Cities
Entry requirements
Our standard postgraduate entry requirement is a second-class honours degree (2:2 or above) from a UK university, or an equivalent international qualification.
We will review every postgraduate application to Birkbeck on its individual merits and your professional qualifications and/or relevant work experience will be taken into consideration positively. We actively support and encourage applications from mature learners.
On your application form, please list all your relevant qualifications and experience, including those you expect to achieve.
Months of entry
October
Course content
Across millennia, cities have been centres of political and economic power, orchestrating the social and cultural life of their populations. Today, rapid and widespread urbanisation is creating new challenges. Cities come to reflect global inequalities, acting as hubs for transnational mobility, concentrating difference, and generating new forms of cultural expression and activism.
Understanding the complex and multi-layered aspects of cities requires an interdisciplinary approach which the MA/MSc Cities uniquely provides by bringing together the strengths of urban research and teaching in Birkbeck’s Schools of Arts and Social Sciences, History and Philosophy.
Using real-world case studies, you will explore a variety of methodological and theoretical approaches. You will follow your interests, choosing from modules incorporating a range of disciplinary perspectives as well as historical periods, including: cultural and visual studies; communications, digital design and networked technology; geography; history (including ancient history, history of art and architecture); linguistics; literature; museum studies; politics; and psychosocial studies.
- There are opportunities for work placements and international field trips to Delhi and the Berlin Film Festival.
- Our location in central London offers you excellent access to a wide range of research resources, including Birkbeck Library, LSE Library of Political and Economic Science (LSE), the Royal Geographical Society and Senate House Library (University of London).
- You will be able to access activities and research centres across the College, including Birkbeck Institute for Social Research, Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image and the Architecture, Space and Society Centre.
Information for international students
If English is not your first language or you have not previously studied in English, our usual requirement is the equivalent of an International English Language Testing System (IELTS Academic Test) score of 6.5, with not less than 6.0 in each of the sub-tests.
If you don't meet the minimum IELTS requirement, we offer pre-sessional English courses and foundation programmes to help you improve your English language skills and get your place at Birkbeck.
Qualification, course duration and attendance options
- MA/MSc
- part time24 months
- Campus-based learningis available for this qualification
- full time12 months
- Campus-based learningis available for this qualification
Course contact details
- Name
- Student Advice Service
- studentadvice@bbk.ac.uk
- Phone
- +44 (0)20 3907 0700