skills, leadership and organisational skills, motivation and commitment, and self-management.
Careers service
UEA’s award winning Careers Service provides opportunities and support throughout your time with us, to ensure you leave with a rich university experience, prepared for the workplace or further study. MyCareerCentral, UEA's Careers Service's online portal, advertises a wealth of part-time, vacation, voluntary and graduate opportunities, to help you gain valuable experience in a sector that interests you, and our paid Internship programme means you can boost your employability while you earn.
Placement module
There is an Arts and Humanities placement module that provides some of our second year students with the opportunity to work within a creative/cultural/charity/ heritage/media or other appropriate organisation that supports the taught session outcomes. The module emphasises industry experience, sector awareness and personal development through a structured reflective learning experience.
From 2024/25, all new Arts and Humanities students will have the option to do pick a variant of their course with an embedded placement year between their second and final year. On these courses students gain invaluable work experience and employability skills in a relevant area of their choice. Students are supported by UEA’s Career Central Service and their School. Arts and Humanities students go into a wide range of sectors once they graduate, and so placements can be done in fields such as heritage, business, the public sector, creative industries and plenty more.
Provided they meet certain criteria, students on Placement Year courses may turn their placement year into a ‘Year in Enterprise’ during which they would have the opportunity to start their own businesses in a structured and supportive environment, scaffolded by training courses and mentoring throughout the year.
Media facilities
BLOC media refers to the media facilities in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. It includes the TV Studio, Media Suite on campus and Broadcast House, which is located in the heart of Norwich on Colegate. The BLOC facilities support a range of audio, video and television production activities, both curricular and extra-curricular, that support students in developing transferable skills. BLOC is used to record podcasts, stream tv shows and live events, produce radio drama, design magazines, make documentaries, experiment with games and special effects, broadcast news stories, and create all sorts of audio- visual content. A team of highly qualified audio-visual technicians are on site to support all users of these dynamic and creative facilities.
Societies
Our students also gain experience by being part of numerous Arts and Humanities-related societies, such as the History, the Art History, or the Language and Communication Studies Societies . Each year, numerous students are part of society committees and develop organising, communication, accounting skills and plenty more in the process. UEA TV, Concrete (UEA’s student newspaper), and Livewire (UEA’s radio channel) are also run by many Arts and Humanities students.
Each of our Schools offers specific employability opportunities tailored to meet the needs of their students.
Examples include:
The Interdisciplinary Institute's close connection with the UEA Television Studio, the UEA Music Centre, the East Anglian Film Archive (EAFA) and the Centre for Japanese Studies (CJS) enables students to gain experience in various areas such as archiving, digital literacy and media-related activities.
The ‘Working with Words’ conference is, open to all Arts and Humanities students, where you’ll hear from successful UEA alumni whose careers have writing and creativity at their hearts. Students have a chance to pick up their tips and make essential contacts that can help them gain confidence and get their careers off to a flying start.
This module usually works through a partnership where students work with an external organisation on a live campaign under their auspices. Past partners include Greenpeace, Generation Rent and People and Planet.
Students either design a complementary element to a partner's current project, or on some years, their own online campaigns. They are supported by masterclass lectures from various external speakers who work in campaigning and gain direct experience of real life work in the campaigns sector.
Visit the pages below to find out more about employability in the schools: