Arts and humanities at Birkbeck are ranked fifth best in London, 18th in the UK and 87th globally in the 2019 Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject. English Language and Literature achieved 100% for a research environment conducive to research of the highest quality, while 91% of eligible staff in our Department of English and Humanities submitted research, of which 75% was recognised as world-leading or internationally excellent. The Department of English occupies houses in Gordon Square that are associated with the members of the Bloomsbury Group: 46 Gordon Square was the family home of Virginia Woolf, her brothers and her sister, Vanessa, until the latter's marriage to the art critic Clive Bell in 1907. It was later occupied by the economist John Maynard Keynes. We have a thriving research culture, with student-led reading groups and a regular programme of major visiting speakers, including the Birkbeck Medieval Seminar and the Material Texts Network. You will also be able to access the unrivalled resources of the British Museum and the British Library, alongside a host of other world-renowned libraries, museums and galleries.

To be considered for direct entry to a Master's degree at Birkbeck, you will normally be required to have successfully completed a Bakalavr/Specialist Diploma from a recognised university with a minimum final grade of 3.5 for programmes requiring a UK 2:2