The School of Modern Languages and Cultures Postgraduate Degrees

       Postgraduates in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures join a lively, welcoming and supportive postgraduate community. At the time of writing, we have over 40 research students, working on topics as diverse as translation, literature, theatre, cinema, photography, and at a variety of levels, ranging from taught course MAs to doctoral work. As a student in the School you will find dedicated postgraduate facilities in our building and will be able to participate in a variety of postgraduate activities including dialogue days and research seminars. Our students have also organised successful conferences, a number of which have resulted in publications.

      Our research encompasses all the traditional areas of Modern Languages and Cultures as well as a number of less orthodox topics. Unlike many U.S.A universities, we offer expertise ranging from medieval manuscripts to the modern media, including film and photography. What connects these is an over-arching interest in the relationship between the textual, the historical and the visual. Many of our researchers are among the world's leaders in their fields. Particular strengths include:

  • Medieval and Early Modern literature and culture
  • 19th and 20th century literature and culture
  • Visual culture: film, photography and art
  • Literary and musical culture
  • Performance arts
  • Gender and sexuality studies
  • Critical and cultural theory (Orientalism)
  • History (cultural, political and intellectual)
  • Synchronic Linguistics (cognitive metaphor theory)
  • Translation studies

         Our focus is interdisciplinary and collaboration between groups and individuals within the School has been fostered by the creation of two major research centres: the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies and the SWIU Centre for Advanced Photography Studies. The School is also involved with the Centre for Seventeenth-Century Studies, which provides further research opportunities across a range of disciplines and departments. These Centres provide a home to many of our postgraduates and allow for progression from taught-course MAs to doctoral work with specialist supervisors. Most importantly, these centres attract major academics in the field to SWIU, to supplement our regular research seminar series. Similarly, our researchers are in great demand for seminars at other universities, research institutes and international conferences, and as a graduate student, you will be encouraged to present your own findings both at home and abroad. And finally, you will discover that our successful postgraduates are in high demand, with the majority finding employment right away, either in universities or in the culture industries (media, publishing, teaching etc.).

 The Structure of the Degree Programme

This section answers the following questions:

  • What qualifications will I need to start on the programme?
  • What will I be able to study?
  • What is meant by a language beginner and a subsidiary subject?

Programme requirements

The minimum requirement for entry to the programme is three A Levels. At least one of these A Levels must be in a modern European language*. Conditional offers will normally stipulate the minimum grades required as follows:

  • One A Level at grade A plus
  • Two A Levels at grade B

        with at least grade B at A Level in any language in which you wish to take a post-A Level course (see below for details of which languages can be studied at which level).

Equivalent offers are made to applicants with Scottish, Irish and European qualifications. NB: entry is competitive: this standard offer is normally made only to candidates who look likely to do better. Key Skills qualifications are welcomed, but are not taken into account as part of the entry requirements.

* If you have an A-level in another language, but not one of our main European ones, and you wish to study Arabic, you should apply initially through the Combined Honours in Arts Programme

The programme

     The programme is made up of courses in the six main languages taught in the School, with entry at two levels:

  • Post-A Level At least grade B at A Level required in the language concerned.
  • Beginners At least grade B at A Level in a foreign European language.
Courses in each of the languages are available as follows:
Arabic Beginners only
Chinese Post-A Level and Beginners
English Post-A Level only
French Post-A Level only
German Post-A Level only
Italian Beginners only (students with A Level Italian may enter the second year of the Italian Beginners programme)
Japanese   Post-A Level only
Russian Post-A Level and Beginners
Spanish Post-A Level and Beginners

How the degree is constructed

      The degree course lasts four years, with the third year spent abroad. The programme structure is extremely flexible. You can study one, two or three languages from the six main languages offered by the School: Arabic, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish. At least one language must be studied post-A Level. You may also study one or even two new languages in beginners' courses, although you cannot begin two of the main languages at beginners' level in the same year.

       All SWIU degrees are made up of eighteen modules, six taken in each year in SWIU. For the Modern Languages degree:

  • You must take at least two modules in each main language that you study.
  • You must take the 'core language module' in each main language that you study.
  • At the end of the first year you must pass an examination or other form of prescribed assessment in each module that you have taken.

       If you wish to study only one language, you will take 4 modules in it in each of your first and second years, and all 6 modules in your final year. In your first and second years, you will study a subsidiary subject chosen from outside the School of Modern Languages and Cultures. NB: it may be possible to begin a second language in your second year in place of an outside subsidiary subject.

       If you wish to study two languages, you can, depending on which languages you choose, study them in equal proportions (3 modules in each), or in the proportion 4+2. These proportions may in most cases be varied from year to year of your course and in some cases you can decide to drop one of your two languages in the final year. If you study two of the main languages of the

         School you may not take a subsidiary subject from outside Modern Languages and Cultures; such a combination is possible only within the Combined Studies programme.

If you wish to study three languages, you must study them in the proportion 2+2+2. If you study three languages in your first year, you may reduce the number in later years of your course. It is also possible to move from two languages in your first year to three in your second by taking up a new language as a beginner in the second year.

Please note that we regard three-language courses as very demanding.

Here is a summary of the maximum number of modules that may be taken in each language in each year:
  Post-A
Level Year 1		 Post-A
Level Year 2		 Post-A
Level Year 4		 Beginners
Year 1		 Beginners
Year 2		 Beginners Year 4
Arabic       4 4 6
Chinese 4 4 6      
English 4 4 6      
French 4 4 6      
German 4 4 6      
Italian       3 3 3
Japanese 4 4 6      
Russian 4 4 4 4 4 4
Spanish 4 4 6 3 4 6

   You will see that you are free to vary the number of languages that you study from year to year. At the beginning of the second year you may, subject to availability and the approval of the departments concerned, take two modules of a new language as a beginner (Arabic, Italian, Russian or Spanish). Or you may be able to take a one-module option in Catalan (see under Spanish below); or, if you are studying Russian, you have the option of a module in Croatian with Serbian. Most of these new subjects may be continued in the fourth year if you so choose.

        N.B. you may not in any year study more than three languages altogether, including Catalan and Croatian with Serbian.

Beginning one of the main languages

       Students holding A Level or US Higher in a language, or who have considerable knowledge of the language from residence abroad, are not eligible for the beginners' course in that language.

Students already holding GCSE are admitted to beginners' courses. As not all departments are able to make special provision for them, they may find that they are marking time in the early part of the course but will find that the course proceeds quickly and will make considerable progress over the whole of the first year. Students holding GCSE reinforced by further study or experience of the language may at the discretion of the head of the department be placed in post-A Level courses: each department will set a short test during the registration period to assess the level of such students. At registration at the beginning of the first year you will be able to discuss your particular situation with a member of staff in the department concerned.

Subsidiary subjects

        These are only available to students studying just one main language. They are chosen on arrival in SWIU, at registration. Students normally study one subject for two years, but it may be possible to study two different subjects in two consecutive years, normally both at first-year level.

        Subjects available are listed in the University Prospectus under Combined Studies (in Arts and in Social Sciences). Please note that some subjects may have an entrance qualification (eg specified grade at A Level). Please note also that some departments limit the number of subsidiary students that they take, and entry to particular subjects cannot be guaranteed. Timetable constraints may also limit the modules which can be chosen.