Leeds International Summer School

Academics

The Summer School runs for four weeks and comprises two 2-week blocks, running consecutively. Each 2-week module is worth 10 Leeds credits so by completing the four-week programme you will receive 20 Leeds credits (6 US or 10 ECTS overall). You must attend for the full four weeks. When you apply you should select one module from each block.

Module Schedule for 2012

Block 1

Heretics, Witches & Conspirators: A History of Fear, 1500-1700
Who (or what) did the British really fear in the Early Modern period? Most students will be familiar the notorious witch-hunts that spread across Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but few will have fully grasped the beliefs, perceptions and anxieties that led neighbours to persecute each other, children to accuse parents, or the ways in which other identities – Catholics, Jews, Vagrants, even ‘Actors’ and ‘Egyptians’ – were perceived to threaten or undermine the order of society. This course will allow you to diagnose the causes for cultures of suspicion and persecution, and open a route to understanding the logic behind it. We will look at the details of the alleged magic, heresy, cursing and plotting that these ‘criminals’ were accused of, as well as analyse the cases where voices of toleration were heard.

The course will allow students to get to grips with the actual writings circulating about these groups at the time across Britain and Europe, with particular attention to trials of ‘witches’ and ‘heretics’ within Yorkshire and Lancashire, including visits to where these people lived, debated and died.
Syllabus:  Click here to download the provisional syllabus

The Olympic Games – Sport in the UK
Inspired by London hosting the 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games, the course aims to provide participants with a fantastic opportunity to learn more about the Olympic Games and to gain knowledge and understanding of Olympic sports through participation, observation and skill acquisition. There will be a focus on the two quintessentially English sports of Fencing and Archery with an opportunity to gain practical experience in one of these areas as well as a chance to visit Olympic facilities and attend British sporting events. There will also be a chance to learn more about the history and values of the Olympic Movement, the development of the Paralympics and a look at ethical issues facing the sporting world today.
Syllabus:  Click here to download the syllabus

The English Country House: A Social History
Country houses (stately homes) are one of Britain’s greatest contributions to world culture, but who created them and why? Have they always functioned as ‘containers’ for art collections or have they had deeper meanings and a wider social impact? Using Yorkshire’s world-class country houses as case studies, this course will introduce you to:

• The builders of the country house
• The rise and fall of the great estates
• The ‘upstairs’ lives of the men, women and children who lived in the country house and the ‘downstairs’ world of the men and women who served them
• The idea of a ‘court style’ and its regional variations
• The often difficult relationship between patron and architect
• The allied arts of interior design and decoration
• The relationship between the aristocratic great house, the more modest gentleman’s house and the villa

Tutor-led visits to houses such as Temple Newsam, Harewood House and Castle Howard are an important feature of this course.
Syllabus: Click here to download the syllabus

Block 2

British Popular Music in the North of England
Joy Division, The Smiths, The Kaiser Chiefs, Arctic Monkeys… But what about The Stone Roses, Echo and the Bunnymen, Reverend and the Makers and the Happy Mondays? Oh, yes, and a little band called The Beatles… The trouble is the list is just way too long. It’s true that the North of England has a most formidable reputation for innovation in pop music, but why is this the case? How do these ground-breaking and acclaimed musicians and performers speak of their region and the wider culture in their music? This module will explore these questions and more through a mixture of presentations, workshops and visits, with a focus on musical and lyrical content, culture and heritage, identity and iconography.
Syllabus: Click here to download the syllabus

Building Britain, 1700-1840: Industrial ‘Revolution’ or ‘Evolution’?
In the short span between the accession of George III (1760) and the death of his son William IV (1837) the face of England changed dramatically. Roads, railways, rivers and canals sprung up across the land, country hamlets became populous towns, factories replaced farms and chimney stacks dwarfed church spires, as technological innovations drove rapid economic growth. The structure of British society was changed forever, with mass migration from country to towns and cities.  Yet, despite significant economic and social changes in this period, the popular notion that these developments were rapid and ‘revolutionary’ has been questioned by recent scholarship, suggesting certain industrial developments in the eighteenth century were the result of a culmination of gradual changes dating back to Tudor England.

This course sets out to examine both the processes and social effects of England’s Industrial Revolution and in so doing explore the accuracy of the term ‘revolution’.  It will take advantage of the wealth of local evidence of industrial development in West Yorkshire (an important area in the broader history of England’s industrial past) and include study visits to sites of special historic interest.
Syllabus:  Click here to download the provisional syllabus

British Literature and the Brontës
This module will provide students with an introduction to British Literature with a particular focus on well-known authors from the region, including the Brontës. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë lived at Haworth Parsonage, only a few miles from Leeds, which will be visited as part of this module. During the 1840s and 50s they wrote some of the most original and challenging fiction of the Victorian period, which retains its popularity and still inspires criticism, fiction, popular culture, and film adaptations. Other British authors such as Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, Robert Louis Stevenson and the Lakeland Poets may be included in the curriculum. The School of English at the University of Leeds is one of the top-rated departments in the country and ranks in the top 10 for Research.
Syllabus:  Click here to download the syllabus

Credit transfer and transcripts

Credit transfer is subject to the approval of your home university. For details of our partner universities who already accept Leeds transfer credits from our semester and year-long study abroad programmes, please contact us. You should always discuss credit transfer with an academic adviser at your home university as arrangements can vary from institution to institution.

If you successfully complete Leeds International Summer School you will receive a University of Leeds transcript with individual grades for each course and a Certificate of Attendance.