Why Study With Us?

Champion of the arts and humanities 

Comprised of 8 renowned specialist institutes and 3 centres of excellence for the Humanities, the School of Advanced Study offers a rich interdisciplinary environment for researchers to collaborate on questions of society, culture, economy and the environment. We offer postgraduate programmes (MA, MRes, LLM, MPhil, and PhD) in a wide range of humanities subjects.

High quality teaching from experts in their field 

We value quality not quantity and our staff are among the best in their field. Our academics are active researchers, and their research informs teaching practice. This is reflected in the student experience, with our students rating us highly in terms of the quality of our teaching.* Many of our programmes bring in industry leaders as guest lecturers to enhance the programme experience. For example, our MA Refugee Law has tutors and guest lecturers drawn from across academia and practice, including (former) staff members of the UN Refugee Agency, Medicine Sans Frontiers, International Organisation for Migration and the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights.   

*The 2024 Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) shows that 88% of SAS respondents were satisfied with the Quality of the Course. The School’s results continue to be much higher than the ones recorded nationally (between 5% - 84% Sector to 7% higher – 82% Russell Group). 

Enhance the value of your degree and unlock diverse graduate pathways 

Earn a prestigious University of London degree. When you study with us, you can be confident that your qualification will be valued by employers around the world. 

We are part of a strong network of industry partners. Our museum and gallery partners include the British Museum, the British Library, the V&A, the National Portrait Gallery and the Courtauld Galler + more. We have partnerships with The Rare Books School, rare booksellers, special collections libraires and archives and with museums with rare book holdings. We also have partnerships with major international organisations and NGOs, including the UN Refugee Agency, Danish Refugee Council, Norwegian Refugee Council and the Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection. 

Some of our programmes have embedded practice-based, career focused content, preparing graduates for work, with students of many of our taught degrees gaining access to placements with our partners, NGOs, booksellers, publishers, galleries and archives.   

For example: 

• The Warburg Institute has placement opportunities within the National Gallery 
• The Institute of English Studies has placement opportunities with rare booksellers (including Maggs Bros Ltd, Bernard Quaritch and Jarndyce); Special Collections libraires and archives (including UCL, Senate House and Dr William’s Library) and with museums with rare book holdings (including the Dickens Museum and the Foundling Museum). 
• The Institute of Historical Research works with City Livery Companies and VCH County Trusts, including the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers.

Students will also get access to a wide range of research training opportunities, run both through the School of Advanced Study but also with the Bloomsbury Postgraduate Skills Network. Attend training events hosted by UCL, King's College London and Birkbeck amongst others. We are committed to delivering excellence in its research and teaching at all levels and to maintaining its high standards. Read our access and participation statement [PDF]. 

Fit your studies around your life 

Our degrees are designed to fit around our life: 

• All our degrees are available with full-time and part-time options. 
• We offer distance learning modes of study for some portions of our taught programmes and have distance learning research degrees, with supervision available on campus or online.  
• We value both broad and specific interests. Some of our programmes allow students to select modules from other programmes across the School.  
• We offer our PhDs by practice, by publication or by research.  
• Summer school microcredentials allow you to build and stack credits towards a full MA. 

World-class resources in the heart of London 

Our campuses are set in Bloomsbury, in the heart of London, among some of the finest libraries, galleries, museums and archives in the world. 

SAS's institute libraries' collections are globally renowned. From law to classics, history to art - explore nearly 3 million volumes spanning the arts, humanities and social sciences. 

• Senate House is one of the UK's largest academic libraries for arts, humanities & social sciences. 
• The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Library is a national and international resource for legal research and has over 300,000 volumes. The collections of foreign and international law are the most extensive in the UK. 
• The Wohl Library at the Institute of Historical Research is home to more than 200,000 primary sources on the medieval and modern history of the British Isles and Western Europe, their colonial expansion, the subsequent history of North and South America, international relations and war. 
• The Warburg Library holds a collection of international importance in the humanities. With over 360,000 volumes available on open shelves, it is the largest collection in the world focused on the afterlife of antiquity and the survival and transmission of culture, with a particular emphasis on Medieval and Renaissance studies. 
• The Combined Classics Library is one of the largest classics libraries in the UK with over 160,000 volumes. The collection covers all aspects of Greek and Roman antiquity, including texts, language and literature, history and civilisation, art and archaeology, numismatics, epigraphy and papyrology, as well as classical reception.