University of Exeter to Offer Master’s Degree in Magic, One of the First in UK

The University of Exeter will offer a master’s degree in Magic and Occult Science starting in September 2024, following a “recent surge in interest in magic,” the school has announced.

The university said the postgraduate course is one of the first of its kind in the United Kingdom, combining the study of the history of magic with a broad range of other disciplines, Erudera News reports.

The course leader, Professor Emily Selove, said that a recent surge of interest in magic, both in and outside academia, is at the center of the most urgent questions of society.

“A recent surge in interest in magic and the occult inside and outside of academia lies at the heart of the most urgent questions of our society. Decolonisation, the exploration of alternative epistemologies, feminism, and anti-racism are at the core of this programme,” Selove said.

According to the school, experts in history, literature, philosophy, archaeology, sociology, psychology, drama, and religion will delve into magic's impact on both Western and Eastern cultures.

Selove said that students who take this one-year course would be prepared for careers in teaching, counseling, mentoring, heritage and museum work, work in libraries, tourism, arts organizations, the publishing industry, social justice and environmental think thanks, spiritual and wellbeing guidance, writing and media, the arts, and further research.

Additionally, the course is expected to help students improve their analytical and creative thinking skills, among other things.

“Students will have the option to take modules on dragons in Western literature and art, the legend of King Arthur, palaeography, Islamic thought, archaeological theory and practice, the depiction of women in the Middle Ages, the book in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, gender, society and culture in Early Modern Europe and the philosophy of Psychedelics. More modules are under development,” Selove said.

She further said that magic and occult continue to be an important part of Western culture; therefore, it is not wise to not take it seriously. According to her, studying these subjects is a way to reconsider humanity's relationship with the natural world.

The course will be offered at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, but students will have the option to complete their dissertation in the Drama department.

Last academic year, students at the University of Exeter totaled 29,776, a slight drop from the 2021/22 academic year when 30,012 attended the university. Of the total number of students at Exeter in 2022, about 7,400 were international.

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