Studying UWA's Bachelor of Arts lets you cultivate your passions while developing the transferable skills that employers need and an Arts degree provides.

Transferable skills are sometimes referred to as 'people skills' because they're about personal attributes that are essential in every industry. Importantly, these skills can never be automated, ensuring you’ll be ready and well equipped for work.

English and Literary Studies

This is a diverse and vibrant major that gives students the opportunity to tailor their learning according to their interests and career pathway, from creative writing and performance studies, to the rich history of the western literary tradition. Our units look at the rich history of the western literary tradition: Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf; writers who have done much to shape the way we live imaginatively in the world today. The major also offers units that look at the exciting ways in which literature works in the newly globalised world. Other important elements of the major are creative writing, where students produce their own creative work; screen and performance studies, which examine texts in media not confined to the written page; and the study of everyday life (gender, race, class) as it is mediated textually and imaginatively. 

English and Literary Studies graduates are highly successful in obtaining careers from teaching to management, journalism to advertising and the public service, and in all aspects of cultural life. Many proceed from studies in English to specialised training in professions such as law, medicine, psychology, librarianship, education, publishing, journalism, industrial relations or theatre and media work.