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University of Portsmouth

UCAS Code: LR30 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)

Entry requirements

32 tariff points at A level.

Pass the Access to HE Diploma.

Cambridge Pre-U to include a Principal Subject at M3.

GCSE/National 4/National 5

GCSE English and mathematics at grade E/2 or above.

24 points from the IB Diploma.

32 points to include a Higher Level subject.

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

PP

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

M

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

PPP

32 tariff points.

T Level

Pass (D or E)

UCAS Tariff

32

32 tariff points at A level, or equivalent.

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

About this course

Course option

4years

Full-time | 2025

Subjects

Modern languages

International relations

With this foundation year course, you'll gain all the credentials you need to begin your career in international relations and languages. It's ideal for you if you don't yet meet the entry requirements of our undergraduate degree, if you're returning to study after a break away, or you need a bit of extra support to get uni-ready.

You'll spend a year studying with us on campus, through ICP. You'll get the knowledge and academic skills needed to take on a bachelor's degree, learning how to analyse information, do research, and improve your academic writing.

The skills you'll learn will help you work in teams as well as on your own in culturally diverse workplaces. You'll develop your understanding of new workplaces and environments, and how to adapt to new environments.

After your foundation year, you'll be ready to move onto the first year of BA (Hons) International Relations and Languages.

A guaranteed place*
Once you’ve successfully completed your foundation year, you'll be ready to progress onto BA (Hons) International Relations and Languages with a guaranteed place.

**Course highlights**
- ICP is based on the University of Portsmouth campus so you'll have access to all facilities, support and societies

- When you finish your foundation year successfully, you get a guaranteed place on BA (Hons) International Relations and Languages

- Get used to how lectures, seminars and tutorials work, so you can move onto your degree ready for success

- Learn how to meet the demands of taking on a bachelor's at university

**Careers and opportunities**
When you complete this foundation year, you'll be all set to continue on to our BA (Hons) International Relations and Languages. The language skills you’ll gain can open up a world of opportunities: they’ll help you to work globally, and open up job opportunities across borders and cultures.

With technology continuing to develop at a frantic pace, there’s also an ever-increasing demand for graduates with the knowledge required to ensure new developments are ethical.

The analytical skills you’ll develop are in demand, too – your ability to understand complex issues and find solutions to them means that roles across government agencies, NGOs, charities, think tanks and international organisations are all within your reach.

When you finish the course, our Careers and Employability service can help you find a job that puts your skills and cultural experience to work.

What can you do with an International Relations and Languages degree?

Graduates from this degree have gone on to careers in the following sectors:
- local and central government

- embassies

- non-governmental organisations (NGOs)

- security services

- international organisations, like the United Nations (UN)

- international charities like Amnesty International or the Red Cross

- policy research and think tanks

- media and international business consultancy

- political risk analysis

- public relations

- voluntary organisations

- management

- banking and financial services

- tourism

What jobs can you do with an International Relations and Languages degree?

Recent graduates have gone on to roles including:
- bilingual consultant

- multilingual project coordinator

- translator

- political researcher, Houses of Parliament

- civil servant, the Cabinet Office

- senior policy advisor, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

- communications officer, House of Commons

- local government administrator, Government of Jersey

- public affairs consultant

- social researcher

- information officer

- conference producer

After you leave the University, you can get help, advice and support for up to 5 years from our Careers and Employability service as you advance in your career.

Modules

**Foundation year**
In your foundation year, you'll gain the knowledge you need to move on to the first year of BA (Hons) International Relations and Languages. It will bridge the gap to uni, with the knowledge and academic skills you'll need to start.

Throughout the year, you'll learn to critically engage with information, undertake literature reviews, enhance your academic writing, and gain awareness of different types of research.

When you successfully complete this year, you'll get a guaranteed place on the first year of the BA (Hons) International Relations and Languages.

Assessment methods

You'll be assessed in a number of ways on your foundation year, including:

- assignments
- oral presentations
- exams
- lab reports
- portfolio
- court reports

Typically, you can expect to have two assessments per module.

Tuition fees

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

Channel Islands
£5,760
per year
England
£5,760
per year
Northern Ireland
£5,760
per year
Republic of Ireland
£5,760
per year
Scotland
£5,760
per year
Wales
£5,760
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 the overall teaching satisfaction score here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

88%
Modern languages
86%
International relations

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.

Others in language and area studies

Teaching and learning

84%
Staff make the subject interesting
100%
Staff are good at explaining things
81%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
66%
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

74%
Library resources
92%
IT resources
82%
Course specific equipment and facilities
64%
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?

64%
UK students
36%
International students
27%
Male students
73%
Female students
82%
2:1 or above
17%
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?

67%
UK students
33%
International students
46%
Male students
54%
Female students
75%
2:1 or above
12%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
C
B

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.

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.

£23,000
low
Average annual salary
95%
high
Employed or in further education
55%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

30%
Teaching and educational professionals
18%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals
10%
Business, finance and related associate professionals

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.

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.

£25,500
med
Average annual salary
90%
high
Employed or in further education
58%
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.

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.

£20k

£20k

£24k

£24k

£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.

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

£26k

£26k

£31k

£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.

This is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Course location and department:

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

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.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

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.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

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.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

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.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

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

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

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?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here