Discover exciting elective pathways

Many of our courses include the option to choose exciting routes of elective study called Global Challenge Pathways. These allow you to explore current debates, enhance your understanding and employability, and complement your chosen subject.

These pathways are available to eligible undergraduate students and are just one of the ways in which we provide additional opportunities for Keele students to stand out from the crowd.

Global Challenge Pathways are Keele’s ground-breaking brand of elective study, which eligible students can take alongside their core degree programme to complement and enhance their studies at Keele.

Each pathway is designed over the three years of undergraduate study, with students engaging with a global issue or challenge which connects them directly to societal issues, often working with staff and students from different subject areas.

Students on the pathways can take part in research-driven and external-facing projects which address current controversies and debates.

Global Challenge Pathways give you the opportunity to:

  • Present your ideas and outputs to employers, organisations and communities
  • Build a powerful digital showcase to carry your learning and achievements with you
  • Link your studies to the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Please note, Global Challenge Pathways are only available to eligible students with a certain amount of free modules in their curriculum, and not all pathways are available to all students; please check your programme course page for details.

A ground-breaking brand of elective study

Explore our pathways

From Climate Change and Sustainability to Social Justice, our pathways allow you to explore the global challenges that we face. You will develop the skills to address these challenges with confidence and critical insight. 

Through the Climate Change & Sustainability pathway you will develop the skills, understanding and drive to become agents of change to tackle climate change and wider sustainability challenges.

You may work with international partners to explore climate change and sustainability in different international contexts; lead your own projects to drive real change in your communities; or even be part of educating others to help achieve a more sustainable future.

The Digital Futures pathway offers you the opportunity to become an active contributor to current debates, and engage with cutting-edge research, addressing both the exciting potential and the challenges of disruptive digital transformation across all spheres of life.

Part of a diverse and interdisciplinary pathway community, you will have the opportunity to engage in exciting, impactful collaborative project work in innovative formats. Engaged in real-world scenarios, you will use digital technology and creativity to promote inclusive, empowering, and sustainable change at local and global levels.

If we are to achieve the promise of Sustainable Development Goals, solve the climate crisis, and take advantage of the changes that the digital revolution provides, we need to understand the power of enterprise and prepare for future contexts of work, creativity and disruption.

Supporting you to be part of future-facing solutions, this pathway will develop your understanding of the utilisation of resources, labour and capital. It will support you in developing creative, original thinking, with opportunities to collaborate on projects that persuade and effect change, setting you up to thrive in future environments of work and innovation.

By taking the global health pathway you will work towards developing solutions to improve the health and quality of life for particular people and communities, engaging with these groups to co-design interventions.

This pathway will provide you with skills that go beyond a focus on health and will allow you to develop your ability to work in a team and lead change in society. The knowledge, skills and work experience will complement your core degree and help you to enhance your career opportunities and graduate aspirations.

An understanding of language and culture opens the doorway to a global community. 

There are four routes to choose from within the Languages and Intercultural Awareness Global Challenges Pathway. These include, The Language Specialist, The Certificate in TESOL, The Language Taster and The Intercultural Explorer. 

Please visit the Language Centre webpages for full details and eligibility.

Students on this pathway will embark on a reflective journey drawing upon decolonising, feminist, and ethical perspectives on social justice, forging transformative outputs as agents of change.

You will engage with key societal challenges, for example Covid-19 as a social crisis with impact on gender and racial identities.

The pathway will allow you to monitor and critically evaluate policies and human rights treaties, and produce and disseminate digitally fluent, international and sustainable project findings.