ANCIENT
EGYPT
The History, People and Culture of the Nile Valley
The History, People and Culture of the Nile Valley |
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Education, Education; Egyptology? Ready to join the increasing
numbers of students with a passion for ancient Egypt and the dedication to apply
themselves to serious and demanding study? Who better to provide the information
than Louise Sutherland, a post grad herself; who in this issue of AE
introduces the opportunities to study at university level. However, if you would
like a more leisurely approach to learning, read about open access and evening
classes in our next issue. So, you’ve taken the plunge. You have decided to go to University, but you have questions: Can Egyptology be studied at university level? What universities offer the course you want? What courses are available? Where do you start? Egyptology courses are not the exclusive domain of the Big Two, Oxford and Cambridge as you might expect. With the ever-increasing popularity of the subject, the choices get wider with every passing year. The aim here is to highlight those places that run Egyptology modules for part of an undergraduate degree course. You don’t necessarily have to be enrolled on an Egyptology degree to study the topic. Indeed, many universities now offer it as a module, which you may be allowed to take alongside your ‘core’ units.
Many universities offering courses in Egyptology also provide access to fine collections. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. First, we need to identify those that actually provide Egyptology based modules. If you have access to the Internet, your first stop should really be the UCAS website (www.ucas.ac.uk). This site lists all available undergraduate courses in the UK. For 2002 entry, there are approximately ten courses running at six universities. If you don’t have Internet access, UCAS produces a volume of biblical proportions with all the courses listed, and you should be able to get a copy to look at through your school or local library. First on the list is the University of Birmingham. Through the department of Ancient History and Archaeology, they offer two degrees that have Ancient Egyptian components. The first of these is a BA in Archaeology and Ancient History; this option allows you to pick any modules offered within the departments except any courses in ancient languages. If ancient language is your thing, then the BA in Ancient History is for you. Overall, the department offers four modules in Egyptian History, Archaeology and Language. Next there is Cambridge University. The faculty of Oriental Studies offers subjects, both ancient and modern, that cover the Middle to the Far East leading to a BA in Oriental Studies. You can specialise in Egyptology, and within this choose more language or archaeology orientated modules. Egyptology can also be taken as a half subject and combined with most other languages. The course can be done in three or four years depending upon the modules selected. The University of Liverpool offers degrees weighted towards Egyptology. The first is a BA in Egyptology and is aimed at those students whose interest in language is as great as their interest in archaeology. The first year provides introductions to the Egyptian language and the archaeology of Egypt as well as archaeological methodology. Second and third years are spent reinforcing this knowledge, as well as possibly undertaking a fieldwork project in Egypt or the Near East. The department also offers various other degrees; BA Archaeology and a BA in Ancient History and Archaeology, which allow you to select those Egyptology modules you fancy. In fact the structure at Liverpool allows students to take Egyptology modules as part of ALL combined honours degrees in the faculties of Arts and Social and Environmental Studies. The faculty of Oriental Studies, part of Oxford University, offers two routes for the study o f Egyptology. The first is a BA in Egyptology, which focuses upon the study of the ancient Egyptian Language and the second is a BA in Ancient Near Eastern Studies, allowing study of either Akkadian or Ancient Egyptian. Either way both courses in the first year provide a broad overview of the civilisations and history of Egypt and the Ancient Near East, alongside the basic principles of your chosen language. In the second year, a second language is introduced; for Egyptology this is Coptic. For those Ancient Near East students this is from a selection of Akkadian or Egyptian (if not already chosen) or from Arabic, Aramaic and Syriac, Classical Greek, Hebrew, Sumerian and Hittite. The choice you can make will vary every year. The third year allows more detailed study and the creation of a dissertation. Swansea University has recently increased the number of options open to those who want to study Egyptology. Three Egyptology joint honours BA courses are on offer. These are Egyptology and Ancient History, Egyptology and Anthropology and Egyptology and Classical Civilisation. In the first year, there are core modules in Ancient Egypt to be taken for all three degrees. The type of joint degree on which you are registered determines the other modules you must take. If you are enrolled on the Egyptology and Anthropology BA you will be taking some anthropology modules as part of your core course. However, students will have to opportunity to make up their course credits by taking modules in other subject areas. The second and third years also consist of a selection of modules, but Egyptology students must take half their modules in Egyptology. The modules include Egyptian history, literature and museum-based topics. Egyptian language is offered but it is not a compulsory part of the course. At University College London (UCL), a BA in Ancient History and Egyptology is available to those you have a GCSE in French or German. For those of you applying as mature students, you will need to get in touch with the department concerned and e check your suitability. Core courses include Middle Egyptian language, which is covered in all three years, Egyptian civilisation and archaeology. There is also a BA in Archaeology (Egyptian), which is a degree mainly weighted for those interested in Egyptology. As well as the Egyptian modules, there are courses in archaeological methods and anthropology. UCL and the Institute of Archaeology offer a flexible unit structure to their degrees and students on other degree courses can pick these modules with their free options. Fieldwork options may be available through the institute during the period of study, but availability and choice vary from year to year. However, if you don’t get to go digging you can console yourself with the fact you are studying close to two very fine collections, those of the British Museum, literally around the corner, and the Petrie museum housed within UCL. Other universities do offer Egyptology modules for credit towards degrees without offering a Degree in Egyptology. Bristol University offers a module in Ancient Egypt. Durham University offers an Egyptology module to its students in the Archaeology department, Ancient Egypt to the end of the Middle Kingdom. King’s College London offers Ancient History and a module on Ptolemaic Egypt. Lampeter College in Wales offers a module on Roman Egypt. And finally Manchester University offers a yearlong module in Egyptology to its undergraduate students. There are probably other institutions I have missed; it is worth asking when you visit a university if they have any modules in Egyptology or Archaeology. So, with degree in hand what do you do next‘? If you have not had enough studying, there is plenty of provision for those wanting to do a Masters degrees or even PhD’s. The above institutions run many postgraduate programmes, and you don’t necessarily have to have a first degree. For PhD’s, depending on your chosen topic of research, you may get accepted into most universities as long as your ideas are sound and someone is willing to supervise you. Birmingham University runs three postgraduate courses, they offer an M.Phil, an M.Litt and a Ph.D programme. The masters’ programmes are taught degrees, providing modules for the first part of the course before the students undertake their research. Cambridge has provision for those wanting to complete M.Phil and Ph.D courses. The M.Phil course lasts one year, students select three modules out of six to study alongside their research for a dissertation. Liverpool University has a M.A in Egyptology for those who wish to deepen their knowledge; students will take six core courses along side the dissertation component of the degree. Another recent addition is Manchester University’s M.Sc in Biomedical and Forensic Studies in Egyptology. Taking one year to complete the course specifically caters for a scientific approach to Egyptology. Students take four core modules with an option on one more; students are also expected to produce a research dissertation during the last six months of the degree. Topics to be covered include an introduction into biomedical theory, Egyptology, the study of tissues, medical imaging and forensic methods. At Oxford University, there are many different courses to keep the would-be post grad busy. Firstly, they offer a M.St, a Masters’ level course that is intended as an introduction to research for those who already have a BA or equivalent in Egyptology. There is a two-year M. Phil course aimed at those students wanting to move into Egyptology or specialise in certain area, it is a flexible course allowing specialisation in almost any period from Dynastic to Christian Egypt. Oxford also provides opportunity to study for M.Litt and D.Phil research degrees. At the University of Swansea postgraduate degrees tend to be arranged ‘as far as possible on an individual basis with a member of staff’; M.A, M.Phil and Ph.D degrees can be studied. Finally, this brings us again to University College, London. Here you can study for an M.A in Egyptology as part of their taught Masters’ programme. Three modules are studied over the course of a year. A dissertation based upon an individual research project undertaken during the course and this can be on any topic relating to the archaeology of pre-Islamic Egypt. Research degrees leading to M.Phil and D.Phil qualifications are also provided. Students should contact the member of staff whose interests match those of the chosen research topic to gain admission to the research degree programme. So, that as they say is that. Hopefully, you have some food for thought and you now know where to look. As I stated earlier, it is not my intention to cover every aspect of university learning that has a leaning towards Egyptology, but I hope to have covered the major providers. Studying abroad is not an area I wished to tackle, but it is possible and you should seek advice from your local careers service as the advice changes yearly. If Egyptology is the path you choose to take, I wish you luck and I hope you find it as rewarding as I did. Contact
addresses for Egyptology courses The
University of Birmingham Edgbaston Birmingham B15
2TT United
Kingdom Switchboard:
+44 (0) 121 414 3344 University
of Bristol, Senate
House, Tyndall
Avenue, Bristol, BSS
1TH, UK Switchboard:
+44 (0) 117 928 9000 For
information regarding the University of Cambridge it is best to contact your
career advisor so you can contact the individual college directly. For a
prospectus email; ucam-undergraduate-admissions@lists.cam.ac.ukwww.cam.ac.uk
University
of Durham Old
Shire Hall Durham
DH1 3HP Switchboard;
+44 (0) 191 374 2000 Lampeter
College is part of; University of Wales Lampeter Ceredigion Wales,
SA48 TED United
Kingdom Telephone:+44 (0) 1570 422351 The
University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69
3BX. Switchboard;
+44 (0) 151-794 2000 The
University of Manchester, Oxford
Road, Manchester, M13
9PL. Switchboard;
+44 (0) 161 275 2000 University
of Oxford, University
Offices, Wellington
Square, Oxford. OX1
2JD. UK Switchboard;
+44 (0) 1865 270000 The
Admissions Office University
of Wales Swansea Singleton
Park Swansea SA2
8PP Switchboard;
44+ (0) 1792 295111 University
College London Gower
Street, London, WC1E
6BT. Switchboard;
+44 (0) 20 7679 2000 Other
useful information UCAS
www.ucas.ac.uk The
Council for British Archaeology www.britarch.ac.uk/index A
good starting point for courses in archaeology generally in the UK. An
online list of Egyptology course worldwide is available through the Egyptology
section of the website. Ella
Louise Sutherland is currently completing a PhD analysing the contents of the
Kahun pottery at the University of Manchester. Louise is also employed on the
Manchester Museum/Petrie Museum joint Kahun project which is due to launch in
April. Back to Ancient Egypt Magazine - Volume Two Issue Four contents
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