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International Development and Languages (Chinese, French, Spanish)

Entry requirements


A level

B,B,C-C,C,C

96-112 points, to include a minimum of 2 A levels.

96-112 Tariff points from the Access to HE Diploma.

Cambridge Pre-U score of 42-46.

GCSE/National 4/National 5

3 GCSEs at grade C or above to include English and Mathematics/3 GCSEs at grade 4 or above to include English and Mathematics.

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

25

25 points from the IB Diploma, to include 3 Higher Level subjects.

Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)

H3,H4,H4,H4,H4-H3,H3,H3,H3,H4

Acceptable when combined with other qualifications.

Acceptable when combined with other qualifications.

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

DMM-MMM

96-112 Tariff points to include a minimum of 2 Advanced Highers.

Acceptable when combined with other qualifications.

T Level

M

UCAS Tariff

96-112

96-112 points, to include a minimum of 2 A levels, or equivalent.

96-112 points from the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate including 1 A level, plus the Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate.

About this course


Course option

4years

Full-time with time abroad | 2024

Subjects

Economics

Human geography

International studies

**Overview**

Work towards fluency in a foreign language (or two) while exploring solutions to global social challenges such as poverty and hunger, environmental sustainability, universal education and health care.

On this BA (Hons) International Development and Languages degree course, you'll study one language from beginner's level (French, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese) or post-A level (French, Spanish). As of 2021, these three languages are spoken as first or second languages by 1,930 billion people worldwide. You'll also get the chance to learn a second language: French, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, Japanese, German or British Sign Language (BSL).

You'll get full support to build your language skills to fluency alongside opportunities to apply your learning to work with not-for-profit organisations in developing countries on placement. You'll graduate prepared for a career in organisations around the globe, in roles such as in government, teaching and working with non-government organisations (NGOs).

**Course highlights**

- Explore fields of economics, human geography, politics and international relations to find solutions that could include changing policy at a national level, managing relations between governments and developing budgets for sustained advancement

- Use our professional-grade conference interpreting suite and language labs, where you can manipulate video, sound, text and internet sources

- Immerse yourself in the cultures of the countries where your chosen languages are spoken – in the classroom, in our Global Café and on your work or study placement abroad

- Gain on-the-ground experience of community development and protected area management on an optional field trip to Uganda

- Be taught by staff who are committed to their research in the field, such as Professor Tamsin Bradley whose research is informing schemes to help support women across South Asia in their search for equality

- Learn from professionals working in the sector

- Put your expertise into practice in Model United Nations events, in collaboration with fellow students from International Development and International Relations

**Careers and opportunities**

The British Council has stated that "an understanding of other cultures and languages will continue to be important for successful international relationships at all levels" (Languages for the Future, 2017). Along with the language skills you develop on this course, you'll graduate with a confidence in analysis, criticism and argument, communication and problem-solving – skills you can use in your future role advocating for and creating pathways to positive change.

You could also go into postgraduate study with a Master’s, or take the next step into research that could inform policy with a PhD.

What can you do with an international development and languages degree?

This course gives you the skills for careers in areas such as:

- international community development

- civil service

- fundraising, campaigning and advocacy

- policy development

- social enterprise

- corporate social responsibility

- project management

What jobs can you do with an international development and languages degree?

Our graduates have gone on to roles such as:

- programme management, support and evaluation roles for international agencies and non-governmental organisations

- fundraising development coordinator

- human rights advocacy

- media and digital content lead

- community development practitioner

- sustainable sourcing specialist for multinational corporations

- teacher

Graduate destinations

Our graduates have worked for non-governmental organisations (NGOs), government departments and companies such as:

- Save the Children

- Street Doctors

- CAFOD

- the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

- the Department or International Development

- Shelterbox

- British Chamber of Commerce

Modules

Year 1
Core modules in this year include:
- Introduction To Development Studies: Policy and Practice
- Professional Practice: Skills For Professional and Academic Success
- The Making Of The Global South

Optional modules in this year include:

- French General Language Grade 3
- French Grade 1 and 2 – General Language
- French Grade 1 and 2 – Language in Use
- Language Project (Spanish)
- Language Project (French)
- Mandarin Grade 1 and 2 – General Language
- Mandarin Grade 1 and 2 – Language in Use
- Spanish General Language Grade 3
- Spanish Grade 1 and 2 – General Language
- Spanish Grade 1 and 2 – Language in Use

Year 2
Core modules in this year currently include:
- Economics and Politics of Development
- Global Environmental Issues and Concerns

Optional modules in this year currently include:
- Analysing Foreign Policy
- Development and Democracy in Latin America
- Development Economics
- East Asian States and Societies
- Empire and its Afterlives in Britain, Europe and Africa
- Engaged Citizenship in Humanities and Social Sciences
- French General Language Grade 3 and 4 (Part 1)
- French General Language Grade 3 and 4 (Part 2)
- French General Language Grade 4
- Gender in the Developing World
- Global Security
- Intercultural Perspectives on Communication
- Introduction to Teaching
- Introduction to Translation
- Language for Professional Communication (French)
- Language for Professional Communication (Spanish)
- Managing Across Cultures (FHEQ5)
- Mandarin General Language Grade 3 and 4 (Part 1)
- Mandarin General Language Grade 3 and 4 (Part 2)
- Marketing and Communication
- Modern Foreign Language
- Managing Across Cultures
- Modernity and Globalisation
- Nationalism and Migration: Chaos, Crisis and the Everyday
- News, Discourse and Media
- Principles of Economic Crime Investigation
- Professional Experience
- Social Enterprise and Entrepreneurship
- Space, Place and Being
- Spanish General Language Grade 3 and 4 (Part 1)
- Spanish General Language Grade 3 and 4 (Part 2)
- Spanish General Language Grade 4
- Transitional Justice and Human Rights
- Wildlife Crime: Threats and Response

Year abroad
In your third year, you'll spend a year in a country where the main language you're studying is spoken.
On your year abroad, you can study at a university or organise a work placement, depending on your chosen language. In some cases, you may be able to do a combination of study and work. We'll help you secure a study or work placement that fits your situation and ambitions. You'll get mentoring and support throughout the year.

Year 4

Optional modules in this year currently include:
- French General Language Grade 6
- Global Capitalism: Past, Present and Future
- Global Health
- Independent Project (International Development)
- Interpreting 1
- Interpreting 2
- Mandarin General Language Grade 6
- NGOs and Social Movements
- Professional Development: Recruiters and Candidates
- Professional Experience
- Religion and Politics in Global Perspective
- Research Project (SLAL)
- Rethinking Aid and Development
- Spanish General Language Grade 6
- Translation Theory and Practice (UG)
- Translation Theory and Practice (UG) (Chinese)

We use the best and most current research and professional practice alongside feedback from our students to make sure course content is relevant to your future career or further studies.

Therefore, some course content may change over time to reflect changes in the discipline or industry and some optional module may not run every year. If a module doesn’t run, we’ll let you know as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative module.

Assessment methods

You’ll be assessed through:

examinations
case studies
projects
presentations
book reviews
assignments

You’ll be able to test your skills and knowledge informally before you do assessments that count towards your final mark.

You can get feedback on all practice and formal assessments so you can improve in the future.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
EU
£9,250
per year
International
£17,200
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course location:

University of Portsmouth

Department:

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Read full university profile

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.

80%
Economics
89%
Human geography
75%
International studies

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.

Economics

Teaching and learning

65%
Staff make the subject interesting
86%
Staff are good at explaining things
78%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
75%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

85%
Library resources
90%
IT resources
85%
Course specific equipment and facilities
73%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

86%
UK students
14%
International students
77%
Male students
23%
Female students
76%
2:1 or above
8%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
C
C

Human geography

Teaching and learning

93%
Staff make the subject interesting
97%
Staff are good at explaining things
93%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
67%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

85%
Library resources
87%
IT resources
84%
Course specific equipment and facilities
74%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

94%
UK students
6%
International students
53%
Male students
47%
Female students
80%
2:1 or above
15%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
C
C

Politics

Teaching and learning

88%
Staff make the subject interesting
92%
Staff are good at explaining things
76%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
64%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

71%
Library resources
88%
IT resources
75%
Course specific equipment and facilities
54%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

70%
UK students
30%
International students
51%
Male students
49%
Female students
75%
2:1 or above
13%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
C
D

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.

Economics

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.

£22,500
med
Average annual salary
96%
med
Employed or in further education
79%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

39%
Business, finance and related associate professionals
13%
Business, research and administrative professionals
8%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals

This is a degree in demand, as business increasingly needs workers who can examine and explain complex data. And yet the number of economics graduates fell by nearly 10% last year, which means demand is even greater. As so many economic grads go into banking and finance, it's not surprising that over half of all 2015's economics graduates who did go into work were working in London. And don't think it's just the finance industry that's interested in these graduates - there's a significant number who enter the IT industry to work with data as analysts and consultants. It's quite common for economics graduates to go into jobs such as accountancy and management consultancy which may require you to take more training and gain professional qualifications - so don’t assume you won’t have to take any more exams once you leave uni. And the incentive to take them, of course, is better pay, which will be on top of an already healthy average starting salary of over £30,000 for graduates working in the capital.

Human geography

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.

£20,000
med
Average annual salary
98%
med
Employed or in further education
40%
low
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

27%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
17%
Business, research and administrative professionals
11%
Other elementary services occupations

Politics

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.

£20,000
med
Average annual salary
98%
med
Employed or in further education
53%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

22%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals
13%
Business, research and administrative professionals
10%
Business, finance and related associate professionals

The numbers of people taking politics degrees fell sharply last year and we'll keep an eye on this one - it can't really be because of graduates getting poor outcomes as politics grads do about as well as graduates on average. Most politics or international relations graduates don't actually go into politics - although many do, as activists, fundraisers and researchers. Jobs in local and central government are also important. Other popular jobs include marketing and PR, youth and community work, finance roles, HR and academic research (you usually need a postgraduate degree to get into research). Because so many graduates get jobs in the civil service, a lot of graduates find themselves in London after graduating. Politics is a very popular postgraduate subject, and so about one in five politics graduates go on to take another course - usually a one-year Masters - after they finish their degrees.

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Economics

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£23k

£23k

£31k

£31k

£41k

£41k

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.

Human geography

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£19k

£19k

£24k

£24k

£28k

£28k

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.

Politics

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

£20k

£23k

£23k

£27k

£27k

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.

Explore these similar courses...

Lower entry requirements
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Economics and Human Geography (with Foundation Year)
BA (Hons) 4 Years Full-time with time abroad 2024
UCAS Points: 72
Nearby University
University of Reading | Reading
Geography and Economics (Regional Science)
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UCAS Points: 120-141
Same University
University of Portsmouth | Portsmouth
International Development
BA (Hons) 3 Years Full-time with time abroad 2024
UCAS Points: 112-128
Higher entry requirements
University of Leeds | Leeds
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UCAS Points: 144

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the 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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