BALanguages and Contemporary European Studies

Study location	United Kingdom, Southampton
Type	Bachelor courses, full-time
Nominal duration	4 years
Study language	English
Awards	BA
Course code	R900

Entry qualification

High school / secondary education (or higher) The entry qualification documents are accepted in the following languages: English. Often you can get a suitable transcript from your school. If this is not the case, you will need official translations along with verified copies of the original. Upload documents in original language and translations. You must take verified copies of the entry qualification documents along with you when you finally go to the university.

Language requirements	English IELTS: 6.5 (with a minimum of 6.5 in Reading and Writing, 6.0 in Listening and Speaking) CAE before January 2015: level C CAE after January 2015: 176 points overall with no component less than 176

Other requirements	At least 1 reference(s) must be provided. A motivation letter must be added to your application.

More information	southampton.ac.uk/.._european_studies.page

Overview

Interested? To learn more about this study programme, entry requirements and application process, please contact one of our consultants in a country nearest to you.

Programme structure

For each language, you will be allocated to a stage of language proficiency in our unique system of seven language levels. This is designed to place you at the stage most appropriate to develop your spoken and written skills, enabling you to make rapid progress. In all years of study you will benefit from our wide range of resources. You will use the excellent facilities in the Centre for Language Study and in our French, German and Spanish Resources Rooms, including extensive multimedia facilities and online resources.

In your first, second and final years, you will take a language module in both of your languages. You will also take modules which offer a range of different perspectives on the major social, political, cultural and economic developments within Europe. This includes modules run in different faculties of the university, including Social and Human Sciences (“Transformations of the Modern World”) and Business and Law (“The European Business Environment”). You will also select further module options from a broad range of choices relating to topics in linguistics, social, political and legal studies, contemporary society, literature, or film. Some of these modules may be related to the languages you are studying, while others will deal with issues in modern languages and contemporary Europe more generally, which are not specific to the study of a particular language. You also have the option of taking free elective modules from outside modern languages. In the final year you have the opportunity of preparing a dissertation as a double module, under the guidance of an appropriate supervisor.

The third year is spent abroad either as an English language assistant in a school, studying at one of our partner universities or on a work placement. This provides an opportunity to improve your linguistic and cultural proficiency in your chosen language and to demonstrate your ability to work independently over a sustained period – an invaluable asset when entering the job market. While abroad you will also conduct an investigative project, supervised by a tutor at Southampton.

The country that you spend your year abroad in will depend on the languages of your degree. For example, most students of French choose a European country, but many go further afield – to Québec or La Réunion, for example. Most students of German choose to go to Germany or Austria, some have also stayed in Switzerland. Our current partner universities are Potsdam, Hamburg, Freiburg, Bayreuth, Frankfurt, Marburg, Tuebingen, Siegen, Cologne and Vienna. Most students of Spanish go to Spain, but many choose to spend a year in Latin America. Our current Spanish-speaking ERASMUS partners are Barcelona, Granada, Alcala de Henares, Madrid, Malaga, Castellón and Salamanca. We also have links with several Latin American Universities (including in Brazil, for students of Portuguese). Our Mexican Exchange Scheme is open to students of Spanish who wish to spend a year working as a Language Resources Assistant in a Mexican University Self-Access Centre. This is part of a special exchange between the Mexican Ministry of Education and the University of Southampton. Our Portuguese ERASMUS partners are Aveiro, Coimbra and Lisbon.

Career opportunities

Employability is embedded into course modules from the first year onwards, right from the first lecture. We offer a number of optional employability modules.

Your specialist skills in intercultural communication, listening and language will be highly valued by employers.

A year abroad also gives you the chance to achieve something away from education-centred activity, such as gaining relevant work experience to help form your future plans. With many employers now expecting extracurricular or voluntary experience, this can prove vital.