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Birkbeck, University of London: Modern Languages and Comparative Literatures

Institution Birkbeck, University of London View institution profile
Department School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication
Web http://www.bbk.ac.uk/
Telephone 0203 907 0700
Study type Taught

Summary

Our MA Modern Languages and Comparative Literatures is a highly flexible course offering you the chance to explore the languages and cultures of the French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Spanish and Latin American worlds. It also gives you a thorough grounding in theoretical approaches to comparative literary and cultural studies.

Why choose this course?

  • We will help you tailor a pathway through the course that reflects your interests, career ambitions and language knowledge.

  • You will be taught by a team of renowned academic experts who bring their research experience and insights in comparative literature, cultural studies, history, thought and visual culture, from the Enlightenment to the twenty-first century.

  • You can take a broadly comparative pathway through the degree or focus on particular strands within modules, and study texts in the original language or in English translation.

What you will learn

The core module provides frameworks for engaging with comparative literature and cultural theory and option modules allow you to explore the modern world across different cultures and texts.

Language modules are studied at advanced level, incorporating academic writing workshops and allowing you to perfect your language skills.

You will develop your research and writing skills through a series of workshops, culminating in a dissertation or research project.

How you will learn

This course is available full- or part-time with classes taking place in the evening. Our language-learning modules are taught on campus, but all of our other modules are offered as HyFlex, so you can study in person or online.

Our teaching is mainly interactive and seminar-based. Our research-skills workshops culminate in a mini-conference where you present your dissertation/research project to other students and staff.

If you require a Student visa to study in the UK, you will only be able to attend this course on campus. The online option will not be available to you because it may affect the conditions of your visa.

MRes

The MRes is ideal if you wish to pursue a more research-oriented pathway through this course, as it offers you specialist training in research skills. You can opt to write your dissertation on a specific language-speaking area/s and, if you also work with cultural artefacts in the original language/s, the title of your award will reflect this, e.g. MRes French Studies.

Highlights

  • You will be taught by specialists from our School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication.

  • Our Centre for French, Francophone and Comparative Studies, Centre for Iberian and Latin American Visual Studies and Eighteenth-Century Research Group host multiple workshops, lectures and conferences.

  • You could be studying in a building that was once home to Virginia Woolf and frequented by members of the Bloomsbury Group. The building houses our own creative hub which includes a gallery, cinema and theatre and performance space.

  • We are surrounded by cultural institutes relevant to the study of languages and comparative literature, e.g. the Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies, the Goethe Institute, Institut Français, Instituto Cervantes and Japan House London.

  • The school offers a number of bursaries for postgraduate students.

Careers and employability

On successfully graduating from this course, you will have gained an array of transferable skills, including:

  • a sophisticated use of written and spoken English

  • a critical ability in the use of theoretical perspectives

  • enhanced intercultural awareness

  • facility and precision in the use of analytical tools

  • strong skills and initiative in collecting and organising complex materials and writing up clear, well-presented reports.

Graduates of this MA follow career paths in international organisations or businesses, translating, teaching, research, journalism, publishing, law and the civil service.

MA

Master of Research - MRes

Located in Bloomsbury, in the heart of London, everything the UK’s Capital city has to offer is on our doorstep.

We offer over 250 taught and research postgraduate programmes across the humanities and social sciences, business, law; and science and we’re a part of the prestigious University of London, one of the world’s best known and most highly regarded universities.

Birkbeck, University of London is built for the busy. We have over 200 years’ experience of providing exceptional learning experiences designed to fit in with students’ schedules. Our range of different study options allow our students to choose …

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