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2023/24
2024/25

MA English Literature

  • Year of entry
    2024/25 See 2023/24 entry
  • Course duration
    Full Time:  12 months Part Time: 24 months
  • Year of entry
    2024/25 See 2023/24 entry
  • Course duration
    Full Time:  12 months Part Time: 24 months

Our MA English Literature presents students with an exciting range of topics and periods, from the Renaissance stage to minority literatures in contemporary Britain.

Come to the University of Reading to study a master's in English, we are ranked in the top 150 universities in the world for English Language and Literature in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, 2022.

The University of Reading is 6th in the UK for research outputs in English Language and Literature (Times Higher Education analysis of the latest Research Excellence Framework 2021 – English Language and Literature, when scoring by GPA Output).

We deploy our distinctive research strengths, and our world-leading literary collections, to produce a degree that embodies the best of contemporary, critical and archival work. The department’s research widely supports all the teaching on the MA, from Medieval to Contemporary Literature, including postcolonial and world literatures and creative writing.

You have the freedom to choose your own pathway through this programme. You’ll have access to our unique archives including the Archive of British Publishing and Printing and the world’s leading Samuel Beckett collection, and correspondence and other archival materials relating to James Joyce. 

You will receive detailed one-to-one guidance on your dissertation, which might be a creative writing portfolio, an edition of a Beckett manuscript, a fin de siècle project oriented around our Wilde collections, or a theoretically informed reading of diasporic fiction.

New UK/Republic of Ireland students: £10,500

New international students: £21,350

Fees for 2024/25 have not yet been set. For your reference, fees for 2023/24 are listed on this page.

The fees listed are for full-time study, unless otherwise stated. Fee information will be confirmed in offer letters sent out to successful applicants. You can find further information, including information for part-time study, through our dedicated fees and funding page.

EU student fees

With effect from 1 August 2021, new EU students will pay international tuition fees. For exceptions, please read the UK government’s guidance for EU students.

Additional costs

Some courses will require additional payments for field trips and extra resources. You will also need to budget for your accommodation and living costs. See our information on living costs for more details.

Financial support for your studies

You may be eligible for a scholarship or bursary to help pay for your study. Students from the UK may also be eligible for a student loan to help cover these costs. See our fees and funding information for more information on what's available.

Our students continue on to, or return to, careers in teaching, publishing, the media, the civil service, the charity sector and advertising, as well as going on to do PhD research. Students report that their careers are supported by the skills they have acquired on the MA English Literature in terms of not only subject expertise, but also critical thinking, reading closely and with advanced understanding, and writing well.