BA Philosophy, Religion and Ethics

3 Years On Campus Bachelors Program

University of Exeter

Program Overview

If you're the kind of person who's always asking "why," this degree was basically made for you. It lets you wrestle with some of the biggest questions out there — about knowledge, morality, and religion — using both philosophical rigor and theological insight side by side. It suits curious, articulate students who want a flexible humanities degree that sharpens critical thinking while still leaving plenty of room to specialize through a huge range of optional modules.

Curriculum Structure

Year One: You'll spend your first year building solid foundations in both disciplines at the same time. On the philosophy side you'll take core modules like Knowledge and Reality and Philosophy of Morality, and on the theology side you'll get your first real taste of the subject through What is Religion? and Religion, Philosophy and Ethics. It's a broad grounding by design, so by the end of the year you're comfortable with both the logical toolkit of philosophy and the interpretive lens of religious studies.

Year Two: Things start to open up and get a lot more interesting. You'll go deeper into philosophy with modules like Philosophy of Mind, Metaphysics, and Symbolic Logic, while choosing 60 credits of theology options such as The Invention of God or Conflicts and Encounters between Religions. This is really the point where you start shaping the degree around what you're genuinely curious about rather than just ticking boxes.

Placement Year (optional): If you go for the four-year route, this is where you either study abroad at one of Exeter's international partner universities or take on a graduate-level work placement. It's a great chance to build independence and confidence, pick up real-world experience, and come back for your final year with a much stronger CV.

Final Year: You'll finish with a dissertation in either Philosophy or Theology and Religion, alongside advanced modules like Philosophy of Law, Jesus: Histories and Receptions, or Ethics of Emerging Technologies. It's your chance to go deep on the topics that matter most to you and walk away with a substantial piece of independent research to show for it.

Focus Areas: Ethics and moral philosophy, philosophy of mind and metaphysics, religious and theological studies, critical and analytical reasoning, and interdisciplinary work connecting philosophy with lived religious traditions.

Learning Outcomes: Graduates come away with strong critical and analytical thinking, solid independent research skills, the ability to build and pick apart complex arguments, and confident written and verbal communication — the kind of transferable skills that employers across almost every sector actually look for.

Professional Alignment: This isn't a professionally-accredited degree in the way something like law or medicine is, but it's clearly built with employability in mind. Students can take part in schemes like the Exeter Award and Exeter Leaders Award, and there's dedicated support from Employability Officers throughout the course.

Reputation: Exeter is ranked Top 10 in the UK for Philosophy, coming in 9th in The Complete University Guide 2026, and it's a Russell Group university with a Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework. In this subject area, 92% of graduates are employed or in further study within 15 months of finishing their degree.

Experiential Learning (Research, Projects, Internships etc.)

Philosophy, Religion and Ethics at Exeter is built around small-group teaching, real research training, and plenty of independent thinking — you're never just sitting in a lecture hall taking notes. Seminars and small group tutorials let you debate ideas directly with your tutors and classmates, and your final-year dissertation gives you the chance to run an independent research project from start to finish, working closely with academic staff who are active researchers in the field rather than just people reading from a textbook. You'll also have full access to the university's extensive library system and to specialist research centres connected to the department, so you're learning from people who are actually shaping the field:

Library and research resources: you get access to the 24/7 Forum Library plus eight other library locations across Exeter and Penryn, along with subject-specific databases like JSTOR and Oxford Scholarship Online for serious philosophical and theological research.
Research centres and institutes: the department has close links to specialist centres including the Centre for Biblical Studies, the Exeter Centre for Ethics and Practical Theology, the Network for Religion in Public Life, and the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, so you're exposed to live, cutting-edge research rather than just settled textbook debates.
Small group teaching: regular seminars and small group tutorials are designed to sharpen your ability to construct arguments, push back on ideas, and think on your feet.
Student societies: there are active Philosophy and Theology student societies running socials, seminars, and guest speaker events, giving you a built-in academic community outside the classroom.
Study abroad: if you go for the four-year "with Study Abroad" variant, you can spend your third year at one of Exeter's partner universities anywhere in the world.
Employment experience: the four-year "with Employment Experience" variant lets you take a graduate-level work placement in the UK or abroad in your third year, which you research and secure with support from the university.
Minors through Future Skills Pathways: you can take up to 30 credits of modules from a completely different subject area in your second and final years, so your degree doesn't have to stay narrowly focused on philosophy and theology.
Independent research dissertation: your final year includes a substantial dissertation in either Philosophy or Theology and Religion, supervised one-on-one by academic staff.
Careers and employability support: you'll have access to the university's Career Zone, dedicated Employability Officers, and structured schemes like the Exeter Award and Exeter Leaders Award to help build your CV alongside your degree.

Progression & Future Opportunities

A degree in Philosophy, Religion and Ethics doesn't box you into one career path — it opens up an unusually wide range of them, because employers across every sector value graduates who can think critically, argue clearly, and handle complex ideas under pressure. Exeter graduates from this subject area go on to roles such as policy analyst, teacher, PR and communications officer, and management consultant, among many others. Here's what the university offers to help you get there:

Careers support: Exeter's Career Zone runs careers fairs, skills workshops, and training events all year round, and you can also get one-to-one advice from a dedicated Employability Officer in your faculty.
Employability schemes: many students take part in the Exeter Award and Exeter Leaders Award, structured programmes that combine workshops, volunteering, and work experience to build your CV alongside your degree.
Employment stats: 92% of Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology graduates were in employment or further study 15 months after graduating, and Exeter has climbed to 7th in the Russell Group and 12th in the UK for graduate outcomes.
Employer recognition: Exeter is ranked 3rd for "Best Careers Service in the UK" by StudentCrowd and 10th for "Universities Targeted by Top Employers" by High Fliers, so it's clear graduates are genuinely sought after.
Work experience routes: the "with Employment Experience" variant lets you spend a full year in a graduate-level placement, in the UK or abroad, with support to help you find and secure it.
Long-term reputation: Exeter is a Russell Group university with a Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework and a Top 10 UK ranking for Philosophy, so the value of the degree on your CV holds up well over time, even without a formal professional accreditation attached to it.
Broad graduate outcomes: past graduates have gone into teaching and research, local and national government, the Civil Service, business and finance, charities and NGOs, marketing and PR, management, social services, and religious organisations.

Further Academic Progression: If you want to keep going after your BA, Exeter has a strong set of postgraduate routes to build on this degree. You could move into the MA Philosophy, which lets you specialise further in areas like philosophy of mind, ethics and society, or philosophy of science, taught in small seminar groups by researchers who scored highly in the REF 2021. On the theology side, there's the MA Theology, where you can dig deeper into biblical studies, philosophy of religion, and biblical languages, or the MA by Research Theology and Religion if you want to pursue an independent research project without committing to a full PhD just yet. And if you want to go further still, Exeter also offers MPhil and PhD programmes in both Philosophy and Theology and Religion, giving you a clear path into academic research if that's the direction you end up wanting to take.