University of Birmingham: School of Languages, Cultures, Art History and Music
Why you should choose the School of Languages, Cultures, Art History and Music at the University of Birmingham
Join a community of translators, art historians, curators, and musicians at a world top 100 university for arts and humanities (QS World University Rankings 2025).
Benefit from our academic expertise in a range of specialisms.
Department of Modern Languages
- MA Translation
- MA Translation (by distance learning)
- MA English-Chinese Interpreting with Translation
- MA Comparative Literature and Critical Theories
- MRes Sexuality and Gender Studies
- PhD / MA by Research Translation
- PhD Translation practice-based
- PhD Comparative Literature
- PhD / MA by Research French Studies
- PhD / MA by Research German Studies
- PhD / MA by Research Hispanic Studies
- PhD / MA by Research Italian Studies
- PhD / MA by Research Arabic Studies
- PhD / MA by Research Russian Studies
- PhD / MA by Research Sexuality and Gender Studies
Department of Art History, Curating and Visual Studies
- MA Art History and Curating
- PGCert Art History and Curating (by distance learning)
- MA History of Art
- MRes History of Art
- PhD Art History
Department of Music
- MA Music (with Performance): Performance pathway
- MA Music: Composition pathway
- MA Music: Musicology and Sound Studies pathway
- PhD Musicology
- PhD Sound Studies
- PhD Composition
Discover our courses programmes
Employability and industry connections
At Birmingham, you’ll deepen your knowledge and develop real-world skills to enhance your career.
We’re proud to be the UK university most targeted by the country’s leading graduate employers for two years in a row (The Graduate Market in 2024 and 2025 High Fliers reports).
Employability is built into our Masters degrees in the School of Languages, Cultures, Music and Art History. Opportunities include:
- Translation guest speakers, industry-standard software, and a Professional Development module on MA Translation Studies
- Interpreting suite so you can gain practical experience on MA English-Chinese Interpreting with Translation
- A curatorial project working with museum professionals at a partner organisation on MA Art History and Curating
- Music employability module to build industry-ready skills on all Music MA pathways
“The Department was always helping me to develop my portfolio. I focused on performance, composition, and a lot of technical audio skills, which I then carried into my career.”
William, MA Music: Composition pathway and the Principal Audio Designer at Blue Dot Games.
Available scholarships
We offer a range of postgraduate scholarships at the University of Birmingham to support your studies. Available scholarships include:
- College of Arts and Law Masters scholarship – tuition fee discount covering the UK tuition fee amount. Available to UK and International students studying any subject in the College of Arts and Law.
- Music Masters Scholarship – for our MA Music programmes. Various amounts available for UK and International students.
- Woltmann Masters Scholarship - tuition fee discount covering the UK tuition fee amount. Available to UK and International students studying one of our MA programmes in Modern Languages.
- High Fliers scholarship - £5,000 scholarship for international students from specific countries.
Closing dates vary per award – our College of Arts and Law Masters scholarship closes on 25 March 2026.
Ready to find out more?
Chat to staff and current MA students in the School of Languages, Cultures, Art History and Music at our next postgraduate event
