Portuguese Undergraduate Study
Portuguese degrees at the University of Exeter are taught within the vibrant learning and research-active environment in the Department of Languages, Cultures, and Visual Studies. You will explore one of the most diverse cultures in the world and its literary, linguistic and artistic manifestations.
Portuguese is one of the six most widely spoken world languages, with over 200 million speakers in Portugal, Brazil, and African countries such as Angola and Mozambique.
Top 15 for Portuguese in the UK
11th in the Complete University Guide 2026 for Iberian Languages
Top 150 worldwide for Modern Languages
QS World University Subject Rankings 2025
Spend a year abroad on an International Placement
1st in the UK for research impact
Joint 1st for world-leading or internationally excellent research, REF 2021
Discover Portuguese at the University of Exeter
At the University of Exeter, we offer a friendly and spirited learning environment in which to learn Portuguese. You can structure our highly flexible programmes around your interests or choose career-oriented pathways, supported by our pioneering Language Centre.
Teaching is driven by our internationally-recognised research, and examines not only the cultures and literatures of the Portuguese-speaking world, but also Portuguese linguistics. This includes established and emerging dialects of Portuguese, as well as the current sociolinguistic situation in Lusophone Africa and Creole societies.
You will find modules and research scrutinising cultural and feminist politics, postcolonial migration and film studies, medieval to modern literature, linguistic to translation studies.
Students have the option of spending their third year in either Portugal or Brazil. During your time abroad, you will either:
- Study at one of our renowned partner universities such as Coimbra and Porto in Portugal, or Santa Catarina in Brazil, or
- Work abroad, gaining valuable employment experience and practical applied learning.
Customise your Portuguese degree
You can study Portuguese through three pathways:
Study or work abroad
The International Placement can be one of the most rewarding and enjoyable aspects of a Modern Languages degree. It is also one of the major factors that makes languages graduates attractive to employers.
By immersing yourself in the culture you study, you will not only enhance your language skills, but cultivate:
- strong intercultural understanding
- improved communication skills
- the ability to think and study in different ways
- resilience and confidence
- analytical skills
- adaptability, independence and valuable life experience
Meet our academics
Professor Susana Afonso
Associate Professor of Language, Cognition and Society
My research expertise is in Cognitive Linguistics - a theoretical framework concerned with the conceptual representation in language - in particular Cognitive Sociolinguistics. My focus in this area is on Portuguese as a global language.
Dr Natália Pinazza
Senior Lecturer
I am a Senior Lecturer in Latin American and Lusophone Studies. My teaching and research focus on journey narratives, film industry and issues of transnational cinema with a particular focus on Latin America and the Portuguese-speaking world.
