Undergraduate Degrees

BA International Business and Modern Languages

Please note: This page is for 2027 entry. Click here for 2026 entry.

UCAS code NN16
Duration 3 years
Entry year 2027
Campus Streatham Campus
Typical offer

View full entry requirements

A-Level: AAB
IB: 34/665
BTEC: DDD

Contextual offers

A-Level: BBB
IB: 30/555
BTEC: DDM

Why study BA International Business and Modern Languages at Exeter?

  • Equip yourself with business acumen, commercial understanding, intercultural skills, and linguistic ability in your chosen language
  • Open up your career prospects to the global business community
  • Opportunity to learn Chinese (Mandarin), French, Spanish or German from beginners. French, Spanish and German can also be taken from advanced/post-A-Level.
  • Tailor the direction of your studies by choosing any of our wide range of business and management modules, which are taught by our triple-accredited Business School.
  • Option to spend your 3rd year abroad to give you an immersive language experience. Students studying beginners languages are required to study the 4-year “with Year Abroad” course.
  • Students often get involved in activities outside class such as language societies, tandem partnerships, and liaison work in schools and the community.

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Contact

Web: Enquire online

Phone: +44 (0)1392 72 72 72

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Top 150 in world subject rankings for Modern Languages and Cultures

QS World University Subject Rankings 2026

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Top 10 in the UK for Business and Management

9th in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025 and 8th in The Complete University Guide 2027

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Triple accredited Business School

AMBA, AACSB, EQUIS

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Option to spend a year abroad studying at a partner university

"My course has supported my future career as it has set me up with many different skills I will need in the workplace. For example, through group projects I have learned leadership, collaboration, and communication skills. I have also had the opportunity to learn transferable skills such as research and analysis, time management, and problem-solving. Additionally, because of classes I have taken such as Business Analytics and a Python coding course I took through the Entrepreneurship society, I have gained skills in coding which I think will be invaluable later in my career. Furthermore, my Spanish will be very useful in my graduate job as the company I will be working for has many clients in both Spain and Latin America!"

"Additionally through my programme I got to take a year abroad to study in Barcelona. It was one of the best years of my life; I met so many new people and had so many new experiences that I would not have had without going abroad. I studied at Universitat Pompeu Fabra having classes for Spanish and Business and also had the opportunity to take a French language class. Through the Global Leaders Expedition I had the opportunity to go to Porto, Portugal at the start of my 2nd year. During this trip we got paired up with 4 different companies in Porto and created presentations to tackle a problem each business was facing. My group was partnered with COFCO international and we worked with two of their employees over the course of a week to tackle their issue of wanting to share their culture and core values with employees and stakeholders. We also attended different lectures and workshops on leadership and teamwork; many of the skills I learned from these sessions I will take with me into my professional life.

I have faced a few challenges at university regarding my mental health, especially around anxiety. However, the university offers many different support systems to help students who struggle with mental wellbeing. For example, my ILP has been really helpful and has supported me throughout my time at Exeter. Additionally, the wellbeing services that the uni has have helped me when I needed support from professionals. This support was so wonderful and helped me get through university…"

Read more from Chloe

Chloe

BA International Business and Spanish with Year Abroad

Chloe

Entry requirements (typical offer)

Qualification Typical offer Required subjects
A-Level AAB Dependent on subjects chosen (see below).
IB 34/665 Dependent on subjects chosen (see below).
BTEC DDD Dependent on subjects chosen (see below).
GCSE C or 4
B or 5
Grade C or 4 in English Language, and
Grade B or 5 in Mathematics

Applicants who have achieved GCSE Maths one grade below the specified requirement will be considered. These applicants may be invited to complete the Maths Transition Course and receive a conditional offer on the basis of successful course completion.
Access to HE 30 L3 credits at Distinction Grade and 15 L3 credits at Merit Grade. Dependent on level chosen the required L3 credits in Modern Foreign Language subject area.
T-Level Distinction Dependent on subjects chosen (see below).
Contextual Offer

A-Level: BBB
IB: 30/555
BTEC: DDM

Specific subject requirements must still be achieved where stated above. Find out more about contextual offers.

Other accepted qualifications

View other accepted qualifications

English language requirements

International students need to show they have the required level of English language to study this course. The required test scores for this course fall under Profile B1. Please visit our English language requirements page to view the required test scores and equivalencies from your country.

NB General Studies is not included in any offer.

Grades advertised on each programme webpage are the typical level at which our offers are made and provide information on any specific subjects an applicant will need to have studied in order to be considered for a place on the programme. However, if we receive a large number of applications for the programme we may not be able to make an offer to all those who are predicted to achieve/have achieved grades which are in line with our typical offer. For more information on how applications are assessed and when decisions are released, please see: After you apply

Language requirements

  • No previous language qualifications are required.
  • You may only choose one language.
  • French, German, and Spanish can be studied either from A-Level or beginner’s level, with both cohorts reaching degree level in the final year.
  • Chinese can normally only be studied from beginner’s level, not from A-Level; students of this language reach degree level in final year.

Languages and levels available for Combined Honours courses

I want to study a new language at beginner level alongside my other subject

Modern Languages requirements No previous language qualifications required. Students who want to start a language degree with no previous linguistic experience are invited to contact us to discuss language teaching and learning expectations and the support we have in place for them.  
Advanced level languages available n/a
Beginners level languages available Chinese (Mandarin); French; German; Spanish

I want to study my A level (or equivalent) language at advanced level alongside my other subject

Modern Languages requirements A level grade B or IB HL5 or SL6 (or equivalent) in the language chosen at advanced level
Advanced level languages available French; German; Spanish
Beginners level languages available n/a

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:

French Fren
Chinese (Mandarin) Chin
German Germ
Spanish Span

 

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Course content

You may take option modules as long as any necessary prerequisites have been satisfied, where the timetable allows and if you have not already taken the module in question or an equivalent module.

You may notice changes to some of our modules over the coming months. This is because we are making space for the following:

  • Minors: Future Skills Pathways - Alongside your main degree you may be eligible (depending on your course) to choose modules from another subject to broaden your skills and interests.
  • Skills to Thrive built into every degree - Essential skills for your future, including communication, problem-solving, teamwork and digital confidence.
  • Increased innovation and wellbeing - More room for creative learning, real-world projects and a healthier study rhythm.

The modules below provide examples of what you can expect to learn on this degree course based on recent academic teaching. The precise modules available to you in future years may vary depending on staff availability and research interests, new topics of study, timetabling and student demand.

Please note that the module information displayed here is subject to change.

45 credits of compulsory Business School modules, 45 credits of compulsory modules in Modern Languages, 15 credits of optional Business School modules, 15 credits of optional modules consisting of content related to your chosen language:

  • take BEM1027, BEM1071, BEM1072 and SML1005
  • take 30 compulsory credits in your chosen language
  •  select 15 credits of optional modules consisting of content related to your chosen language
  • select 15 credits of optional Business modules.
  • select 15 credits of optional LCVS modules. Please note that you must select 15 credits related to the culture and society of the language of study and at the appropriate level from the link (so, for example, if you study French module codes starting with MLF1*, MLF2*, and MLF3*  and SML1*, SML2* and SML3* respectively for French Year 1, Y2, and Y3).

Please note that certain modules may only be available to students on Single Honours programmes, or to students who have taken a particular language module. This information will be given in the pre-requisites or co-requisites section of the relevant module descriptor.

For Business School Optional modules, see Stage 1 UEBS Modularity Group below.

Compulsory modules

CodeModuleCredits
Compulsory 1
The International Business Context15
Discovering Management Theory15
Discovering Skills for Management15
Language, Communication and Power15
Compulsory Choice Language Modules 2
French Language30
French Language for Beginners30
German Language30
German Language for Beginners30
Beginners Chinese30
Spanish Language30
Spanish Language for Beginners30

BEM1027: The International Business Context

Businesses work across countries and there is a growing demand for business and management graduates with an international perspective, who are capable of operating effectively in a globalised world and across international boundaries and cultures. In this module you will learn how globalisation has brought about an increasing 'connectedness' of businesses, markets, people and information across countries.

The aim of this module is to equip you with a foundational understanding and awareness of business and management practice in the international context. It will engage you with both long standing and emerging research throughout the lecture programme, and it will develop your ability to critically analyse international business contexts, trends, issues and impacts.

Internationalisation

You will identify and appreciate the global opportunities and challenges that businesses face while taking a global perspective in their critical review process.

Employability

During this module, you will acquire confidence and skills in presenting, writing reports, conducting independent research, working in teams, managing conflicts, and working to deadlines.

Sustainability

This module will recognise and investigate sustainability related issues within the international context, and where relevant will reference the Module Convenor's own research as well as linking to Exeter's sustainability research groups.

View an example full module specification

BEM1071: Discovering Management Theory

This module provides an introduction to organisations and their management. It introduces you to major elements of management theory, both historic and contemporary in nature. Through this module you will be exploring the future of management practice, and you will be engaged with key pieces of research emerging from the Business School.

This module is designed as a foundational element of the degree programme, upon which other content areas will build. As such there are no pre-or co-requisites for this module.

View an example full module specification

BEM1072: Discovering Skills for Management

This module provides a foundation for all Management programmes. Through a combination of tutorials, lectures, group work and independent study, this module will support you as you transition to University-level study of the management discipline. Delivered in combination with your academic tutor and subject-matter experts, activities will focus on laying the foundations for successful study throughout your degree and underpinning your development as an independent researcher and future management professional. It will prepare you to become a reflective, pro-active learner and introduce you to the skills, mindset and tools needed to thrive in an evolving global workplace.

This module is available on Management programmes ONLY and is not open for optional module selection.

View an example full module specification

SML1005: Language, Communication and Power

One of the most pervasive ways in which people communicate is through verbal language and other symbolic resources, such as visual signs, making language a powerful means not only to encode and communicate meanings, but also to shape perceptions, enact identities, and reinforce and contest hierarchies. This module will introduce you to the interplay between language and power dynamics in communication drawing from a wide range of verbal and visual texts. Through engaging with real communicative scenarios, you will develop a nuanced understanding of how language works in everyday life.

This module aims to:

  • develop your understanding of language as social practice
  • enable you to critically engage with key concepts such as language variation and linguistic prejudice, language and identity, language and gender and language and ideology
  • advance your understanding of how language is used in communication
  • explore language in action in a variety of social contexts and processes

View an example full module specification

MLF1001: French Language

This module will allow you to consolidate and develop your language skills in French. You will work on the key skills of language learning - reading, writing, speaking and listening - through a variety of exercises. You will develop your understanding of French grammar and deepen your knowledge of French society and culture. The material for study is drawn from a range of sources, including language textbooks, recent articles, and a short novel.

This module is designed for students with an A-level in French language or equivalent, and who wish to acquire the foundation for studying French at Stage Two and beyond .

  • To reinforce and extend the level of the four skills - listening, reading, speaking and writing - achieved at A-level.
  • To consolidate your understanding of French grammar, and facilitate your application of this to written and oral tasks.
  • To increase your level of comprehension of written and spoken French.
  • To enhance your ability to communicate in accurate French, in a clear and structured manner.
  • To expand your vocabulary in French.

View an example full module specification

MLF1052: French Language for Beginners

Spoken by more than 270 million people globally, French is a crucial asset: it is one of the most common languages in many domains (business, the Internet, media, international organisations), and the second most learned language in the world. The MLF1052 module will help you become part of this community, as it covers the essentials of the French language and culture. You will follow a structured programme and dynamic classes, and will develop a better awareness of the range of strategies available to learn a language. The sessions are conducted in the target language, so you become familiarised with the language and immerse yourself in the learning process.

This module can be taken even if you have no prior knowledge of French, but it is also available for those who have learned French up to an appropriate level.

This intensive language module aims to provide you with a practical working knowledge of the language, enabling you to acquire the skills to communicate effectively in writing and verbally, so that you can express opinions, and compare and contrast viewpoints. The module aims to train you in all four language skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening comprehension) as well as to equip you with the required grammatical knowledge and vocabulary to deal with a range of topics and situations. It aims to bring beginners and GCSE entrants to the equivalent A-level standard (B1 of the CEFR).

View an example full module specification

MLG1001: German Language

This module is designed to offer you the chance to practise all four skills of German language learning - reading, writing, speaking and listening - through a wide variety of exercises. You will have the opportunity to practise translations, both into German and English, write short essays, give presentations and take part in debates on a range of topics. The module also aims to consolidate and extend your understanding of German grammar through weekly lectures, class practice and online exercises. Through the study and discussion of texts and videos, you will be able to deepen your understanding of German and Austrian history and culture and contemporary life in German-speaking countries. The module uses structured learning materials which have been tailor-made for first-year undergraduate students of German and which include a wide range of independent online study materials.

This module is designed for students who have an A-level in German language, or equivalent, and who wish to acquire the foundation for studying German at Stage 2 and beyond.

The module aims to:

View an example full module specification

MLG1052: German Language for Beginners

The importance of Germany within a European and global context is well understood: it is a major economic power with considerable political influence. This module is designed to provide you with the skills to write and speak German as well as to train you in reading and listening comprehension, so enhancing your employability, but also giving you access to a culture that is rich in literature and art, music and film.

This module can be taken by students who have no prior knowledge of German, but it is also available for those who have learned German up to GCSE level or equivalent.

This intensive language module aims to give you a practical working knowledge of the language, enabling you to acquire the skills to communicate effectively in writing and verbally, so that you can express opinions, and compare and contrast viewpoints. The module aims to train you in all four language skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening comprehension) as well as to equip you with the required grammatical knowledge and vocabulary to deal with a range of topics and situations. The module aims to give beginners and GCSE entrants a firm grounding in the German language, which will enable you to continue your studies of the language at higher levels.

View an example full module specification

MLM1052: Beginners Chinese

Beginners Chinese is designed for people with little or no previous knowledge of Mandarin Chinese, and provides an introduction to the basics of this language and culture within the context of typical, everyday situations.

You will acquire a solid foundation of the basic grammatical structures of the language, which will allow you to listen, speak, read, and write at an elementary level on a variety of topics. Particular emphasis is placed on listening and speaking. You'll also learn about the culture and society in which Mandarin Chinese is spoken to develop awareness of the language's background and context

The module is intended for students who have little or no previous knowledge of Mandarin Chinese and offers an introduction to Mandarin Chinese language and culture. This module is broadly equivalent to A1 / A2 Basic User level of the Common European Framework and aims to:

  • Provide students with a solid foundation of the basic grammatical structures of the target language thus enabling them to communicate effectively across the four key language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) at an elementary level on a variety of general topics
  • Enable participants to give and understand information and to achieve a confident elementary level of communicative competence in everyday situations
  • Provide an introduction to the customs, culture and society of the regions/countries in which the languages are spoken and to develop student awareness of the general social and cultural background of the language

View an example full module specification

MLS1001: Spanish Language

The module provides you with the opportunity to develop your language skills in Spanish through the medium of translation, reading and listening comprehension and oral debates. The course book for this module has been chosen to incorporate the most advanced techniques in the learning of the Spanish language but in a focused and varied manner. Different grammar points will be studied throughout the course, but they will be always explored in context. The translation classes will enhance the vocabulary acquisition as the students will be able to learn the use of bilingual and monolingual dictionaries effectively and appreciate the differences of style and structure between the English and the Spanish language. In the oral classes, you will be given the opportunity to become acquainted with cultural elements of Spain and Latino America and to explore them in depth through the medium of individual presentations and debates.

This module is designed for students who have A-level or AS-level in Spanish language or equivalent, and who wish to acquire the foundation for studying Spanish at level two and beyond.

The module's aims to teach:

View an example full module specification

MLS1056: Spanish Language for Beginners

This module covers the essentials of the Spanish language in a dynamic and up to date fashion. You will follow a structured programme involving both individual learning and working with others in small groups, drawing on previous experiences of language learning to develop a better awareness of the range of learning strategies available, and of which work best for you. The sessions will be conducted in Spanish from the start in order to encourage you to become familiarised with the language and immerse yourself as much as possible in the learning process. You will be given the learning tools to follow the class and your materials will reinforce this approach.

The module is an intensive language course which aims to bring beginners and GCSE entrants to A-level standard or beyond by the start of the second year of study.

The module includes grammar exercises; translation; composition; listening and reading comprehension and oral classes with a native speaker.

View an example full module specification

Optional modules

CodeModuleCredits
French Optional Modules
The Making of Modern France15
The Devil is in the Detail: An Introduction to the Short Story in French15
The French Language, Present and Past15
An Introduction to French Thought15
German Optional Modules
A Nation Remembers: Issues in German Cultural Memory15
Turning Points in German History 1200 - 200015
UEBS Modularity
Introduction to Financial Accounting15
Introduction to Management Accounting15
Introduction to Accounting15
Introduction to Finance15
Introduction to Statistics15
Introduction to Econometrics15
Mathematics for Economists15
Statistics for Business and Management15
History of Economic Thought15
Economics for Management15
Basic Quantitative Methods15
Economics I15
Economics II15
Introduction to Data Science in Economics15
Introduction to Behavioural Economics15
Personal Finance15
Marketing and Society15
Fundamentals of Marketing15
Leadership and Teams15
Statistics for Business15
The International Business Context15
Future You15
Exploring Innovation and Entrepreneurship15
Chinese Optional Modules
Chinese Art and the Art of Living15
Introduction to Asian Philosophy15
Neutral Optional Modules
Comparative Literatures and Cultures: Theories and Approaches15
Reading Comparatively15
Introduction to Film15
Language, Culture, International Relations15
Spanish beginner Optional Modules
An Introduction to the Hispanic World: Texts in Context15
Spanish post A-Level Optional Modules
The Making of Modern Latin America: History Through Literature and Culture15
An Introduction to the Literature and Film of Spain15

MLF1017: The Making of Modern France

This team-taught module offers a wide-ranging social and political history of the French state from the medieval period onwards. Weekly lectures will focus on famous figures and events in French history - from Joan of Arc and Louis XIV to the French Revolution and the German Occupation - whilst in seminars you will use a variety of sources from literary and visual culture in order to explore these themes further. This module is also open to students studying degrees outside of French, and will therefore be taught in English.

This module will provide you with a firm foundational knowledge of French history. You will be able to draw from this in a variety of period-specific French modules offered later in your degree, some of which are convened by lecturers who will teach you on this module. It will also introduce you to a variety of media through which French cultural history can be analysed, from literary texts to paintings and sculptures.

View an example full module specification

MLF1018: The Devil is in the Detail: An Introduction to the Short Story in French

This module introduces you to a range of important writers and texts from different periods of French history, all connected by the short narrative form. In any given year we will study three or more of the texts indicated on the syllabus, exploring issues of national identity, individualism, love, desire, death, and freedom. We will look at how these themes are brought to the fore within the stylistic conventions of short form writing, and draw both formal and thematic comparisons between the texts studied to gain insight into important literary works and events from across French history.


This module aims to introduce you to a range of short stories and novellas originally written in French, distinct in their historical setting but connected in aspects of form. It analyses the ways in which short narratives can be used to make ideologically engaged or culturally meaningful comment, and identifies how this is connected to stylistic features. More generally, it seeks to increase awareness of a range of Francophone literary texts, and to consider them both within their socio-historical and cultural context and in more universal ways.

View an example full module specification

MLF1103: The French Language, Present and Past

As a student of French, you will naturally be interested in learning how the language works and has changed over time. In the phonetics part of the module, we study French speech sounds, notably their production and their representation in the Phonetic Alphabet. In the historical part of the module, we learn how French emerged as the national language of France, and how Old French differed from the modern language. The module will enhance your understanding of French, especially its pronunciation, grammar and history. A prerequisite is normally A-level French or equivalent, but the module can also be taken by students taking MLF1052: French Language for Beginners.

The aim of this module is to introduce you to the phonetics of contemporary French, to the history of French and to Old French and to lay the foundations for further linguistic study of French, in its contemporary and historical forms. It is normally a prerequisite for the module Evolution of the French Language (second year).

View an example full module specification

MLF1105: An Introduction to French Thought

In this module, you'll be introduced to French philosophy through four major thinkers, all of whom were radical visionaries: Michel de Montaigne, Marie de Gournay, René Descartes, and Simone Weil.

Montaigne's essay on the cannibals of Brazil first published in 1580 breaks with colonial thinking to argue that the indigenous people of Brazil are superior to the Europeans in all ways. Gournay's short work on the equality of men and women, published in 1622, was the first such work written by a woman - its radical perspective also speaks very directly to present-day concerns. Descartes's Discourse (1637) is a foundational work of modern Western philosophy, which tells how he rejected the educational authorities of his day to rebuild truth and knowledge from scratch and offers a method anyone may still follow, if they wish. Simone Weil's 'On the abolition of all political parties' (1943) is a radical rejection of collective thinking from a philosopher who was also an activist and a mystic.

By studying this module, you'll gain an insight into philosophical works that have changed the course of intellectual and social history. You'll also have the chance to have fun thinking for yourselves by producing your own creative and critical pieces inspired by works by French thinkers who changed the world.

View an example full module specification

MLG1014: A Nation Remembers: Issues in German Cultural Memory

Two dictatorships within the space of half a century have provided Germany with ample reason to want to forget and an equally strong imperative to remember. Rather than analysing the history of National Socialism (1933-1945) and the GDR (1949-1989), in this module you consider how a nation such as Germany remembers its past. Official forms of public commemoration (memorials and museums) are contrasted with artistic responses (film, documentary, autobiography) and with forms of private memory (such as letters, diaries, and photographs).

View an example full module specification

MLG1017: Turning Points in German History 1200 - 2000

German history is about more than National Socialism and the Berlin Wall. In approaching a more rounded understanding from the perspective of cultural studies, in this module you will use particular concepts to assess major and often formative events - be it the "Reich" and the changes in perception it underwent; the importance of revolutions and "new beginnings", for example in the course of Unification in 1871 and 1989; or the role of individuals such as Martin Luther for the German Reformation. In all cases you will scrutinize the short- and long-term impact of events and consider a variety of documents ranging from historical documents, to literature, film, souvenirs and depictions by historians. You will also explore 'iconic images' and question the links between politics and daily lives.

View an example full module specification

MLM1014: Chinese Art and the Art of Living

Art and life are integrated in China. Rather than being practised exclusively by artists, traditional Chinese art was entrenched in people's daily living, a phenomenon that continues today. This module will provide hands-on experience of Chinese art such as calligraphy and painting. It will also introduce you to the diverse forms of the art of living, from architecture, gardening and fengshui to eating and drinking. Through this module you will deepen your understanding of Chinese art and the art of living in both theory and practice. There are no pre-requisites or co-requisites. This module is suitable for specialists and non-specialists and recommended for interdisciplinary pathways.

In this module, you will:

  • Develop an understanding of different forms of artistic practices and the art of living in China;
  • Grasp the aesthetic, social and cultural values that are associated with Chinese art and the art of living;
  • Understand how Chinese art and the art of living shaped Chinese cultural sensibility and their view of a good life.

View an example full module specification

PHL1010: Introduction to Asian Philosophy

This module introduces you to some of the most important philosophical traditions of Asia: Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. It analyzes and discusses ancient classical texts in these traditions, and looks at different conceptions of reality, selfhood, consciousness, meditation, virtue and self-cultivation.

At the end of the module, you will be familiar with major Asian philosophical traditions, their historical and social background, and their central concepts as discussed in major classical texts. You will be aware of the existence of spiritual traditions concerned with the practice of self-cultivation, and understand the relationship between meditative practices and philosophical worldviews.

View an example full module specification

SML1003: Comparative Literatures and Cultures: Theories and Approaches

This module provides the theoretical grounding and methodological tools to study comparative literature and culture. The module has a unique focus on literatures and cultures within a system of producers and consumers: we will consider the agents involved in the production of literature, film, and art, and explore cultures of reading and viewing. We will think about key topics in comparative literature such as intertextuality and genre. You will develop your translation literacy in preparation for reading and viewing in translation.

This module aims to:

  • Prepare you for the study of comparative literatures and cultures with a grounding in relevant theories and methodological tools
  • Develop your understanding of the multiple systems that shape the production and reception of literature and cultures
  • Provoke reflection on your own attitudes to literature and culture from around the world
  • Encourage independent and collaborative specialised study of selected topics and texts, developing valuable transferable skills in cultural contextualisation, textual analysis, critical thinking, and group discussion

View an example full module specification

SML1004: Reading Comparatively

In this module, you will put comparative literature into practice. Over the course of the module, we study three core themes - gender and sexuality, the environment, and migration - through a selection of extracts from texts from around the world. You will develop intercultural understanding and appreciation of the factors that shape the similarities and differences in cultural expressions over time and across borders. You will practice close reading and develop 'translation literacy', an understanding of the factors that shape the production and circulation of translated texts.

The module aims to:

  • View responses to key societal issues through literature across multiple cultural contexts
  • Emphasise intercultural understanding
  • Develop your core skills of close reading, comparative analysis and essay writing as a foundation to a degree in Comparative Literatures and Cultures

View an example full module specification

SML1207: Introduction to Film

This module offers an engaging introduction to the study of film for students of any language background, with no prior experience of Film Studies required. You will explore a diverse range of films drawn from Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, German, and Irish-language cinemas. While the films themselves come from different national and cultural contexts, the module’s primary aim is to introduce you to the language of film—the shared techniques and conventions through which films tell stories and create meaning. A unifying theme throughout the module is the representation of the child, a powerful and recurring motif in global cinema that helps you draw connections across otherwise diverse films. Teaching draws on the expertise of a wide range of staff, meaning you will encounter different lecturers across the module.

This module aims to:

  • introduce you to the study of film. Through a series of specialist lectures, each focussed on one film, and on a particular aspect of film-making, you will learn to analyse a number of film styles. By focussing on different aspects of film-making you will learn more about how to read a film's narrative, cinematography, and soundtrack.
  • discover the importance of genre, directors, and stars in shaping a film's success. The module will enable you to develop two key skills in the study of film. It will teach you how to carry out a clip analysis, enabling you to read the language of a film in a particular clip very closely, as you learn how narrative, mise-en-scene, camerawork, editing, and soundtrack work together to create certain effects and generate possible meanings.
  • teach you how to write a film essay or allow you to make and write about a video essay, in which you put together a series of clips of your choice, using the medium of film itself to reflect upon how films exert their sometimes powerful effect.

View an example full module specification

SML1208: Language, Culture, International Relations

This module provides an overview of the role that language and culture play in society and international relations. It analyses and evaluates cultural policies and practice in promoting language and culture at local, national and international levels in different countries. In this course,you will not only develop your understanding of complex political and cultural issuesbut also deepen your knowledge of languages and cultures from a diverse range of societies. There are no pre-requisites or co-requisites. This module is suitable for specialists and non-specialists and recommended for interdisciplinary pathways.

This module aims to:

  • develop an understanding of notions and concepts such as culture and soft power
  • broaden your intellectual experience and deepen your critical understanding of your own disciplines
  • adopt an interdisciplinary approach and help you to develop a familiarity with different analytical tools and approaches
  • improve critical thinking and communication skills from a practical perspective using case studies
  • develop your ability to engage with and research an individual topic
  • develop your ability to respond appropriately to unfamiliar cultural practices

View an example full module specification

MLS1064: An Introduction to the Hispanic World: Texts in Context

How does Hispanic culture engage with politics, society and history? What makes Hispanic culture so widely known? What can you learn from the work of acclaimed writers and directors such as Ramón J. Sender and Carlos Saura? This course introduces you to key themes and lines of enquiry relevant to modern and contemporary Hispanism through film and text. Texts may be used in translation or parallel text and films are available with subtitles. Your confidence to read in the target language will develop as the term progresses and your knowledge of the language increases.

The aim of this core module is to:

  • Introduce you to a representative sample of Hispanic texts and films from a variety of genres and periods
  • Acquaint you with the salient thematic emphases and motifs of key works and their essential historical background
  • Familiarise you with the principal socio-cultural issues underpinning Hispanic creative work by way of preparation for the later study of more specific elements of Hispanic historical culture

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MLS1066: The Making of Modern Latin America: History Through Literature and Culture

Latin America is a continent characterised by long-standing historical and cultural continuities and rich diversity. This module explores these complex dynamics and tensions by studying key aspects of Latin American history, literature and culture from conquest to contemporary times. Through the prism of texts from different media, including literature, art and film, the module examines topics relating to continental and country-specific historical and cultural experiences, such as military dictatorship, popular revolution/resistance, immigration/exile and national/ personal identity, memory, the struggle for democracy and the search for new modes of artistic expression.

This module aims to:

  • Introduce you to Latin American history, literature and culture by exploring seminal historical and cultural episodes and experiences, from conquest to the present day, through a close reading of texts spanning a range of written, oral and visual media and genres
  • Develop historical and cultural understanding of a possibly unfamiliar continent with deep-rooted connections with Spain and Portugal, the former colonial powers
  • Encourage independent and collaborative specialised study of selected topics and texts, developing valuable transferable skills in historical/cultural contextualisation, textual analysis, critical thinking, oral discussion and team work

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MLS1068: An Introduction to the Literature and Film of Spain

This course is a team-taught module. It explores some key aspects of Spanish history, culture and society from the seventeenth century to contemporary times though literature and film. You will cover a variety of significant materials relating to early-modern and modern Spain, and you will acquire skills necessary for critical analysis. The lectures will offer you an overview of key themes and the seminars will provide an opportunity for in-depth, more individualised, study.

This module aims to:

  • Introduce you to Spanish history, culture and society by exploring key historical and socio-cultural developments through literature and film.
  • Encourage independent and specialised study of selected topics and texts, preparing you for the formative and summative assessments, and for further study of different areas of Hispanism throughout your degree.

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Please note that the module information displayed here is subject to change.

45 credits of compulsory Business School modules (BEM2048 & BEM2047), 45 credits of compulsory modules in Modern Languages (SML2246 & 30 compulsory credits in your chosen language), 15 credits of optional Business School modules, 15 credits of optional modules consisting of content related to your chosen language.

  • take BEM2048, BEM2047 and SML2246
  •  take 30 compulsory credits in your chosen language (see Optional International Business 1 group for an example list)
  • select 15 credits of optional modules consisting of content related to your chosen language
  • select 15 credits of optional Business modules
  • select 15 credits of optional Modern Languages modules

For Business School Optional modules, see Stage 2 UEBS Modularity Group below.

Compulsory modules

CodeModuleCredits
Compulsory 1
Organisational Behaviour30
International Business15
Intercultural Communication15
Compulsory Choice Language Modules 2
French Language, Written and Oral30
Intermediate French30
German Language, Written and Oral30
Intermediate German30
Intermediate Chinese (One)30
Spanish Language, Written and Oral30
Spanish Language (ex-beginners)30

BEM2047: Organisational Behaviour

This module builds your knowledge of organisations, and your ability to analyse organisational life. It explores organisational behaviour theory in order to develop your ability to appraise the functioning of organisations. It will therefore develop a critical mind-set, built from a strong understanding of organisational theory to enable you to operate as an effective future organisational leader.

The aim of this module is to develop your knowledge of organisational theory, your awareness of the complexity of managerial and organisational problems, and to equip you with the skills needed to analyse how and why organisations behave as they do. You can develop your knowledge and skills through discussion and exploration of real-world organisational issues.

Employability:

This module equips students with the ability to understand and unpick organisational 'problems', providing clear, managerially relevant solutions. Students will develop their abilities to produce management reports, critically discussing and appraising differing views on phenomena.

Internationalisation:

The module draws from the international experience of our faculty, and uses global examples to illustrate concepts, and differing approaches to structuring organisations and their management.

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BEM2048: International Business

In t his module you will learn about International Management. You will gain a comprehensive understanding of the principles and practices of managing organisations in a global context. It focus es on the challenges and opportunities faced by managers operating across different cultural , legal, political and economic environments . The module will enable you to develop practical insights into operating in international markets, cross-cultu ral management , and navigating international business environments.

The aim of this module is to equip you with a strong understanding and awareness of international business and management practices with an emphasis on the operational and strategic contexts. We will engage you with both long standing and emerging research on these aspects throughout the lecture programme, and develop your ability to critically analyse operations and strategy in international business contexts, recognising key trends, issues and impacts.

Internationalisation

You will identify and appreciate the global challenges that businesses face while taking a global perspective in your critical review process.

Employability

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SML2246: Intercultural Communication

In Intercultural Communication, you will explore how intercultural competence helps you navigate everyday multilingual and multicultural encounters. You will examine how language, identity and culture shape communication across societies and reflect critically on your own experiences. Through key theories and real-world case studies, you will learn to identify communication breakdowns, misunderstandings and conflicts, as well as forms of exclusion such as stereotyping, prejudice and unconscious bias. You will engage with key theoretical frameworks and, by the end of the module, you will be equipped with conceptual knowledge such as face and politeness theory, communication accommodation theory, culture shock, and models of integration and acculturation to gain deeper insight into the complex group dynamics through which power asymmetries and social injustices may be produced, negotiated or resisted. You will develop the practical intercultural skills necessary to identify, anticipate and address intercultural communication challenges with intelligence and nuance, and you will also develop confidence through reflection and practical activities, with a strong focus on social justice.

If you need this module to count for credits towards a specific language, you must engage with material relevant to that language in your assessment.

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MLF2001: French Language, Written and Oral

You will consolidate and develop further your French reading, writing, speaking and listening skills by working with a variety of different types of written (literary, journalistic and administrative) and aural (video and audio) texts, and by participating in oral presentations and debates. Exercises, including translation tasks and reading comprehension questions, are designed to widen the range and accuracy of your vocabulary and to enhance your sociolinguistic skills (e.g. the use of appropriate register). The module will help you to deepen your knowledge of French society and culture, to develop your employability skills and to prepare for the year abroad.

The aim of the module is to:

  • extend your command of reading, speaking and writing French
  • consolidate your understanding of French grammar, and facilitate your application of this to written and oral tasks
  • enhance your ability to communicate in accurate French, in a clear and structured manner
  • increase your understanding of the nuances of the French language
  • expand your vocabulary in French

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MLF2152: Intermediate French

This intensive language module is designed for students who have completed MLF1052 (French Language for Beginners) or equivalent. The module aims to train you in all four language skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening comprehension) as well as translation. It will expand your grammatical knowledge of French, with a focus on more advanced grammatical structures, which you will apply to written and oral tasks. The module will also focus on equipping you with the vocabulary required to deal with a range of authentic topics and situations. Particular emphasis will be on preparing you for your year abroad in a French-speaking country.

This module consolidates and develops the language skills acquired in MLF1052 'French Language for Beginners', enabling you to communicate confidently in French through a range of written, oral, and comprehension exercises, as well as through translation exercises, covering different registers and areas of vocabulary.

The module will focus on more advanced grammatical constructions and functions, which will enable you to communicate in a wider range of communicative contexts and express your ideas in an increasingly varied and sophisticated manner.

The module also aims to prepare you for your year abroad and further your understanding of life and culture in French-speaking countries.

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MLG2001: German Language, Written and Oral

The module is designed for students who studied the first-year language module (MLG1001) or possess equivalent language proficiency. It is designed to expand your vocabulary, to consolidate your understanding of grammar, and to enhance your oral, aural, reading, writing and translation skills. The module also focuses on the linguistic and cultural knowledge required for the year abroad; for example, you will learn how to write CVs and cover letters. In the oral classes, you will discuss topics that relate to contemporary life and culture in the German-speaking world and practise your aural comprehension using audio-visual exercises.

To extend the linguistic knowledge and the written, reading, oral and aural skills acquired by students in their first year and to equip students with the linguistic and cultural knowledge required for the year abroad.

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MLG2052: Intermediate German

This intensive language module is designed for students who have completed MLG1052 (German Language for Beginners) or equivalent. The module aims to train you in all four language skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening comprehension) as well as translation. It will expand your grammatical knowledge of German, with a focus on more advanced grammatical structures, which you will apply to written and oral tasks. The module will also focus on equipping you with the vocabulary required to deal with a range of authentic topics and situations. Particular emphasis will be on preparing you for your year abroad in a German-speaking country.

This module consolidates and develops the language skills acquired in MLG1052 'German Language for Beginners', enabling you to communicate confidently in German through a range of written, oral, and comprehension exercises, as well as through translation exercises, covering different registers and areas of vocabulary.

The module will focus on more advanced constructions and categories, which will enable you to communicate in a wider range of communicative contexts and express their ideas in an increasingly varied and sophisticated manner.

The module also aims to prepare you for your year abroad and further your understanding of life and culture in German-speaking countries.

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MLM2052: Intermediate Chinese (One)

The module is appropriate for students who have completed successfully module MLM1052 Chinese Beginners or have an equivalent qualification. You will be given a solid foundation of the basic grammatical structures of the language, which will allow you to listen, speak, read, and write at an intermediate level on a variety of topics. You will also learn about the Chinese culture and customs in which Mandarin Chinese is spoken in order to develop the awareness of the language's background and context.

This module is between A2 Basic User and B1 Independent User of the Common European Framework and aims of this module are to:

  • Consolidate the essential structures of the target language, developing both vocabulary and range of language structures thus equipping students with the linguistic tools to enable them to communicate effectively in everyday situations
  • Further develop active and passive language skills, including comprehension skills in listening and reading, productive skills in speaking, and writing
  • Deepen your understanding and appreciation of the customs, culture and society of the regions/countries in which the languages are spoken and to develop student awareness of the general social and cultural background of the language

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MLS2001: Spanish Language, Written and Oral

This course will advance your Spanish language proficiency, building on your completion of MLS1001 or an equivalent. In MLS2001, you'll sharpen your listening and reading comprehension, develop more sophisticated speaking and writing abilities, and master complex grammatical structures. Immerse yourself in contemporary Spanish and Latin American culture while expanding your practical vocabulary for living and working abroad. By the end of this course, you'll possess the advanced language tools needed to communicate confidently across diverse Spanish-speaking environments.

The aim of this module is to:

Increase your understanding of the target language in both its written and spoken forms

Improve capacity for self-expression in Spanish

Instil habits of accuracy and correctness of expression

Develop an in-depth knowledge of the uses of the Subjunctive versus the Indicative in all the subordinate clauses

Written work consists of translation from Spanish into English together with a variety of reading comprehension and compositional exercises. Oral work includes group debates, vocabulary expansion and a media project.

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MLS2156: Spanish Language (ex-beginners)

The module is designed for students who completed MLS1056 or equivalent. Students will enhance their language skills through listening and reading comprehension, as well as through translation. The grammar classes will give students a sound understanding of the use of the Subjunctive in subordinate clauses as well as a complete revision of the grammatical features of the language. The oral classes will expand students' knowledge on Spanish and Latin American culture and will offer the chance to develop debating skills. In addition to this, students will expand their lexicon and will receive practical advice on their year abroad.

This module aims to:

  • Increase your understanding of the Spanish in both its written and spoken forms
  • Improve capacity for self-expression in Spanish
  • Instil habits of accuracy and correctness of expression
  • Develop an in-depth knowledge of the uses of the Subjunctive versus the Indicative in all the subordinate clauses

Written work consists of translation from Spanish into English and from English into Spanish, together with a variety of reading comprehension and compositional exercises; oral work includes a number of short presentations in Spanish, together with group debates, vocabulary expansion and clarification of grammar points where necessary.

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Optional modules

CodeModuleCredits
UEBS Modularity
Taxation30
Managerial Accounting15
Intermediate Management Accounting15
Corporate Finance15
Financial Accounting A15
Financial Accounting B15
Philosophy of Economics15
Introduction to Econometric Theory15
Policy Issues in the Global Economy15
Microeconomics II30
Macroeconomics II30
Financial Markets and Decisions I15
Economics and Ethics15
Econometrics15
Applied Econometrics15
Public Finance15
Environmental Economics15
Family Economics and Policy15
Money and Banking15
Intermediate Microeconomics15
Intermediate Macroeconomics15
Data Science in Economics15
Behavioural Insights for Business and Management15
Game Theory15
Economics of Diversity and Inclusion15
Econometrics: Cause and Effect15
Ethics and Corporate Governance15
Investment Practice15
Quantitative Methods30
FinTech in Investment Management15
Equity and Fixed Income15
Operations Management15
Consumer Behaviour15
Human Resource Management15
Marketing Communications: Strategies and Applications15
Introduction to Business Analytics15
Brands and Branding15
Leading in International Contexts15
Leadership: Challenges and Practice15
Business Analytics in Practice15
Database Technologies for Business Analytics15
Marketing Analytics15
History of Black Entrepreneurship15
Organisational Behaviour30
International Business15
Making Innovation and Entrepreneurship Happen15
Marketing for Social Causes15
Analytics in Digital Marketing15
Research Methods for Marketing15
The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Mindset15
Innovation for Societal Grand Challenges15
Developing Sustainable Enterprises15
Business Law for Managers15
Leveraging Technologies for Business15
AI, Business and Society15
Business Internships and Placements15
Chinese Optional Modules
Chinoiserie and Européenerie: Artistic and cultural exchanges between China and Europe15
Digital China: Popular Culture, Technology, and Society15
French Optional Modules
Revolutions! Art and Society in France, 1770-183015
Evolution of the French Language15
Intimate Spaces of the French Enlightenment15
Violence and Virtue: Early Modern French Theatre15
Subversive Texts: Baudelaire and Rachilde15
German Optional Modules
Berlin - Culture, History and Politics15
Gender, Race and Migration in 20th and 21st-century German Literature15
Neutral Optional Modules
Migrating Texts: Classical Reception, Adaptation, Translation15
Research Skills in Languages and Cultures15
Contemporary Latin American Cinema15
Multilingualism in Society15
Tales of Freedom, Necessity and Providence15
From Page to Screen: Female Detectives in Literature, Film, and Television15
Spanish Optional Modules
Federico Garcia Lorca: Theatre and Poetry15
The Latin American Short Story15
Catalonia Is Not Spain? Modern Catalan Culture in Context15
"What is Love? And Do I Need It?" An Introduction to Spanish Renaissance Love Poetry15
Fiction in Post-War Spain: Voices of Conformity and Subversion15

MLM2003: Chinoiserie and Européenerie: Artistic and cultural exchanges between China and Europe

Living in the global world of the 21st century, we do not always recognise how exchanges between China and Europe have long been shaping the art and culture we enjoy today. This module on Chinoiserie and Européenerie will introduce you to the diverse hybrid forms of material culture and artefacts such as porcelain, interior décor, gardens, fashion and mapping in both Europe and China since the 1600s. You will learn about the fascinating stories of how hybrid forms of material culture and artefacts evolved through the processes of Chinese-European exchange. You will understand the significance of these hybridities in both personal and social contexts. No pre-requisite modules are needed.

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MLM2013: Digital China: Popular Culture, Technology, and Society

This module explores how digital technologies and platforms have influenced and transformed contemporary Chinese society, popular culture, and everyday life. If you are interested in social media, digital storytelling, gaming, influencer and celebrity culture, fandom, and AI-driven creativity and entertainment, this module offers an engaging and research-informed introduction to China’s fast-changing digital landscape. You will critically examine how platforms, algorithms, and digital infrastructures shape cultural production, everyday communication, and new forms of labour and participation. A distinctive feature of this module is its practical and interactive approach. You will work with real digital materials, such as platform interfaces, online debates, promotional media, and user-generated content, and learn how to analyse them using key concepts and methods from disciplines such as cultural, media, communication, publishing, and translation studies. This module is taught in Engli

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AHV2026: Revolutions! Art and Society in France, 1770-1830

From the arms of David’s Horatii Brothers, raised up to swear upon their swords eternal allegiance to the fatherland, to the raised arm of Delacroix’s Liberty as she leads the people of Paris forwards into battle, revolutionary action dominated both the art and the politics of France between 1770 and 1830. Spanning the Bourbon monarchy, the Revolution of 1789, the Directory, the Consulate, the Napoleonic Empire, the Hundred Days, the Bourbon Restoration, and the Revolution of 1830, this violent period of political and cultural upheaval witnessed extraordinary transformations in art’s purpose and audience. These transformations included everything from the ‘death’ (and subsequent rebirth) of the French Academy and of history painting, to the growing influence of popular art and contemporary politics on academic work, to the increasing intermediality of Revolutionary expression, to a radical rethinking of portraiture. This course, whose major primary sources will be images and which will engage heavily in visual analysis, seeks not to trace stylistic changes in the abstract (eg. Rococo to Neoclassicism), but rather to look closely at the relationship between artistic and social change. We will consider not only political and institutional pressures upon artists but also the ways art offered shifting constructions of gender, sexuality, race, slavery, nation, and empire during this time.

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MLF2012: Evolution of the French Language

As an advanced learner of French, you will be curious about the origins and history of the language. This module explores:

how historical events and political decisions shaped the destiny of the medieval dialect that has become the modern standard language;

what linguistic, especially phonetic, processes have occurred since spoken Latin, to make the sounds of French distinctive;

etymology and the borrowing of vocabulary from various languages over the centuries.

Prerequisites: a good command of French (e.g. MLF1001), and either MLF1103, or willingness to do some specified 'catch-up' work during the previous summer.

This module aims to:

explore the external (sociolinguistic) history of French and aspects of its internal (linguistic) history;

build on knowledge of the phonetics and history of French acquired on MLF1103 (or independently, via the specified 'catch-up' work);

develop your familiarity with linguistic concepts and terminology;

enhance your understanding of the role of both external socio-political and internal linguistic influences on the historical development of the French language.

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MLF2066: Intimate Spaces of the French Enlightenment

This module focuses on eighteenth-century France, when privacy and private life came to have particular cultural significance. Literature, painting, interior spaces, and artefacts contain clues and give access to private worlds of the past. They enable us to understand the lives lived by individuals, households and families, as well as wider social structures, behaviours and beliefs.

We will begin with an examination of the Rococo domestic interior as a site of intimacy and eroticism. We will then consider the promotion of family values as part of civic identity in the Enlightenment period, and the ways in which these domestic ideals were problematised by artists and writers. We will conclude with an examination of Enlightenment notions of the self and the cultivation of interiority through leisure activities such as walking and reading.

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MLF2070: Violence and Virtue: Early Modern French Theatre

The seventeenth century was a great age of French theatre, including the celebrated comedies of Molière and the tragedies of Racine. This module offers an overview of French theatre during this period through its three great playwrights. Our French texts transport you to Medieval Spain, highlight the influence of Italian sketch comedies, offer biting satires of French society, and culminate in ancient Greek myth. You will study bloodthirsty revenge, the place of women in patriarchal society, education and social mobility, brainwashing manipulators behind masks, and the world of gods and monsters. You will also observe changes in literary tastes, as theatregoers desensitized to violence from the Wars of Religion gave way to spectators whose fondness for linguistic eloquence and moral commentaries on their own times were strikingly modern.

You will gain a solid knowledge of three of the most decorated writers in French literature. This will allow you to acquire a firm understanding of the full range of social, linguistic and moral stakes and shifts that these plays represent. Along with a general awareness of the development of theatrical theories and codes of practice in seventeenth-century France, you will develop confidence in analysing developments in character and plot when writing on plays and wider literature.

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MLF2076: Subversive Texts: Baudelaire and Rachilde

This module will give you the opportunity to study the verse and prose poems of Charles Baudelaire, one of the most well-known, well-loved, and influential French poets, and a novel by Marguerite Vallette-Eymery, otherwise known as Rachilde, a less well-known but equally extraordinary writer. Both authors, he as a proto-Modernist and she as a Decadent, were considered scandalous and subversive in their time, and both saw their work censored for alleged obscenity. Both were interested in challenging comfortable narratives of what it means to be human, and both were among the most brilliant and daring thinkers of their day.

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MLG2018: Berlin - Culture, History and Politics

In the course of the 20th century the city of Berlin has been many things: a beacon of modernity, the seat of two dictatorships, a ruin, the frontier city of the Cold War, and the city that signified the Cold War's end. This module encourages you initially to explore Berlin's history, and then to explore cultural responses to its unique fate in literature, film, journalism, architecture and advertising. In particular, you'll focus on the situation after World War Two, the long-term impact of the Berlin Wall and the importance of the 1990s capital debate, and consider topics like reunification and immigration.

The module's main aims are:

  • To focus on the specific fate of a German metropolis in the 20th century
  • To demonstrate the impact of historical events on the city
  • To illustrate key cultural aspects of Berlin, including literature, architecture, film and advertising
  • To foster an awareness of the links between history, literature and culture

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MLG2019: Gender, Race and Migration in 20th and 21st-century German Literature

How do experiences of gender, race and migration affect the ways in which we feel a sense of identity and belonging in this world? In this module you will explore concepts of gender, race and migration in German-language literature of the twentieth and twenty-first century to critically examine this and other questions. We will explore how transitions - from one gender to another, between languages, and across national borders - can have an impact on one's sense of self and identity. By familiarising yourself with writers who lived through political, cultural and social changes in the German-speaking world, you will debate how modern literature can give us an insight into how ideologies of race, sexuality, gender, nation and class have functioned in an important period in German history, from the German Empire to contemporary Germany.

This module is suitable for all students.

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SML2001: Migrating Texts: Classical Reception, Adaptation, Translation

This module will examine different acts of textual comparison — reception, translation, adaptation — to think about how texts have been received and re-articulated differently at different periods (from ancient to contemporary). You will consider reception, adaptation and translation as overlapping but distinct practices and examine how they intersect with wider contextual questions, such as the legacies of colonialism and imperialism, nationhood, canonicity, gender, the literary market and the environmental crisis.

This module aims to increase your knowledge and understanding of how texts move between cultures, across space and time, and between genres. It will introduce you to a range of cultural productions and methods for analysing processes of reception, adaptation and translation, allowing you to practice both close textual reading and broader critical analysis of secondary material. This module also aims to develop your skills in communication, intercultural understanding and research. Through the group editorial project, you will develop your creative skills and ability to talk about culture for a non-academic audience.

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SML2003: Research Skills in Languages and Cultures

This module is ideal for anyone considering a dissertation or further study - or if you just want to learn more about research. The module takes you through the process of preparing a research proposal and literature review, introduces you to key methodologies for research in languages and cultures, and embeds you within the university research community.

This module will equip you with the skills you need to design, carry out, analyse and present a research project. This includes both general skills, such as formulating a research question or understanding research ethics, and specific methodologies. The module also aims to introduce you to the research community at the university: as part of your Guided Independent Study time you will attend research seminars hosted by research centres across Humanities and Social Sciences, where researchers present their work. From both your classes and these research seminars, you will learn more about how researchers structure and present their arguments effectively.

Your research proposal can be used as the basis for your SML3030 dissertation.

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SML2004: Contemporary Latin American Cinema

In this module, you will explore some of the most significant films that have emerged in Latin America since the mid-1990s, a period marked by the formation of Mercosur, the consolidation of democracy, and neoliberalism. It is designed to enable students from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds, such as Modern Languages, English, History, Politics, and Philosophy, to engage critically with the social context and production conditions of Latin American films, as well as with critical national and transnational issues. Prior experience in film study is not necessary. The focus of the module is on how Latin American films articulate certain tropes, and how films deal with narratives of nationhood whilst simultaneously inserting themselves into a transnational dialogue. Major themes include the family unit, filmmaking practices, globalization, and genre.

The module can count towards Spanish or Portuguese in the BA Modern Languages, provided students satisfy the relevant requirements in their assessment. Students do not need to speak Portuguese or Spanish.

This module aims to enable you to:

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SML2244: Multilingualism in Society

In this module you will be introduced to various aspects of multilingualism from a sociolinguistic perspective: bilingualism, diglossia, language maintenance and shift, language planning, language endangerment and death. We will focus on regional minority languages in Europe, but will also touch on minority languages elsewhere in the world. Examples from a variety of contexts will be discussed and you will be expected to explore specific case studies and data from contexts around the world according to your own programme of study and language interests/experiences. If you need credits towards a particular language, you must focus your assessment on that language.

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SML2247: Tales of Freedom, Necessity and Providence

Freedom and necessity, used by philosophers as complementary or opposite concepts, have recently been studied as everyday experiences. Genevieve Lloyd did this by focussing on literary texts or by highlighting the more literary aspects of philosophical texts. You will follow her example by reading selected passages of key texts of European, North African and East Asian cultures. You can choose to develop your creativity through writing your own story inspired by these texts.

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SML2248: From Page to Screen: Female Detectives in Literature, Film, and Television

In this module, you will explore international female detectives in literature, film, and television from the nineteenth century to the present, discovering how they challenge the traditionally male-dominated crime genre. You will analyse texts in their cultural, historical, and socio-political contexts, focusing on representation, power, gender, and relational dynamics. The module takes an interdisciplinary approach, combining literary, film, and cultural studies, and welcomes students from all languages and disciplines.

No prior knowledge is required, and texts are studied in target languages and/or English translation. Where appropriate, the module may be credited towards a specific language pathway. You will also benefit from flexible assessment options, choosing between a written or video essay.

In this module, you will explore key debates surrounding crime narratives, gender, and representation across international literary and screen cultures. You will gain an understanding of the historical development of the crime genre, with a particular focus on the emergence and evolution of female detectives within different national and cultural contexts.

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MLS2045: Federico Garcia Lorca: Theatre and Poetry

Federico García Lorca (1898-1936) isSpain's most universal poet and playwright. Very much liked by Anglo-American audiences and widely taught in UK schools and universities, interest in Lorca's life and work never fades. You will examine some of his most famous plays and poems, using music and art to gain a deep understanding of the universality of his work. You will establish links between his works and popular culture, queer studies and gender studies and you will be able to discuss at length pertinent aspects of his life and work in relation to Spanish history and culture.

This module aims to:

  • Establish links between Lorca's work as a playwright and his work as a poet
  • Use music, image and text to discuss dramatic and poetic form and content
  • Examine the influence of psychoanalytical concepts such as homosexual panic on Lorca
  • Investigate artistic tendencies such as cubism in the work of Spain's greatest modern playwright and poet
  • Discuss is the way in which Lorca dealt with character and the self
  • Discuss central themes such as the ignorance/repression of the body and the silence and discourse generated around it
  • Analyse works including Lorca's tragedies La casa de Bernarda Alba, Yerma and Bodas de Sangre as well as poems from Romancero gitano and Poeta en Nueva York

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MLS2061: The Latin American Short Story

This module explores recurrent themes and narrative strategies relating to the modern Latin American short story. It seeks to develop an understanding of this genre through close readings of chosen texts and cultural contexts, including those of Europe and North America where the short story and related genres, such as the Gothic and detective fiction, flourished from the mid-nineteenth century. The module encourages critical thinking about the ways in which Latin American writers employ the short story and other literary forms, such as the Fantastic, to raise questions about the nature of identity, reality, memory, and the 'liminal', in a bid to negotiate a divided sense of self, and social and political divisions in their respective countries. It offers a valuable opportunity for independent, critical study of selected texts, themes and genres, preparing you for formative and summative assessments, and for studying Latin American culture and society on other departmental modules. The module also helps to develop important transferable skills, such as an ability for independent, analytical and critical thinking, clear oral and written communication, and working collaboratively as part of a team.

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MLS2070: Catalonia Is Not Spain? Modern Catalan Culture in Context

If you travel to Catalonia, you will see graffiti everywhere proclaiming (in English) that 'Catalonia is not Spain'. In this module, you will study modern representations of Catalan identity - film, sport, literature, language its political institutions and more - to discover what it is that makes Catalonia different, and the history behind these differences. You will also study how Catalonia is portrayed outside its borders, primarily in Spain, as well as the UK.

No knowledge of Catalan is required for this module; where short Catalan resources are used, you will be provided with an English and Spanish translation.

The module aims to allow students to:

  • Understand modern Catalan culture from the point of view of constructing Catalan identity
  • Analyse a range of resources (academic texts, written press, film, television and radio)
  • Develop an interrogative and comparative approach to texts in general, and specifically with a view to understanding portrayals of cultural identity
  • Provide a research-led and interdisciplinary approach, allowing students to develop a range of interests through appropriate research skills and methodologies

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MLS2158: "What is Love? And Do I Need It?" An Introduction to Spanish Renaissance Love Poetry

That Spain's literary Renaissance, or her 'Golden Age', is reckoned by many critics to begin in 1543, with the publication of the lyric poetry of Juan Boscán and Garcilaso de la Vega, is an indication of the importance and influence of love poetry in the most dynamic period of Spain's artistic and cultural history. In this module, you will be introduced to the Spanish love lyric of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, examining its forerunners, its development, its metrical forms—most notably the sonnet—, and its different modes, such as the Petrarchist, the satirical and the divine.

This module aims to:

  • Introduce you to a significant literary tradition in the Spanish Renaissance
  • Develop specialised and detailed knowledge of important texts
  • Teach you to analyse and interpret representative poems from the key period of Spanish literary production, and to relate them to their cultural context
  • Present you with a number of different manifestations of the same genre

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MLS2160: Fiction in Post-War Spain: Voices of Conformity and Subversion

This module will explore selected literary works by Spanish authors during the post-Civil War period and beyond. You will look at the extent to which these symbolic narratives convey indirect expression of opposition during the early years of the Franco regime when censorship was strictly imposed. You will consider representations of the psyche as reflections of a disturbed and damaged nation in which social relationships have been disrupted by violence and war. You will also assess the scholarly emphasis on political readings, and consider the value of re-contextualisation.

The module aims to:

  • Explore the ways in which Spanish fiction following the Civil War responded to social, political and cultural contexts
  • Trace the development of the Spanish novel from the 1940s to the 1960s, with particular attention given to literary trends such as tremendismo, Objectivism, Social Realism, and the New Novel
  • Examine the extent to which the literary texts of the period express conformity or resistance to dominant ideologies, as well as socio-political factors that influenced the fiction produced during the post-war period
  • Assess the scholarly emphasis on political and national contexts, and consider alternative readings within a European literary and philosophical framework

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Please note that the module information displayed here is subject to change.

This degree offers you the opportunity to spend a year studying or working abroad.

If you choose this option your placement year will take place in your third year, before returning to complete your degree at Exeter in your fourth and final year of study.

You can apply directly to this option, or you can apply to the standard 3 year course and transfer onto one of these options in the first term of your first year.

More about placement options

45 credits of compulsory Business School modules, 45 credits of compulsory modules in Modern Languages, 15 credits of optional Business School modules, 15 credits of optional modules consisting of content related to your chosen language:

  • take BEM1027, BEM1071, BEM1072 and SML1005 take 30 compulsory credits in your chosen language
  •  select 15 credits of optional modules consisting of content related to your chosen language
  • select 15 credits of optional Business modules.
  • select 15 credits of optional LCVS modules. Please note that you must select 15 credits related to the culture and society of the language of study and at the appropriate level from the link (so, for example, if you study French module codes starting with MLF1*, MLF2*, and MLF3*  and SML1*, SML2* and SML3* respectively for French Year 1, Y2, and Y3).

Please note that certain modules may only be available to students on Single Honours programmes, or to students who have taken a particular language module. This information will be given in the pre-requisites or co-requisites section of the relevant module descriptor.

For Business School Optional modules, see Stage 1 UEBS Modularity Group below.

Compulsory modules

CodeModuleCredits
Compulsory 1
The International Business Context15
Discovering Management Theory15
Discovering Skills for Management15
Language, Communication and Power15
Compulsory Choice Language Modules 2
French Language30
French Language for Beginners30
German Language30
German Language for Beginners30
Beginners Chinese30
Spanish Language30
Spanish Language for Beginners30

Optional modules

CodeModuleCredits
French Optional Modules
The Making of Modern France15
The Devil is in the Detail: An Introduction to the Short Story in French15
The French Language, Present and Past15
An Introduction to French Thought15
German Optional Modules
A Nation Remembers: Issues in German Cultural Memory15
Turning Points in German History 1200 - 200015
UEBS Modularity
Introduction to Financial Accounting15
Introduction to Management Accounting15
Introduction to Accounting15
Introduction to Finance15
Introduction to Statistics15
Introduction to Econometrics15
Mathematics for Economists15
Statistics for Business and Management15
History of Economic Thought15
Economics for Management15
Basic Quantitative Methods15
Economics I15
Economics II15
Introduction to Data Science in Economics15
Introduction to Behavioural Economics15
Personal Finance15
Marketing and Society15
Fundamentals of Marketing15
Leadership and Teams15
Statistics for Business15
The International Business Context15
Future You15
Exploring Innovation and Entrepreneurship15
Chinese Optional Modules
Chinese Art and the Art of Living15
Introduction to Asian Philosophy15
Neutral Optional Modules
Comparative Literatures and Cultures: Theories and Approaches15
Reading Comparatively15
Introduction to Film15
Language, Culture, International Relations15
Spanish beginner Optional Modules
An Introduction to the Hispanic World: Texts in Context15
Spanish post A-Level Optional Modules
The Making of Modern Latin America: History Through Literature and Culture15
An Introduction to the Literature and Film of Spain15

Please note that the module information displayed here is subject to change.

15 credits of compulsory Business School modules (BEM3065), 45 credits of compulsory modules Modern Languages (SML3009 and 30 compulsory credits in your chosen language), 45 credits of optional Business School modules, 15 credits of optional modules consisting of content related to your chosen language.

  • take BEM3065 and SML3009.
  •  take 30 compulsory credits in your chosen language
  •  select 15 credits of optional modules consisting of content related to your chosen language; or you may select a module from the Modern Languages optional content modules (please note if you select FLX module you must choose one related to your chosen language).
  • select 45 credits of optional Business modules (For Business School Optional modules, see Stage 3 UEBS Modularity Group below).

Compulsory modules

CodeModuleCredits
Compulsory 1
Strategy15
Intercultural Communication in a Global World15
Compulsory Choice Language Modules 2
French Advanced One30
German Advanced One30
Mandarin Chinese Advanced One30
Spanish Advanced One30
Advanced French Language Skills30
Advanced German Language Skills30
Advanced Chinese Language Skills30
Advanced Spanish Language Skills30

BEM3065: Strategy

Strategy may be defined as 'determination of the long-term goals and objectives of an enterprise, and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals.' (Alfred Chandler, 1962).

Building upon foundational knowledge developed in earlier parts of your degree programme, you will understand a deeper perspective on the multifaceted nature of strategy implementation processes. This will allow you to explore in more detail some of the core and emerging issues facing organisations today.

You will address common strategic challenges by helping to develop an understanding of how organisations arrive at strategies for competitive advantage and how they address issues relating to firm growth and development. You will take a holistic view of the strategic management process and explore key concepts, theories, frameworks, and issues of relevance to each of its dimensions:

  • strategic analysis
  • strategic formulation
  • strategic implementation

The module aims to achieve three key objectives:

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SML3009: Intercultural Communication in a Global World

In Intercultural Communication in a Global World you will explore how language and cultural diversity shape professional environments. You will engage with scenario-based activities involving global advertising, mobility, tourism, migration, the use of global English, conflict resolution, and virtual communication. Through case studies and practical tasks, you will develop intercultural skills that support collaboration, inclusion, and social justice. By reflecting on your own communication style and cultural perspectives, you will learn to recognise and address intercultural misunderstandings, manage conflict, and adapt effectively to diverse workplace contexts. The module also strengthens your self-awareness and enhances your employability in global settings.

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FLF3430: French Advanced One

French Advanced 1 is designed to help you develop communicative language skills (linguistics, sociolinguistics, and pragmatics) and communication strategies at the B2 level of the Common European Framework for Languages - CEFR, where you tackle material with a critical perspective.

To do so, you will strengthen advanced communicative activities such as reception, production, and interaction, and develop all four core language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing as well as advanced grammatical and lexical structures.

The module follows an action-oriented approach of language teaching and learning and is taught mostly in the target language, French.

You can take French Advanced One towards achieving 'with advanced proficiency in French', see http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/flc/undergraduate/proficiency/

You can take this module if you have successfully completed FLF2330 French Intermediate 2 or FLF2430 French Intermediate Fast Track or have an A-level (Grade A*-B) or equivalent (IB5-7, Delf B1, or evidence of intermediate-level accomplishment as Entry level).

On completion of this module, you will be at the level of a solid B2 (as Exit level) - Independent User of the Common European Framework for Languages, and be able to:

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FLG3430: German Advanced One

German Advanced 1 is intended for students who have successfully completed FLG2330 German Intermediate 2 or who have a level broadly of A level (Grade A*-B) or equivalent. The module develops all four core language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, as well as advanced grammatical structures of German in a communicative context. The module is taught as far as possible in German.

It will develop your vocabulary and communication skills for both every day and academic situations to an advanced level required for working or studying abroad.

The module is appropriate for students who have an A-level (Grade A*-B) in the foreign language or equivalent or B1 of the Common European Framework for languages - CEFR. The module develops all four core language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, as well as advanced grammatical structures of German. You will also learn more about the customs, culture and society in which German is spoken in order to develop awareness of the language's background and context. The module aims to:

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FLM3430: Mandarin Chinese Advanced One

Mandarin Chinese Advanced One is intended for those who have successfully completed FLM 2330 Mandarin Chinese Intermediate Two or who have a level broadly of A level (Grade A*-B) or equivalent. The module develops all four core language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, as well as advanced grammatical structures of Chinese, in a communicative context. The module is taught as far as possible in Chinese.

Mandarin Chinese Advanced One can be taken towards achieving 'with advanced proficiency in Chinese', see http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/flc/undergraduate/proficiency/

The module is appropriate for those who have an A-level (Grade A-B) in the foreign language or equivalent or B1 of the Common European Framework for languages - CEFR. The module develops all four core language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, as well as advanced grammatical structures of the target language. This course is between solid B1 - B2 (Exit level) - Independent User of the Common European Framework for languages, and aims to:

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FLS3430: Spanish Advanced One

Spanish Advanced 1 is intended for students who have successfully completed FLS2330 Spanish Intermediate 2, FLS2430 Spanish Intermediate Fast-Track, or who have a level broadly of A level (Grade A*-B) or equivalent. The module develops all four core language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, as well as advanced grammatical structures of Spanish in a communicative context. The module is taught mostly in Spanish.

This module will develop your vocabulary and communication skills for both every day and academic situations required for working or studying abroad. The exit level is broadly equivalent to the B2 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Spanish Advanced One can be taken towards achieving 'with advanced proficiency in Spanish', see http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/flc/undergraduate/proficiency/

On completion of this module, you will be at the level of B2 - Independent User of the Common European Framework for Languages, and be able to:

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MLF3111: Advanced French Language Skills

MLF3111 gives you the opportunity to develop your language skills to a very high level, while enhancing your understanding of modern and contemporary France. Translation work (in both directions) enables you to hone your skills as high-level bilinguals, and to develop further your command of grammar and lexis. Written Communication Skills are taught by Francophone staff, and train you to produce high-quality résumés and essays, while the Oral classes focus on developing your speaking skills further, particularly in presenting ideas and arguments, and engaging in debate. The Written and Oral classes focus on various engaging topics related to contemporary France.

The module aims to:

  • extend your command of French vocabulary, grammar, syntax and idiom and to increase your understanding of the nuances of the French language through the medium of translation.
  • enhance your ability to communicate, in a clear and structured manner, ideas of a complex and abstract nature, both in written and oral form.

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MLG3111: Advanced German Language Skills

This module builds upon MLG2001 (or equivalent) and the year abroad. Guided by the module tutors you will learn to fine-tune your translation skills; develop your vocabulary; consolidate your knowledge of German grammar; advance your intercultural skills; and increase your fluency in oral German. These skills not only form part of the development of a high standard in using the German language but also reflect some of the skills sought after by employers.

The module aims to:

  • develop a high level of skill in written translation between German and English, English and German and in composition in German.
  • develop fluency and expressiveness in oral German.

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MLM3111: Advanced Chinese Language Skills

This module aims to further improve your knowledge of, and your communicative competence in, Chinese through a wide range of essential activities (conversations and presentations, translation from and into the target language, writing practice, and grammar reviews). A variety of materials (e.g. news, government documents, business letters, fiction and proses) will be used in class to expose you to an authentic China from different perspectives and enhance your understanding of the structure and function of Chinese language in different settings. In order to take this module you should have successfully completed your 'Year Abroad' in China or equivalent.

The module aims to:

  • Help you further improve your knowledge of Chinese language and related cultural knowledge
  • Consolidate your listening, speaking, writing and reading skills
  • Develop your translation and other practical skills that are relevant to workplaces by engaging with texts in a wide range of styles and topics

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MLS3111: Advanced Spanish Language Skills

The module is designed for students who have completed MLS2001, or MLS2156 plus a placement year in Spain, or equivalent. It will provide you with the opportunity to enhance your language skills through translation from and into Spanish as well as through working with different genres and styles of writing. There will be an introduction to different journalistic forms such as interviews and leading articles, as well as the chance to write speeches. The oral classes will continue expanding the knowledge of contemporary Spanish and Latin American culture, develop further their intercultural competence and enable them discuss relevant topics to advance future career developments. The aim will be to expand the range and accuracy of expression in written and oral form, in order to attain proficiency in the use of the language.

The module aims to:

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Optional modules

CodeModuleCredits
UEBS Modularity
Finance for Managers15
Corporate Law15
Advanced Management Accounting15
Advanced Corporate Finance15
Advanced Financial Reporting15
Auditing15
Financial Modelling15
Accounting, Organisations and Society15
Sustainable and Responsible Finance15
Econometric Analysis30
Law and Economics15
Futures and Options15
Financial Markets and Decisions 215
International Political Economy15
International Economics15
Public Economics 115
Behaviour, Decisions and Markets15
Development Economics15
Economic Growth15
Advanced Mathematics for Economists15
Labour Economics15
Political Economics15
Economics of Management Strategy15
Machine Learning for Economics15
Behavioural Economics: Theory and Practice15
Economic Analysis and Pandemics15
Applied Econometrics for Business15
Economics of Culture and Institutions15
Economics of Crime15
Environmental Economics and Sustainability15
Health Economics15
Industrial Organisation15
The Economics of Financial Crises15
Blockchain, Money and Disruptive Payment Systems15
Financial Institutions' Risk Management15
Purchasing and Supply Management15
International Business History15
Marketing Management and Strategy15
Managing Human Resources: Advanced Issues15
Contemporary Leadership Issues15
Managing Change and Crisis in Organisations15
Employment Law for Managers15
Business Ignition - Idea to Implementation15
Operations Analytics15
Strategic and HR Analytics15
Analytics and Visualisation for Managers and Consultants15
Strategy15
Marketing Issues and Trends15
Strategic Digital Marketing Practice15
Media, Al and the Metaverse15
Power and Politics in Organisations15
Building Resilient Leaders15
Managing Individual Differences in the Workplace15
Strategy15
Rethinking Innovation and Entrepreneurship15
Contemporary Challenges in HRM15
Technology in Marketing15
Social Networks and Career Advancement15
Motivation and Social Influence at Work15
Regenerative Innovation for Climate Action15
AI for Human-Centred Design15
Technology and Responsible Innovation15
Dissertation30
Chinese Optional Modules
The Place of Meaning: Gardens in Asia and Europe15
Introduction to Modern Chinese Literature15
China through the Lens: Cultural Translation and Self-Presentation15
French Optional Modules
First-Person Outsiders in Modern French Literature15
Philosophers, Prophets and Mystics in French Culture15
Sex, Subversion and Censorship: Libertine Literature in Seventeenth-Century France15
French Sociolinguistics and Dialectology15
German Optional Modules
Dictatorships on Display: History Exhibitions in Germany and Austria15
Neutral Optional Modules
Through the Language Lens: the Relationship between Language, Culture and the Mind15
Corporate Language and Communication: When Sharks Work with Dolphins15
Extended Dissertation30
Green Matters in Modern Languages and Cultures15
Transcultural Devon: Creating, Analysing and Subtitling Interviews in the Context of Migration15
Migration and Multilingualism15
Migration in World Cinema15
Aliens Abroad: Science Fiction in Global Literature15
Spanish Optional Modules
Women and Feminism in 20th Century Spain15
The Chilean Road to Socialism (1970-1973): What Happened and Why? Elements for a Debate15
"What is Love? And Do I Need It?" An Introduction to Spanish Renaissance Love Poetry15
Spanish Modernists: Narratives of Identity, Gender and Nation15
Advanced Translation Skills15

AHV3021: The Place of Meaning: Gardens in Asia and Europe

Gardens are commonly known as places of leisure and recreation. This module, however, reveals the relatively unknown, fascinating cultural meanings of gardens in Europe and Asia. You will discover the gardens not only as the spatial matrix where the physical environment and cultural meanings interrelate and reciprocate, but also as media that trigger their users into performance with personal and social implications. You will conduct in-depth reading and analysis of images and texts. While this module can count towards Chinese credits, it is suitable for specialists and non-specialists. The field trips may incur a small extra cost.

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MLM3008: Introduction to Modern Chinese Literature

This module gives you the chance to explore the major writers and works of Chinese literature from the twentieth century to the present, including fiction, prose, poetry and film. You will study these works from mainland China in their relevant literary, socio-political and cultural contexts (including Western influences). You will be able to explore and understand how Chinese writers and filmmakers reconstructed modern literature in relation to China's nation-building process. All texts selected for study are available in English being translations of Chinese originals.

No prior knowledge of Chinese is assumed or required. This module is taught in English and is designed both for non-Chinese speakers and native Chinese speakers.

The module aims to enable you to:

  • Gain an understanding of Chinese literary and political history from The Republic of China (1912-1949) and The People's Republic of China (1949-present).
  • Gain a detailed appreciation of the key literary works including the most influential feminist writers, who made Chinese modern literature with a humanistic spirit.
  • Explore critical concepts in selected famous masterpieces of literary scholarship.
  • Acquire skills to appreciate and analyse intertextual content.
  • Acquire an understanding of approaches to literary adaptation into other mediums.

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MLM3009: China through the Lens: Cultural Translation and Self-Presentation

This module explores how film defines and shapes our understanding of Chinese history and culture. With examples of films from different periods and locations (including, for example, mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong), it examines a range of issues related to Chinese politics, cultural heritage, gender and sexuality, modernisation, urbanisation and environmental concerns. This module will allow students to expand their critical understanding of Chinese culture while reflecting on how it is (re)mediated through the moving image.

All films screened in this module have been dubbed or subtitled in English; therefore, knowledge of Chinese language is not required.

The aim of this module is to:

  • Develop students' understanding of the role of Chinese film and media in the construction and mediation of Chinese identity
  • Combine approaches from film, anthropology, history and cultural studies to explore aspects of cultural translation as performed by Chinese cinema since the revolutionary period
  • Analyse aspects of Chinese culture as mediated through film, allowing students to reflect on the ways by which film represents Chinese culture to both a domestic and international audience

The module is suitable for students of film and students of Chinese studies, and may be of interest for students on a wider range of humanities programmes.

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MLF3075: First-Person Outsiders in Modern French Literature

This module explores five works dating from the early 19th century to the present. All are written in the first person and from the perspective of an outsider figure, and all dramatise the relationship between self and other. The module examines the reasons why an author might choose to speak from an outsider's perspective, and what effects might be produced by this strategy. Lectures will offer an introduction to the significance given to the outsider figure in French literary history, and will discuss relevant historical, cultural, critical and theoretical frameworks for each of the primary texts. Seminars will engage in close readings and discussion of the primary texts and relevant critical texts.

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MLF3078: Philosophers, Prophets and Mystics in French Culture

On the night of 23 November 1654, one of the most brilliant mathematicians and scientists of all time, Blaise Pascal, had a vision that he recorded in a short note: 'Fire - God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and the scholars'. This intense religious experience altered the course of Pascal's life and led him to write his celebrated Pensées . You'll study an eclectic range of texts that engage with philosophy, prophecy, and mysticism, including two wide-ranging chapters from Montaigne's Essais , Pascal, Diderot's exploration of human consciousness through dreaming, Le Rêve de d'Alembert , and selected works by the twentieth-century philosopher, activist and mystic, Simone Weil. Your studies conclude with Verne's playful yet scientifically prescient account of a manned trip to the moon, De la terre à la lune .

  • To explore an eclectic range of French texts, to study how they deal with related themes.
  • To develop research and critical reading skills, including an awareness of historical context.
  • To gain an understanding of relevant philosophical and theological issues, as well as of debates surrounding prophecy.

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MLF3079: Sex, Subversion and Censorship: Libertine Literature in Seventeenth-Century France

For many, seventeenth-century France conjures images of the sumptuous palace of Versailles, its neo-classical and baroque aesthetics, and its refined literature and performing arts. Yet to a large extent, this image is the result of a conscious attempt to sanitise le grand siècle. In this module you will have the chance to peel away this façade, to explore the more audacious and unpolished underbelly of the seventeenth century through 'libertine' literature, and to be taught by a research specialist in this field of scholarship. Through pornographic poetry, musings on Nature and the meaning of life, double lives lived through covert letters, daring satires of religion on stage, and the secret diary of an intellectual who pushed scientific enquiry to the brink of depravity, this module presents a less traditional and ultimately more human seventeenth century that has often been consigned to the margins of literary history. As well as society and thought of the time, you will study a range of themes that you may find surprisingly modern, and learn about the strategies used by free-thinking authors in order to avoid censorship or the executioner.

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MLF3082: French Sociolinguistics and Dialectology

As an advanced user of French, you may have noticed differences in people’s speech according to their regional or social origin. This module offers an opportunity to examine in detail accent variation in some of the regional and social dialects of mainland France, as well as current trends in the pronunciation of French, using detailed phonetic transcriptions. We also consider the background of French regional languages and dialects, language ideologies and attitudes, and ongoing standardisation processes. The evolving theories and methods of Sociolinguistics and Dialectology provide a framework for the study of these topics. The module will develop further your familiarity with linguistic concepts and terminology. It will also enhance your understanding of the French language, in its cultural and historical context, and of language in society more generally.

Prerequisites: a good command of French (e.g. MLF2001, or MLF2152 + Year Abroad), and either previous study of French linguistics, or willingness to do some background reading in the preceding summer. (Contact z.c.boughton@ex.ac.uk for details.)

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MLG3036: Dictatorships on Display: History Exhibitions in Germany and Austria

This module allows you to explore areas of German and Austrian history - National Socialism, Jewish culture, and East Germany - through a study of objects rather than the more conventional documents. While the horrors of dictatorship and their difficult legacies form the background to the exhibitions discussed, the module also celebrates the creativity, professionalism, and community activitism which go into creating history exhibitions in Germany and Austria today. You can come to the module with different backgrounds and interests: German studies, history, cultural memory, museum or heritage studies, visual arts, or Holocaust studies. It is not necessary to have German language skills, but curiosity about Germany and Austria is a must.

The module introduces you to a range of critical methods that can be used in reading museum displays and to the role of museum objects as signifiers and agents within national memory cultures. The focus is on Germany and Austria since 1990 (and particularly since 2000). In this time, both countries have, in different ways, responded to the need to face up to the horrors of the Third Reich, while new museums of Jewish culture have begun to document Jewish life and culture before, during, and after the Holocaust. In addition, Germany has had to deal with the legacies of East German communism.

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SML3013: Through the Language Lens: the Relationship between Language, Culture and the Mind

Language encapsulates the way we experience the world. But how exactly do we construe that experience? What mechanisms are used in the categorisation process? In this module you will discover how principles and aspects of general cognition can be used to analyse the grammatical structure of language. You will also understand how the human bodily experience is a fundamental source of meaning and how it may be shaped and filtered by cultural practices.

This module aims to introduce you to a new perspective on language, i.e. the relationship between language and cognition and language and culture. The module will focus on how cognitive mechanisms like categorisation, attention and imagery are used in the production and understanding of language and how humans convey meaning through embodiment, i.e. how language conveys the human bodily experience of the world and how this may be shaped by culture. You will have the opportunity to analyse the language(s) you study according to principles of general cognition.

If you need credits towards a specific language, you must focus your assessment on that language.

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SML3026: Corporate Language and Communication: When Sharks Work with Dolphins

In today's corporate world, language, discourse, and communication play a key role in navigating complex work relations. Struggles with communication in unequal work environments have serious material and symbolic consequences. This module will equip you with an understanding of how linguistic exchanges play a key role in tackling crises, conflict, and everyday inequalities in corporate language. We will examine empirical studies from sociolinguistics, applied linguistics and discourse analysis and explore concepts such as language as practice, interactional sociolinguistics, and (critical) discourse analysis to analyse spoken and written language in real life scenarios including new media to explore, for example, how individuals brand themselves in corporate settings. You do not need any prior knowledge to take this module. It is suitable for non-specialist students and recommended for interdisciplinary pathways.

The module aims to:

  • Examine key theoretical frameworks such as language in use, language legitimacy, professional communication and competence, linguistic capital, language policing and rapport building in the workplace.
  • Explore what corporate communication is and how you could develop ability to respond to today's competitive work environments where hierarchies intersecting with gender, ethnicity and race play a key role in linguistic delegitimization, language policing, linguistic violence, and socio-cultural problems.
  • Develop tactics to navigate through linguistic injustices in the workplace with theoretical frameworks such as corporate discourse, corporate culture, language in interaction, corporate identity, labour surveillance, language ideology, language in society, humour at work, and gendered discourse in a range of contexts pertaining to today's workplace.
  • Develop communicative competence, transform workplace inequalities, and provide with some tactics and strategies for employability.

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SML3030: Extended Dissertation

The dissertation enables you to direct your own learning by producing a sustained critical essay on a cultural, historical, or linguistic topic within Modern Languages and Comparative Literatures and Cultures. This requires you to devise your own research questions and programme of work, and to produce a detailed bibliography, under the guidance of an academic supervisor, with a view to writing the Dissertation. You will develop in-depth knowledge of your chosen area; identify and answer appropriate, subject-specific questions; and expand your capacity for independent study, inquiry and research. You will also reflect on research methodologies and relevant critical theory.

BA Modern Languages students must refer to primary and secondary material in your target language. BA Comparative Literatures and Cultures students must write on a comparative topic.

The module aims to enable you to:

  • Operate independently and responsibly and to take a positive and active role in your learning
  • Devise your own research questions and to pursue these lines of inquiry
  • Work under the guidance of an academic supervisor
  • Produce a sustained piece of critical work

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SML3041: Green Matters in Modern Languages and Cultures

Our current geological age has been termed the 'anthropocene' - an age when human activities have come to influence our environment. This team-taught, interdisciplinary module, which is suitable for all interested students, explores cultural responses to these developments over time. It considers the fundamental but at times also controversial role culture plays in pointing at challenges and opportunities; disasters and dangers; and the importance of communities in the wider context of issues such as environmental awareness, climate change, global warming and sustainability. This module provides case-studies on the history of green movements over time, raises ethical considerations in general and artistic, literary, linguistic and cinematic approaches in particular.

This module provides, by means of individual case-studies, an overview of the historical, artistic, architectural, linguistic, policy orientated, literary and cinematic developments in relation to the awareness of our environment. It gives insight into a range of global developments and informs about principal aspects of past and current debates. It fosters the kind of synoptic debate employers particularly value and it highlights the eminent importance of the Humanities in addressing these issues.

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SML3042: Transcultural Devon: Creating, Analysing and Subtitling Interviews in the Context of Migration

Put your linguistic and intercultural communication skills into practice through a unique community engagement project. Alongside studying about migration and ethnography, you will learn what it feels like to migrate to the UK by interviewing a local migrant in their own language. A video of your interview, with English subtitles you produce, will contribute to a multilingual archive of stories of migration gathered in the community here in Devon. This module can be taken for specific language credits.

This module will help you to understand the experience of migration to the UK, and how people tell their stories about it in their first language. Using methods drawn from ethnography, you will design interviews to draw out those stories and develop your spoken language and broader communication and interpersonal skills through that interviewing process. You will also acquire some basic technical understanding of how to video-record interviews, and acquire subtitling skills. The module will provide you with the opportunity to engage with the local community, and to increase social cohesion and well-being by listening to and making available others' stories in their first language. Finally. you will leave a lasting legacy for future students because your interview will contribute to a digital archive: http://transculturaldevon.exeter.ac.uk/.

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SML3043: Migration and Multilingualism

Around two-thirds of the world's migrant population is multilingual and due to migration a high level of linguistic diversity is now the norm in our society. In this module, you will explore the link between migration and languages, learn how migrant communities use and maintain their languages, as well as their attitudes and ideologies, through a wide variety of real-life case studies. You will learn how individual migrants or immigrant communities use their languages, how and why some languages are maintained, how the use of languages among migrants varies according to several factors such as different communicative situations, the migratory trajectory, speakers' attitudes towards the languages and shared ideologies.

You will be introduced to sociolinguistic concepts and means of analysis for the study of multilingualism in the context of migration. This module is interdisciplinary with no pre-requisites and will benefit students across language streams. If you need the module to count for credits towards a specific language, you must engage with material relevant to that language in your assessment.

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SML3044: Migration in World Cinema

Transnational histories of migrants, the colonised, or refugees have been a major theme of World Cinema in the 21st century. Each national cinema portrays migration at different times in different film forms and styles. In this module you will explore how films from different nations have dealt with cinema, introducing key critical and theoretical concepts in film studies. The focus of the module is on trends in films of each country and explore recurring themes such as stereotypes, rejection, integration and diversity. It is designed to enable students from a wide range of backgrounds such as Modern Languages, English, History, Politics and Philosophy to engage critically with some key ideas concerning filmic representation of migration and its aesthetic, cultural and socio-political contexts. Prior experience of film study is not necessary.

This module can count towards Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, German or Russian credits providing that you engage with material in the relevant language in your assessment.

The module aims:

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SML3051: Aliens Abroad: Science Fiction in Global Literature

Science fiction is a global phenomenon. Science fiction writers assimilate the challenges of modernization; express anxieties about new technology; articulate their perceptions of the world order, or frame resistance to it. This module introduces you to culturally important 20th and 21st- century science fiction from Argentina, China, France, Germany, Italy and Russia in English translation.

You will analyse the main topics of the set texts, their characters, their key scenes and to consider the role that they have had in the recent history of their cultures. You will also discuss the nature of science fiction and find a definition (if any exists) that enables us to compare and contrast the set texts. You will be familiarized with the specific challenges of modernization in China, France, Germany, Italy, Latin America, and Russia. Finally, you will be taught transferable techniques of literary analysis and socio-political contextualization.

You will read the texts in translation in their entirety; lecturers will use close readings and discussion to check that essential passages are fully understood. Lectures will identify relevant critical points, sketch in the historical, social and cultural background to the books’ plots, and form the basis for your preparation. However, you are expected to reflect on the texts and other material independently and to be able to express your personal interpretation of these texts.

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MLS3037: Women and Feminism in 20th Century Spain

The twentieth-century witnessed the development of feminism as a political movement. This development is still ongoing. Feminist thought has also played an influential part in Spanish twentieth-century history. You will study the development of feminist thought and you will learn about the history of women in the most controversial century of Spanish history. A vast array of interesting sources will be used: novels, memoirs, press articles, TV and newspaper advertisements, songs, medical texts and legal texts and short film capsules. Learning about feminism and women's history will incorporate a gender perspective into your understanding of reality and will make you see Spain and Hispanism anew. The module will be taught mainly in Spanish and will have translation as a key component as well. We will be joined virtually by experts and colleagues and students from other fora

Women's role in Spanish society has changed rapidly, juggling tradition and modernity in a unique way. This module aims to:

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MLS3071: The Chilean Road to Socialism (1970-1973): What Happened and Why? Elements for a Debate

This module will introduce you to one of the most controversial moments in Chile's history, the period of the Popular Unity, also known as the Chilean Road to Socialism (1970-1973). Led by Socialist president Salvador Allende, the Popular Unity government is crucial to understand not only present-day Chile, but also to the development of the political Left in Latin America and beyond. Through a series of lectures, seminars, and readings, you will gain knowledge of the necessary elements to begin an informed discussion on the forces and reasons that led to the rise and fall of Chile's experiment on a democratic, institutional path to socialism.

This module features extensive reading in Spanish, as most of the historiography has been written in that language. The module will involve engaging with Chilean Spanish to an extent.

This module aims to:

  • Study the social and political causes behind Salvador Allende's election in 1970.
  • Study the main historical processes in Chile from 1970 to 1973, with a focus on: the Government, the civil and military opposition, the revolutionary left, the workers' movement, and the international dimension.
  • Discuss the causes behind the 1973 military coup in Chile.
  • Introduce the main historiographical trends about the period.
  • Discuss the concept of socialism in connection with the related concepts of revolution and reform.
  • Analyse primary sources such as newspaper articles, testimonies, and documentary film.
  • Discuss different subsequent representations of Allende and the Popular Unity.

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MLS3073: "What is Love? And Do I Need It?" An Introduction to Spanish Renaissance Love Poetry

That Spain's literary Renaissance, or her 'Golden Age', is reckoned by many critics to begin in 1543, with the publication of the lyric poetry of Juan Boscán and Garcilaso de la Vega, is an indication of the importance and influence of love poetry in the most dynamic period of Spain's artistic and cultural history. In this module, you will be introduced to the Spanish love lyric of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, examining its forerunners, its development, its metrical forms—most notably the sonnet—, and its different modes, such as the Petrarchist, the burlesque and the divine.

This module aims to:

  • Introduce you to a significant literary tradition in the Spanish Renaissance
  • Develop specialised and detailed knowledge of important texts
  • Teach you to analyse and interpret representative poems from the key period of Spanish literary production, and to relate them to their cultural context
  • Present you with a number of different manifestations of the same genre

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MLS3112: Spanish Modernists: Narratives of Identity, Gender and Nation

What is Modernism? On this module, you will study the ways in which Modernism manifested itself in Spanish literary fiction alongside other art forms in the early twentieth century. You will consider the ways in which Modernists engaged with the emergence at the turn of the century of new ideas about reality and perception, and powerful debates about identity, gender and nation that were fuelled by historical events such as the 1898 disaster.

You will begin by looking at an example of Picasso's Cubist paintings, before going on to study three works of fiction by well-known Spanish authors who belong to this period of cultural brilliance. From best-sellers to canonical fiction, you will consider how the texts reflect or resist established cultural categories and hierarchies, including a long-standing critical emphasis on Hispanic literary generations.

This module analyses the development of Spanish Modernism in the early twentieth century, a period of striking innovation and experimentation in European literature and culture. By examining the texts as examples of the development of Modernism, we will ask why the Spanish novel of this period has traditionally been excluded from the European mainstream.

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SML3031: Advanced Translation Skills

In this module you will approach translation as a professional activity, applying the knowledge you have gained in the core language modules. You will learn how elements of translation theory can improve translation practice, so that you will be able to research translation tasks efficiently and reflect on your own practice. Underpinning all of this is the core view that translation is a creative decision-making process that aims to communicate not words, but ideas and concepts across cultural borders.

The aim of this module is to introduce you to modern theories of translation and how these can be applied to the practice of translation as an activity. It focuses on a range of text types in a variety of situations, building on and going beyond the translation situations encountered in core language modules.

Translation is approached as a decision-making activity, and you learn how to decide and justify your decisions swiftly and ethically, with terminology from the field. As such, this module aims especially to give a grounding in translation to those students who wish to continue their studies at postgraduate level.

This module is only available in Spanish, and counts towards the Spanish credits in your degree title.

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Course variants

Overview

The BA International Business and Modern Languages degree offers you the opportunity to spend a year studying abroad.

If you choose this option your placement year will take place in your third year, before returning to complete your degree at Exeter in your fourth and final year of study.

You can apply directly to this option, or you can apply to the standard BA International Business and Modern Languages course and transfer onto this option in the first term of your first year.

BA International Business and Modern Languages with Year Abroad

UCAS code: NN15

Our four-year ‘with Year Abroad’ degree offers you the possibility of spending your third year abroad, studying with one of our many partner universities.

Why study abroad?

Living and studying in a different country is an exciting experience that broadens your academic and cultural horizons, as well as giving you the opportunity to widen your circle of friends. Students who have studied abroad demonstrate initiative, independence, motivation and, depending on where they stay, may also have gained a working knowledge of another language – all key qualities that employers are looking for in today’s competitive employment environment.

Where can I study abroad?

We have partnership arrangements with many prestigious institutions across the globe. Exactly where you can apply to study will depend on the subjects you are studying at Exeter. For a full list please visit the Study Abroad website.

Does it count towards my degree?

Credit for academic work during your year abroad is arranged by agreement between the University of Exeter and the host institution. These marks are then translated back into your degree at Exeter. If you are studying abroad for a semester or full year, your time abroad will count toward your final degree. Please refer to your College Study Abroad co-ordinator for further details.

How does it affect my tuition fee and funding?

For the year that you spend studying abroad you will pay a significantly reduced tuition fee to Exeter, but nothing to your host university – for more information visit our fees pages. You will continue to receive a maintenance loan if you are eligible for this whilst on your Study Abroad year.

Fees

Tuition fees for 2026 entry

UK students: £9,790 per year
International students: £24,900 per year

Scholarships

The University of Exeter offers a wide range of scholarships to support your education, with £7 million available for international students applying to study with us in the 2026/27 academic year, including our prestigious Exeter Excellence Scholarships*. We also provide scholarships for sport, music and other achievements, alongside regional and partner awards such as Chevening, The Beacon Trust and the British Council. Financial support is available for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, lower income households and other under-represented groups to help them access, succeed and progress through higher education.

* Terms and conditions, including deadlines, apply. See our website for details.

Find out more about tuition fees and scholarships

Learning and teaching

How will I learn?

You will learn through a mix of:

  • Lectures of one or two hours once a week for each module. These give you the information central to the module and help you understand complex ideas.
  • Seminars and tutorials every week or every other week for each module. They cover in-depth discussions of topics introduced in lectures.
  • Total timetabled study hours (lectures, seminars, tutorials) for your whole degree are on average between 11 and 14 hours per week. In addition you are expected to complete an average of 20-25 hours of independent or group study per week.

 

How will I be assessed?

Modules are assessed through a mixture of:

  • Group work
  • Coursework
  • Project work
  • Examinations

The weighting of these components varies according the module. Coursework is typically between 2,500 and 6,000 words in length, and exams are usually held at the end of the module in January and May/June.

Where will I study?

You will be based at the purpose built University of Exeter Business School located on the Streatham Campus in Exeter, Devon.

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.

Minors: Future Skills Pathways

You can study a Future Skills Pathway alongside your main degree by choosing up to 30 credits of modules from a different subject area in your second and final years.

Find out more about minor options

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Your future

The BA International Business and Modern Languages is a unique programme that enables you to tailor your degree to your own strengths and employability aspirations by acquiring core specific knowledge and skills as well as selecting new subjects during your learning journey.

It is a natural fit for students wanting to give themselves an advantage in the global commercial world, and provides you with a potent combination of intercultural skills, business acumen, relevant commercial knowledge, and linguistic ability to really stand out from other graduates without this complementary combination of abilities.

We anticipate that most graduates will move on to business-oriented careers – management, marketing, finance, etc – but that they will pursue these careers across the globe for a much broader range of international companies than usual.

Skills developed during this collaborative degree – including the optional year abroad – include analytical problem solving, written and verbal fluency, managing and analysing information, cultural awareness, research, team working, and critical thinking, all of which are essential to modern global business.

The University of Exeter Business School provides a range of careers and employability support for Undergraduate students. Visit the Business School Career Zone webpage for more information.

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