English and Creative Writing and Social Policy

English and creative writing combined with social policy is a genuinely unusual triple combination, bringing together literary study, creative practice and the analytical examination of how societies organise welfare, education, healthcare and the distribution of opportunity. The pairing of expressive and analytical disciplines is more coherent than it might initially appear: the study of literature deepens your understanding of how social conditions shape human experience, creative writing gives you tools for communicating ideas with power and precision, and social policy provides the frameworks for understanding how public decisions are made and what their consequences are for real people's lives.

At the University of Strathclyde, this four-year full-time degree takes an innovative and contemporary approach to English and creative writing, grounding your creative practice in a thorough engagement with English literature and its traditions while the social policy strand develops your capacity for evidence-based analysis of social systems and policy questions. You will study both the literary and the social dimensions of questions about inequality, welfare, justice and public life, developing a perspective that is both humanistic and analytical. Typical entry is around 200 UCAS tariff points.

This combination prepares you for careers that sit at the intersection of communication and public purpose. Graduates move into roles in public policy, advocacy, the charity sector, journalism, public affairs, community education, broadcasting and social research, as well as more literary careers in publishing, creative writing and arts administration. The ability to communicate complex social ideas clearly and compellingly, whether in writing or through creative forms, is increasingly valued by organisations working in the public interest.

Further study in social policy, creative writing, public health, social work or public administration is a natural next step for those who want to develop specialist professional expertise.