Modern European Languages and History (with Year Abroad)
Entry requirements
A level
To include at least one language from French, German, Italian, Russian or Spanish and History. Specific subjects excluded for entry: General Studies and Critical Thinking.
Access to HE Diploma
We require 60 credits with a minimum of 45 credits at level 3 (or equivalent). Applicants may be required to meet additional subject-specific requirements for particular courses at Durham.
Cambridge International Pre-U Certificate - Principal
To include at least one language from French, German, Italian, Russian or Spanish and History.
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
General information on subjects/grades required for entry: Eighteen points (6, 6, 6) from Higher Level subjects to include at least one language from French, German, Italian, Russian or Spanish and History.
Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)
To include at least one language from French, German, Italian, Russian or Spanish and History.
OCR Cambridge Technical Extended Diploma
Additionally an A Level in History at grade A and an A Level at grade A in at least one language from French, German, Italian, Russian or Spanish and History. Where A Levels are unavailable we also accept IB Higher Levels and Cambridge Pre-U’s as an alternative. Please contact us if you have a different Level 3 qualification you wish to use.
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Additionally an A Level in History at grade A and an A Level at grade A in at least one language from French, German, Italian, Russian or Spanish and History. Where A Levels are unavailable we also accept IB Higher Levels and Cambridge Pre-U’s as an alternative. Please contact us if you have a different Level 3 qualification you wish to use.
Scottish Advanced Higher
To include at least one language from French, German, Italian, Russian or Spanish and History.
Scottish Higher
Departments will normally make offers based on Advanced Highers. In the absence of 3 Advanced Highers, where these are not offered by the applicant’s school, offers comprising of Advanced Highers and Highers or a number of Highers may be made on a case by case basis.
At Durham we welcome applications from students of outstanding achievement and potential from all educational backgrounds. We will consider applicants studying T level qualifications for entry to many of our courses. Where a course requires subject specific knowledge and this is not covered within the T level being studied, you may need to supplement your T level studies with a suitable qualification to meet this requirement, for example at A level. Where this is needed this will be clearly stated in our entry requirements. Detailed entry requirements can be found on individual course entries on our courses database. https://www.durham.ac.uk/study/courses/rv92/#entry-requirements-1237534
UCAS Tariff
We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.
About this course
This Joint Honours degree will allow you to further your interest in the study of a modern European language and related cultural topics alongside exploring different periods and themes of history.
In Year 1 you will focus on the skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening in your chosen language. In addition, you will explore aspects of the literature, film, art, history and politics of the culture you are studying. You will also study a range of History subjects, including Medieval/Early Modern History and Modern History.
In Year 2 you will continue your language, culture and history studies, building on your skills and allowing you to begin to specialise in areas that interest you. Second-year History modules tend to focus more on particular periods and events, or historical debates and phenomena.
You will have the opportunity to spend Year 3 abroad, either as an English assistant in a school or university, as a student or on a work placement. This is a time of enormous linguistic and personal development, when you should gain fluency in your language and enjoy a unique opportunity to make new friends, appreciate other cultures and learn to work and study in new ways. You can also apply to add a placement year to your degree, increasing the course from four years to five.
In Year 4 you will develop your advanced language skills, and you may be able to take a specialist language module such as translation or interpreting. You will also continue your culture and history studies, with final-year History modules encouraging you to think about how historical knowledge is produced.
You will also choose your own dissertation topic in Year 4, researching and writing about either a historical issue or an aspect of culture or cultural production.
Modules
Year 1
You will take a compulsory language module. This is a single module for all languages studied post-A level and a double module for beginners’ languages. These compulsory modules focus on the four skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening. In addition, you choose either one or two from a wide range of modules dealing with various aspects of the literature, film, art, history and politics of the culture you are studying. These cultural modules aim to develop your independent research and analytical skills as well as introducing you to the culture in question.
In the first year, you will take up to three modules in History. These may be chosen from the wide range of first-year modules available, but you must choose at least one module in Medieval/Early Modern History and at least one module in Modern History. There are no compulsory History modules on the Joint Honours degree.
Year 2
In the second year, you will take up to four modules in History, choosing from those available in Year 2. Second-year History modules tend to focus more on particular periods and events, and there are fewer survey courses. One of the History modules you take may be ‘Conversations with History’. This is a seminar-driven, student-led module, which encourages you to think about the way in which history is written. Students choose one from a range of possible strands in this module, each of which focuses on a particular historical debate or phenomenon. You must choose one History module which is either Medieval or Early Modern; and one which is Modern (the Conversations strand will count as one of these choices). There is no other restriction on choice.
There are no compulsory History modules for students on the Joint Honours degree.
Year 3
The third year is spent abroad as an English assistant in a school, as a student in a university or in employment of some kind. During the year abroad you complete a summative Year Abroad assignment with guidance from Durham staff.
Students do not take any assessed modules in History during the third year.
Year 4
You will continue to take a single core language module, developing your skills to an advanced level. You will also choose from a wide range of specialist modules on literature, film, art, history and politics in the language you are studying, and you may be able to take a specialist language modules such as translation or interpreting.
You will usually take the equivalent of up to three modules in History, though it may be possible to take the equivalent of up to four by varying the number of Modern Languages and Cultures (MLaC) modules chosen. You may choose a triple-module Special Subject, taught entirely through seminars, which involves close study of primary sources. This involves working in a small group with a specialist in the field – with a three-hour seminar every week. You may instead choose to do supervised independent research leading to the writing of an extended dissertation.
Depending on your other choices, you may be able to take one other single module in the third year: third-year History single modules are all strongly reflexive in character, encouraging you to think about the ways in which historical knowledge is produced.
You will choose your own dissertation topic, through consultation with a supervisor. There are some limits, set by the availability of primary material and the expertise of supervisors, but the potential range of topics is very wide indeed. You will research and write a dissertation either on a historical topic (supervised by the History Department) or on an aspect of culture or cultural production (supervised by MLaC). As with modules at other levels, the precise choice of Special Subject and third-year single modules changes from year to year. Some of the History modules that have run in recent years are:
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The Uni
Durham City
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Modern European Languages
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
History
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
Others in language and area studies
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
History
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
History is a very popular subject (although numbers have fallen of late) — in 2015, over 10,000 UK students graduated in a history-related course. Obviously, there aren't 11,000 jobs as historians available every year, but history is a good, flexible degree that allows graduates to go into a wide range of different jobs, and consequently history graduates have an unemployment rate comparable to the national graduate average. Many — probably most — jobs for graduates don't ask for a particular degree to go into them and history graduates are well set to take advantage. That's why so many go into jobs in the finance industry, human resources, marketing, PR and events management, as well as the more obvious roles in education, welfare and the arts. Around one in five history graduates went into further study last year. History and teaching were the most popular further study subjects for history graduates, but law, journalism, and politics were also popular postgraduate courses.
Others in language and area studies
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
This is a broad subject for a variety of European languages. No matter which you take, the general theme is that some graduates go to that country to work, often as English language teachers, some go into further study, often to train as teachers or translators, but most get jobs in the UK in education - most often as language tutors, unsurprisingly, or translators. Modern language grads can also be in demand in business roles where communication and language skills are particularly useful, such as marketing and PR, and in finance or law. But remember — whilst employers say they rate graduates who have graduates who have more than one language, you need to have them as part of a whole package of good skills.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
History
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£22k
£29k
£40k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
Others in language and area studies
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£25k
£31k
£40k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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Post-six month graduation stats:
This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.
It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
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Graduate field commentary:
The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show
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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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