Archaeology courses

Various further education centres currently offer certificates, diplomas, day, weekend and evening classes, many without the need to study for a qualification. There are also numerous centres that offer archaeology at A/S (one year) or A level (two years). You can find a list of further education providers of archaeology courses on the Current Archaeology website at www.archaeology.co.uk/directory. As well as courses at further education providers, for the next step up there is a list of higher education BA, BSc, MA, MSc and PhD providers on the Current Archaeology website too.

A BA (Bachelor of Arts) or BSc (Bachelor of Science) is usually a three-year full-time taught course with either a more theoretical or scientific approach. An MA (Master of Arts) or MSc (Master of Science) is usually either a one-year full-time or two-year part-time taught programme, including a dissertation in the second year. A Masters programme encourages the student to develop theoretical and analytical skills to a greater degree. A PhD (Doctor of Philosophy or Doctorate) is a three-year full-time or five to six-year part-time period of study. The only method of assessment is the thesis, which must be original work and is usually around 100,000 words in length.

The nearest providers of higher education archaeology courses are:

• Birkbeck College, London www.bbk.ac.uk
• Oxford University Department for Continuing Education www.conted.ox.ac.uk
• Institute of Archaeology, Oxford University www.arch.ox.ac.uk
• Institute of Archaeology, University College London www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology
• University of Birmingham www.iaa.bham.ac.uk 

Distance learning courses can be done with:

• University of Leicester www.le.ac.uk/ar/dl

Go back to find out other ways you can get involved in archaeology.