Scandinavian Studies and Social Policy
Entry requirements
A level
Required subjects: A Levels: no specific A Level subjects required. GCSEs: a language other than English at B or 6 and English at C or 4.
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
34 points with 655 at HL. Required subjects: HL: no specific subjects required. SL: a language other than English at 5 and English at 5.
Scottish Higher
ABBB by end of S5 or AABB/ABBBB by end of S6. BBB must be achieved in one year of S4-S6. Required subjects: Highers: no specific Higher subjects required. National 5s: a language other than English at B and English at C.
UCAS Tariff
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About this course
The languages, history, politics and culture of Denmark, Norway and Sweden have long had a considerable impact beyond the Nordic region.
Today, Scandinavian languages and cultures continue to expand in popularity, and the socio-economic concept of the Nordic Model is widely studied.
Scandinavian Studies and Social Policy make an excellent joint honours choice by combining the study of:
* a modern language in its cultural, social and political context
* the distribution of welfare and wellbeing within societies, and the policies which influence that distribution
* option courses from a wide range of disciplines
**Scandinavian Studies**
On our programme, you have the opportunity to develop advanced spoken and written language skills in modern Danish, Norwegian or Swedish while exploring Scandinavian culture, past and present.
You do not currently need to know a Scandinavian language, as courses are available for beginners. By Year 3, you will have the skills to spend the year abroad in Denmark, Norway or Sweden.
While you will specialise in one Scandinavian language, you will also gain an understanding of the other two we teach to degree level. In Year 2, for example, you can choose to explore the similarities and differences between Danish, Swedish and Norwegian.
**Social Policy**
You will focus on social and economic change, what causes it, and its consequences for society.
Reflecting on how policies are developed, you will learn about the policy-making process in the UK. You will also study the influence of international bodies such as the EU and OECD.
We deal with a wide array of policy areas, for example:
* health and welfare
* education and labour markets
* family and childhood
We work closely with:
* governments
* NGOs
* third sector and interest representation groups
* international organisations and other external actors
International comparative analyses are one of our main strengths, and we place a strong emphasis on providing our students with empirical research skills.
**Why Edinburgh?**
Edinburgh is the only university in Scotland, and one of only two in the UK, to offer undergraduate honours programmes in Scandinavian Studies.
As well as being distinctive in our subject offering, we are also unique in Scotland in integrating a full academic year abroad into the four-year honours programme, regardless of whether you spend the year studying or working.
We are the proud home of the Northern Scholars programme which fosters co-operation between the Nordic and Baltic countries and Scotland.
Our flexible programme incorporates a range of option courses, giving you the blend of specialist skills and broad Intercultural Competence valued by graduate employers around the globe.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
The Uni
Central area campus
School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures
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.
Social policy
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)
German and scandinavian 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.
Social policy
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
Just over 1,600 students graduated in social policy in 2015, which makes it one of the smaller social studies subjects. This is a popular subject at Masters level — 750 Masters in social policy were awarded last year - and so a lot of the more sought-after jobs in management and research tend to go to social policy graduates with postgraduate degrees. For those who leave university after their first degree, then jobs in social care (especially community and youth work) and education, the police, marketing and human resources and recruitment are popular — along with local government, although there are fewer of those jobs around than in the past. This degree is a bit less reliant on London for jobs than other similar subjects, so if you'd like to work outside the capital, it might be worth considering - although the jobs still tend to be in big cities.
German and scandinavian 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
Very few graduates take this subject and so we can't say anything definitively about what graduates go on to do with these degrees. That said, modern language grads usually have a range of opportunities available to them, both home and abroad. If you are interested in studying this subject, then it might be a good idea to go on open days and talk to tutors about what you might expect from the course and what previous graduates did.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Social policy
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£20k
£27k
£31k
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.
German and scandinavian 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.
£21k
£29k
£33k
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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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):
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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).
This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.
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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.
You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.
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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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