Subject benchmark statements
Subject benchmark statements provide a means for the academic community to describe the nature and characteristics of programmes in a specific subject. They also represent general expectations about the standards for the award of qualifications at a given level and articulate the attributes and capabilities that those possessing such qualifications should be able to demonstrate.
This Subject benchmark statement, together with the others published concurrently, refers to the bachelors degree with honours.
Subject benchmark statements are used for a variety of purposes. Primarily, they are an important external source of reference for higher education institutions when new programmes are being designed and developed in a subject area. They provide general guidance for articulating the learning outcomes associated with the programme but are not a specification of a detailed curriculum in the subject. Benchmark statements provide for variety and flexibility in the design of programmes and encourage innovation within an agreed overall framework.
Subject benchmark statements also provide support to institutions in pursuit of internal quality assurance. They enable the learning outcomes specified for a particular programme to be reviewed and evaluated against agreed general expectations about standards.
Finally, Subject benchmark statements may be one of a number of external reference points that are drawn upon for the purposes of external review. Reviewers do not use Subject benchmark statements as a crude checklist for these purposes however. Rather, they are used in conjunction with the relevant programme specifications, the institution's own internal evaluation documentation, in order to enable reviewers to come to a rounded judgement based on a broad range of evidence.
The benchmarking of academic standards for this subject area has been undertaken by a group of subject specialists drawn from and acting on behalf of the subject community. The group's work was facilitated by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, which publishes and distributes this statement and other statements developed by similar subject-specific groups.
In due course, but not before July 2005, the statement will be revised to reflect developments in the subject and the experiences of institutions and others who are working with it. The Agency will initiate revision and, in collaboration with the subject community, will make arrangements for any necessary modifications to the statement.
This statement is © The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education 2002.
It may be reproduced by educational institutions solely for educational purposes, without permission. Excerpts may be reproduced for the purpose of research, private study, or review without permission, provided full acknowledgement is given to the subject benchmarking group for this subject area and to the copyright of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.
1 Introduction
1.1 Area studies programmes in the UK higher education sector provide dynamic and diverse opportunities for students to focus their learning on parts of the world for which they feel a strong intellectual curiosity. UK HEIs offer a wide range of area studies courses with great diversity in terms of geography but also with regard to intellectual tradition and motivation: some have a social sciences focus, others are located in humanities; some aim for contemporary coverage, others historical. The variety is impressive. According to UCAS, in 2001 almost 50 UK HEIs offered a total of over 600 courses in American studies, with 27 HEIs mounting single Honours American studies programmes. European studies had a similar presence, with over 600 courses in total, and 34 HEIs offering some form of single Honours European studies. UK HEIs also offer programmes in African studies, Australian studies, comparative American studies, Latin American studies, Middle Eastern studies, Scandinavian studies, South and Southeast Asian studies, and other area studies. Programme teams in all of these areas may wish to refer to this Subject benchmark statement (statement).
1.2 The multidisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary nature of area studies provides a rich, rewarding and diverse student experience. Area studies students gain parallel and complementary knowledge and skills in programmes that frequently offer the possibility of study abroad. Area studies students operate across disciplines, learning how to integrate a variety of approaches in formulating and solving problems, and using diverse materials and information sources. Those programmes where languages are studied provide access to varying levels of language competence; programmes in which language skills play a central integrative function may wish to refer to the Languages and related studies statement.
1.3 Area studies degrees provide a means for students to acquire specialised regional knowledge while also developing the intellectual skills and qualities of mind associated with undergraduate achievement in arts, humanities and social sciences subjects.
1.4 Area studies programmes offer valuable educational pathways by giving prominence to the distinctiveness and significance of specific areas, and fostering a critical awareness of diversity across societies, both past and present. Area studies has a particular contribution to make in the context of the increasingly globalised nature of the world. With globalisation come new questions about local identity, and area studies is centrally placed to consider the issues that emerge from the interplay between the global and the local.
1.5 Area studies students acquire transferable skills that are valuable in many aspects of work. A recent survey of graduates gives some idea of the range of employment opportunities that exist, with students finding jobs in arts and the media, including radio, television, film, museums, and theatre; in publishing and journalism, including writing for newspapers and magazines, production, editorial, and management; in business, law and financial services, including management and marketing in small and large concerns; in administration and civil service, including international, diplomatic, national and local government work, and employment in non-governmental organisations; in all sectors of teaching; and in many other career paths.
1.6 Area studies graduates provide a repository of regional knowledge and the intellectual skills to apply it using various methodologies. This specialist expertise is important to government, business and citizenry in a world where international awareness is increasingly necessary. Area studies programmes encourage in their graduates a strong sense of perspective and flexibility in thinking, and they are attuned to diversity. All of these features have strong employer appeal in a multicultural society.
1.7 Area studies graduates may take a number of postgraduate pathways: into vocational programmes, single discipline study, or further multi- and/or interdisciplinary work. The diversity and strength of area studies programmes at the undergraduate level has ensured that a range of HEIs have developed postgraduate area studies programmes, in some cases even where they do not have parallel undergraduate provision. Such courses are clearly also appealing to single discipline undergraduates who wish to take more diversified postgraduate studies, and are attracted by the multi- and/or interdisciplinary challenges of postgraduate work in area studies.
1.8 There is a synthesising impulse in area studies which can work across, as well as interrogate, traditional discipline boundaries in innovative ways. Area studies is well positioned to respond to new issues and academic debates with both tried and emerging methodologies. These are major strengths of the field, giving it a vitality that must not be constrained by the benchmarking process.
1.9 Area studies is offered as single Honours, joint Honours, and as major and minor elements of combined honours degrees. This statement is focused on the provision of a single Honours degree in area studies. In cases where the subject is being offered in other than single Honours form, the subject providers will define the elements that make up their own area studies programme.
1.10 It is not the intention of this QAA-sponsored statement to be prescriptive in terms of a defined curriculum for a degree in area studies. The statement is a guide, not a checklist. Subject providers have the opportunity and responsibility to define the curriculum of their individual area studies provision.
2 Defining principles
2.1 Area studies is a generic term applied to the study of the society or societies of a given geographical space. The term covers national areas under titles such as American studies or Australian studies, and bi-national or multi-national regions, under titles such as African studies, Caribbean studies, European studies, Latin American studies and Pacific studies. The empirical content of area studies programmes therefore varies widely. Programmes in area studies are multidisciplinary (grounded in two or more different academic disciplines) and/or interdisciplinary (explicitly integrating two or more disciplines).
2.2 Area studies programmes can be distinguished from applied programmes of the types which carry terms such as European law, Middle-Eastern politics, or American literature. The primary objective of such programmes is typically to train students in the concepts and methods of a single discipline, while giving particular emphasis to the application of that discipline to the society or societies of a specific geographical area. The principal objective of area studies programmes is to study the area itself, using whichever disciplinary or interdisciplinary approaches are most appropriate to understand the aspects of the area on which they wish to concentrate. Comparative analysis or understanding can be implicitly or explicitly embedded in the curricula.
2.3 In principle, any discipline in the social sciences, humanities or arts may be included as a major or minor channel of knowledge in an area studies programme. In practice, programmes tend to be organised either around a combination of arts and/or humanities disciplines and formations, or around a combination of social sciences and/or humanities, such as politics and economics or politics and history. However, there is wide diversity and the boundaries between these broad types are extremely porous. Different spheres of area studies have evolved with different traditions. For example, many programmes in American studies combine the study of literature with history and politics. Area studies programmes may work with, across, or challenge, traditional disciplinary boundaries.
3 Nature and extent of the field
3.1 Area studies programmes involve in-depth study of single countries or groups of countries. When programmes cover multi-state regions such as Southeast Asia or Sub-Saharan Africa, they may involve explicit or implicit comparative study of societies within the region, international relations of those societies with each other and with states outside the region, as well as the transnational processes affecting those societies. Programmes concentrating on Western Europe often have the particularity of giving prominence to the institutions and operation of the European Union and other international organisations within the region.
3.2 The coherence of any area studies programme can be considered in two dimensions:
i its degree of methodological and conceptual coherence, deriving from the understanding and application of different disciplinary or interdisciplinary approaches;
ii the overall cohesion of a range of modules focused on a specific society or set of geographically and culturally related societies.
There is always a complex trade-off between breadth and depth within and between these dimensions.
3.3 Area studies programmes provide access to training in a language other than English where this is appropriate to the objectives of the degree. Non-specialist language competences may be taken to form part of the area studies component in, for example, a degree programme termed Latin American Studies, or it may be considered to be distinct in some joint and combined Honours programmes. Proportions may vary, as suggested by titles such as European studies and/with Spanish (where the conventional use of and or with signifies differing proportions of the total programme), or Spanish and/with European studies.
3.4 It is considered desirable, though for practical reasons not always possible, for Honours programmes in area studies to include one or more periods spent in the region studied. The period can vary from a week or two, to a semester, to an entire academic year according to the objectives of the programme specifications. It may involve formal study in an overseas higher education institution, research for a project, a placement and/or employment. Whatever the pattern, its intended value lies in students' direct exposure to a culture which they are studying.
3.5 Given the diversity of area studies programmes, it is particularly important that the structure and content of each degree programme should be set out clearly in programme specifications indicating the parameters of the area studied, the range of disciplinary or interdisciplinary perspectives involved, the relationships between components of the programme (including compulsory and optional elements), the criteria of progression, the expected levels of attainment and the intended outcomes of any period spent abroad as part of the programme. (For an example of a programme specification for an area studies degree, see QAA document Guidelines for preparing programme specifications: Example 1: Scandinavian studies).
4 Attainments: knowledge, understanding and skills
4.1 Since area studies is multidisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary the field covers a wide range of subject materials and methods of study. Characteristically, area studies develops a broad and complementary range of knowledge and of intellectual abilities. Programme specifications will indicate what is offered by, and is distinctive for, different providers, but knowledge and understanding of a geographic area, past and present, is central. Many programmes will achieve their aims by a core placed within a wider context of specialised offerings. Often an in-depth study of some aspect of the area is required and, when available, study abroad offers opportunities to enhance knowledge by direct contact with, and immersion in, the culture of the area under study.
4.2 Particular programmes will promote many of the following and may focus particularly on some:
i the use and critical interrogation of a range of primary and secondary written, and/or oral and/or visual sources, in their original language, where appropriate;
ii an understanding and an appreciation of relevant scholarship originating from both within and outside the area studied;
iii recognition of the multifaceted nature of the field and its complex relationship to other disciplines and interdisciplinary formations;
iv key methods and concepts of contributory disciplines and interdisciplinary formations;
v an awareness of the dynamics of change in the subject area;
vi a critical appreciation of the field within a world context.
4.3 The following subject specific abilities and forms of knowledge are characteristic of an Honours student in area studies. In different programmes within the field there will be variations in the degree of importance attached to each of them and in the modes by which they are advanced. Moreover, opportunities and encouragement will be provided within specific programmes for individuals to pursue their own routes and develop their own strengths. The qualities of mind that an undergraduate should acquire by studying area studies may be characterised as follows:
i the ability to understand an area, whether studied through several disciplines or through interdisciplinary approaches;
ii an informed sense of the similarities and differences between areas, thus fostering cross-cultural and international perspectives;
iii a critical engagement with the area developed within a coherent framework of disciplines and interdisciplinary formations, such as anthropology, archaeology, art history, cultural studies, economics, film and media studies, geography, history, language(s) other than English, literature, philosophy, politics and sociology;
iv the capacity to assess the merits of contrasting methodologies and theories;
v the ability to integrate a diverse range of appropriate primary and secondary materials, such as literary and historical texts, oral interviews, sound recordings, visual screenings of events, places and people, and internet sites;
vi a command of a range of techniques and methodologies, such as bibliographical, library and internet research skills, proficiency in reading and textual analysis, adeptness in visual analysis, appreciation of theoretical models, alertness to different interpretations of issues and events, and, where appropriate, the ability to deploy skills in a language other than English, as a medium for understanding another culture.
4.4 Through undertaking a degree in area studies, graduates will at the same time have acquired a further range of general abilities, capacities, qualities of mind, transferable skills and intellectual attributes:
4.4.1 The cognitive skills developed by graduates include the ability to:
i read and use materials both incisively and with sensitivity;
ii identify and resolve problems;
iii communicate ideas with clarity, coherence and persuasiveness;
iv synthesise information, adopt critical appraisals, and develop reasoned argument based on such appraisals;
v select and apply appropriate methodologies and theories;
vi critically reflect upon the scope and limitations of what has been ascertained and understood;
vii analyse issues proficiently in the light of evidence and argument;
viii work with a significant amount of independence, demonstrated in self-direction, self-management and intellectual initiative both in learning and studying and in time management.
4.4.2 The scholarly skills developed by graduates in area studies include the ability to:
i present materials in written form, with clarity in the use of language, professional referencing, and lucid and effective layout, including tables, diagrams, graphics and illustrations, where appropriate;
ii present materials orally in a clear and effective manner, using audio-visual aids, where appropriate, and answering questions from an audience;
iii listen effectively, and work creatively, flexibly and adaptively with others;
iv write and think under pressure, and meet deadlines;
v use a range of IT resources, including word processing, email, databases and text files, and locate, employ and evaluate internet sites;
vi show proficiency in a language other than English, where appropriate to the specific programme.
5 Teaching, learning and assessment
5.1 Area studies programmes are multidisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary. Teaching, learning and assessment styles will consequently flow from those disciplines and interdisciplinary approaches that make up specific programmes. Area studies programmes may also generate opportunities for students to integrate component disciplines and interdisciplinary approaches, with appropriately designed teaching approaches and assessment strategies.
5.2 Variety is a key feature in area studies teaching, learning and assessment. One of the great strengths of area studies programmes lies in the opportunities they offer for students to acquire perspectives and skills from more than one discipline or formation. An important aim of area studies is to develop graduates who are able to take a variety of approaches in their studies, to acquire skills in integrating and synthesising materials from diverse sources, and, where appropriate, to develop skills in a language other than English.
5.3 Students will be introduced to the area they are studying within a coherent framework defined by the programme provider. Some area studies courses have a contemporary flavour while others pay greater attention to historical perspectives: all should enable students to develop a good knowledge of their area, to locate and access information and to make appropriate and effective use of information from various sources, including libraries and the internet. In some programmes, students will be expected to develop specific skills in a language other than English.
5.4 Area studies programmes are uniquely situated to provide rich opportunity for the integration of knowledge and suitable approaches in a focused study of a particular society or region. The development of area studies knowledge thus offers students particularly good opportunities to benefit from collaborative, group-based learning. Among the variety of assessment styles utilised it is likely that students will have ample opportunities to display the capacity to employ and/or integrate different subject approaches, area-based materials and information sources in constructive, thoughtful and critical ways. This in turn means that essay and report-writing and the extended essay or dissertation are likely to be key instruments for assessment, while attention may also be given to developing oral skills.
5.5 Teaching, learning and assessment styles should ensure that students
who successfully complete single Honours degree programmes will have achieved
the subject specific skills, generic intellectual skills, and personal
transferable skills outlined in 4.3 and 4.4.
6 Benchmark levels
6.1 Benchmark levels for area studies are defined at 'threshold' and 'typical' levels of achievement. Graduates at both levels will show knowledge and understanding of their area. Those at threshold level will do so by basic presentation of information, evidence and argument. Graduates at typical level will show abilities to evaluate information independently, to assess evidence critically, and to develop argument individually. The achievements associated with each level are listed in table I.
Table I
Example of typical and threshold levels of achievement in area studies
On the successful completion of an honours degree programme in area studies, students should be able to:
Subject specific skills
| Threshold level | Typical level |
| demonstrate knowledge of the area as defined by the programme provider; | demonstrate detailed knowledge of, and a critical engagement with, the area as defined by the programme provider; |
| recognise and represent ideas and concepts from other cultures; | recognise, represent and critically reflect upon ideas and concepts from other cultures; |
| demonstrate awareness and understanding of relevant vocabulary of contributory methodologies and theories; | demonstrate awareness and understanding of relevant vocabulary of contributory methodologies and theories, and the capacity to assess the merits of contrasting approaches; |
| apply concepts from different disciplines and/or interdisciplinary approaches as means of understanding the area under study; | apply and differentiate between concepts from different disciplines and/or interdisciplinary approaches as means of understanding the area under study; |
| demonstrate awareness of, and ability to use, a diverse range of relevant information and research resources, including major internet-based resources; | demonstrate awareness of, and ability to use and evaluate, a diverse range of relevant information and research resources, including major internet-based resources; |
| acquire language skills as required by specific language courses. | acquire language skills as required by specific language courses, and ability to make effective use of language skills in parts of the programme outside the specific language courses. |
Generic skills
| Threshold level | Typical level |
|
identify and represent a range of issues and differing opinions; |
identify, represent and debate a range of issues and differing opinions; |
|
identify and offer resolutions to relevant problems; |
identify and analyse problems using relevant approaches, and reflect upon the scope and limitations of what has been ascertained and understood; |
|
synthesise information and develop argument; |
synthesise information, adopt critical appraisals, and develop reasoned argument based on such appraisals; |
| communicate ideas with clarity and coherence; | communicate ideas with clarity, coherence and persuasiveness; |
| work independently and to deadlines within a guided framework; | work independently and to deadlines within a guided framework, with a capacity to define problems/questions and to know how to set about finding answers; |
| respond to constructive feedback; | reflect on personal learning and respond productively to constructive feedback; |
| employ effective essay and report writing skills showing ability to deploy material from a variety of sources; | employ effective essay and report writing skills showing ability to integrate and critically assess material from a variety of sources; |
| develop collaborative skills in group work to achieve shared goals; | develop collaborative skills in group work, and contribute creatively, flexibly and adaptively to the achievement of shared goals; |
| utilise proficiently a range of IT resources such as word processing, use email, search databases and text files, and locate and employ internet sites. | utilise proficiently a range of IT resources such as word processing, use email, search databases and text files, and locate, employ and evaluate internet sites. |
Appendix 1
Membership of the benchmark group
|
Professor Janet Beer |
The Manchester Metropolitan University |
|
Professor George Blazyca |
University of Paisley |
| Professor Susan Castillo | University of Glasgow |
| Professor Philip Davies (Chair) | De Montfort University and the British Library |
| Professor Chris Flood | University of Surrey |
| Professor Pandeli Glavanis | University of Northumbria at Newcastle |
| Dr Andrew Hassam | University of Wales, Lampeter |
| Dr Philip Jaggar | University of London |
| Dr E Ulrich Kratz | University of London |
| Professor Anthony McFarlane | University of Warwick |
| Professor George McKay | University of Central Lancashire |
| Professor Margaret Walsh | University of Nottingham |
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