BA History and Modern Languages - 2025 entry

Languages and levels available for Combined Honours courses

Completing your UCAS form

In the section named ‘further details’ on your UCAS application form please indicate in the ‘choices’ field the language and route you wish to study using the abbreviations below, separated by a space:

During your International Placement, you will still be registered as an Exeter student and therefore supported in several ways. You will retain your personal tutor and be expected to keep in contact with them. You will also have the support of the Exeter Global Opportunities team for advice on any matter.

You will need to decide how to spend your International Placement during the first half of the second year. We will help you in the process. During your first year you will be invited to an introductory presentation about your Year Abroad options. In your second year, there is an extensive orientation programme to help you prepare for your Year Abroad.

Ways to spend the International Placement (work or study)

• You must spend 7-15 months abroad, maximising the opportunities available to you
• You can work, study, or split the year on two or more placements
• Students going to China or Russia can currently only study (work abroad is not available)
• If you study Portuguese, the only options available are study or work abroad (not a British Council assistantship)

Study Abroad

Studying abroad offers a range of possibilities, with over 40 different partner universities worldwide available to Modern Languages students. This can provide you with the opportunity to experience a different academic environment with local and other international students broadening your knowledge of the language and culture you study.

Work Abroad

Internships are very rewarding in that they can offer you valuable workplace experience. Placements can be sourced via our Global Opportunities webpages, but you can also source your own internship externally, though it must be approved by the Global Opportunities team. Some of our students have spent their Year Abroad working in translation, tourism, marketing, fashion, commerce, journalism, heritage and many other sectors.

British Council English Language Assistantship

Becoming an English Language Assistant with the British Council is a brilliant opportunity to explore both the world of working and, more specifically, the idea of working as a teacher. An academic year is spent supporting teachers in a primary or secondary school in the country of the language you are studying.

Does it count towards my degree?

The International Placement is an assessed year and the marks obtained count towards your final degree classification. If you begin a language in your first year at Exeter and intend to take that language in your final year, we strongly recommend you spend the majority of your Year Abroad in a country where that language is spoken. If you would like to arrange the year differently, you should first speak with the Programme Director for your language and/or the Study Abroad Officer.

How does it affect my tuition fee and funding?

For your International Placement you will pay a significantly reduced tuition fee to Exeter – for more information visit our fees pages. You will also continue to receive any Student Finance support for which you are eligible. Other financial support may also be available for certain students.

Modules

Modules are designed to encourage you to think about long-term developments and processes of historical change, and to make comparisons between countries and cultures. This helps you progress from the more tightly defined topics studied at A level. Modules are also designed to encourage you to think and write analytically about these broad subjects. They emphasise historical questions that require you to identify patterns across time, or between countries, and to isolate common or competing trends, instead of concentrating on short-term or single explanations.

Teaching hours

Written language is taught through weekly classes of about 18 students with teams of tutors who contribute to a programme aimed at grammar improvement and the development of advanced writing skills. You’ll also have weekly oral practice in classes of about eight with native speakers of the language(s) that you are studying. You’ll be expected to prepare written work or presentations for seminars, in which you’ll have the opportunity to express your own point of view and to discuss other people’s ideas.

Non-language modules are taught through a combination of lectures, seminars and/or tutorials. Our teaching methods are chosen to encourage you to become an increasingly independent learner as you progress through the years.

Personal tutor

You'll have a personal tutor, as well as tutors in individual subjects and they will work with you to monitor your progress, as well as offering pastoral support and other help. You will have a chance to make your mark on the programmes through regular student evaluations and participation in the Student-Staff Liaison Committees and the student History Societies on both campuses.

How will I be assessed?

Modules are assessed by a combination of exams and coursework (essays, projects and other written and oral tasks).

You will have to pass assessments in your first year to proceed to the second year, but they do not count towards your final degree classification. The assessments in the second year, year abroad and final year contribute to your final degree award.

Progression

You must pass your first-year assessment in order to progress to the second year, but the results do not count towards your degree classification. For three-year programmes, the assessments in the second and third years contribute to your final degree classification. For four-year programmes the assessments in the second, third and fourth years all contribute to your final degree classification.

Optional modules outside of this course

Each year, if you have optional modules available, you can take up to 30 credits in a subject outside of your course. This can increase your employability and widen your intellectual horizons.

Proficiency in a second subject

If you complete 60 credits of modules in one of the subjects below, you may have the words 'with proficiency in [e.g. Social Data Science]' added to your degree title when you graduate.

• A Foreign Language
• Law
• Social Data Science
• Entrepreneurship
• Leadership

Find out more about proficiency options

Career paths

You will be equipped with skills that are attractive to employers and relevant for a wide range of careers, including graduate-level roles in the heritage and arts sectors as well as other fields of work, including education, retail management, recruitment, charities, finance and accounting, and journalism.

Example careers

• Account Manager
• Archivist
• Business Analyst
• Civil Servant
• Digital Marketing and
• Events Executive
• Event Project Manager
• Global Market
• Researcher
• Historian
• Parliamentary Researcher
• TV Researcher

Further study

A History degree may also lead to further study or research and recent graduates have progressed to postgraduate courses in:

• MA History
• MA English Literary Studies
• Graduate Diploma in Law
• MA Conflict, Security and Development
• MSc International Management
• PGCE