Program Overview

---

BA French and Chinese

Overview

Course overview

Perfect your expertise in two languages and extend your knowledge of a wide range of countries and cultures. Spend your third year studying or working abroad in French and Chinese-speaking countries. Study at a university ranked 6th in the UK for Modern Languages (QS World University Rankings by subject 2024).

Entry requirements

A-level

• ABB including French and/or Chinese.
• You will be placed in the Advanced stream for your post A Level language(s) with a requirement of grade B or above and the Beginners stream if you have not studied the language before. Only one language can be studied at Beginners level.
• This programme is designed for students whose level of Mandarin Chinese at entry ranges from complete beginner to approximately A Level standard. It is not suitable for students whose first language is Chinese.

A-level contextual offer

• BBC including French or Chinese.

UK refugee/care-experienced offer

• BBC including French and/or Chinese.

International Baccalaureate

• 34 points overall. 6,5,5 in Higher Level subjects including French or Chinese.

GCSE/IGCSE

• Applicants must demonstrate a broad general education including acceptable levels of Literacy and Numeracy, equivalent to at least Grade 6 or B in GCSE/IGCSE English Language and 4 or C in Mathematics. GCSE/IGCSE English Literature will not be accepted in lieu of GCSE/IGCSE English Language.

Other entry requirements

• Other entry requirements exist for this course. You may view these by selecting from the list below.
  • Scottish requirements
  • Welsh Baccalaureate
  • Foundation year
  • Pearson BTEC qualifications
  • OCR Cambridge Technical qualifications
  • Access to HE Diploma
  • T Level
  • Extended Project Qualification (EPQ)

Fees and funding

Fees

• Fees for entry in 2026 have not yet been set. For entry in 2025 the tuition fees were £9,535 per annum for home students, and are expected to increase slightly for 2026 entry.

Policy on additional costs

• All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application.

Scholarships/sponsorships

• Residence abroad support
• Scholarships and Bursaries

Application and selection

How to apply

• Apply through UCAS

Advice to applicants

• Mitigating circumstances may be personal or family illness, other family circumstances, change of teachers during a course, problems with school facilities or an unusual curriculum followed by your school or college.

Home-schooled applicants

• If you are a student who has followed a non-standard educational route, e.g. you have been educated at home; your application will be considered against the standard entry criteria of the course for which you are applying.

Non-standard educational routes

• Mature students are some of our most well-equipped learners, bringing skills and attributes gained from work, family and other life experiences.

Returning to education

• We welcome applicants who are looking to return to study and value their contribution to the departmental culture and social life.

Deferrals

• Applications for deferred entry are considered equally to other applications up to the point of confirmation.

Policy for applicants who resit their qualifications

• If you have re-sat individual modules to improve your grades, we will consider your application according to the standard selection process.

Re-applications

• If you applied in the previous year and your application was not successful you may apply again.

Course details

Course description

• French
  • Over 70% of our staff are native speakers, teaching you in French language classes as well as most culture classes.
  • You will experience between 3 and 6 hours of French grammar and conversation every week (at post A-Level or beginners' level), in order to reach near-native precision and fluency.
• Chinese
  • You will study Mandarin Chinese throughout the course, enabling you to develop various linguistic skills such as speaking and writing accurately, understanding and analysing audio, video and written material, using different registers, speaking to a group with confidence, and translating with appropriate sensitivity.

Aims

• Provide a comprehensive grounding in French language, literature, culture, history and linguistics, enabling you to become proficient enough in French to live and work effectively in a French-speaking environment.
• Help you develop a firm grounding in Mandarin Chinese and contemporary Chinese culture, society, economy and politics, as well as China's changing relations with the West.

Special features

• Residence abroad
• Collaborations and partnerships
• Societies

Teaching and learning

• You will learn through a mixture of formal lectures, seminars and tutorials, spending approximately 12 hours a week in formal study sessions.
• For every hour of university study, you will be expected to complete a further 2-3 hours of independent study.

Coursework and assessment

• You will be assessed in various ways, including:
  • written and oral examinations;
  • presentations;
  • coursework (which may include library research, linguistic fieldwork and data collection, or web-based research);
  • in your final year, you may have the option to complete a dissertation based on a research topic of your choice.

Course content for year 1

• You will study 60 credits from each discipline.
• French
  • Year 1 equips you with a range of important skills such as linguistic expertise, the ability to read and analyse material, skills in presentation, group work and independent language learning.
  • Course units are broad-based at this level and cover 350 years of key French events, people, ideas and cultural production.
• Chinese
  • You will study the core unit Introduction to Chinese Studies, plus Chinese language.

Course content for year 2

• You may choose to study up to two-thirds from either discipline or maintain equal weighting.
• This year's core language course units develop those of the previous year and prepare you for the linguistic challenges of your year abroad, including dedicated sessions on writing CVs and cover letters for job applications in your chosen language(s).

Course content for year 3

• Your third year of study is spent abroad under approved conditions.

Course content for year 4

• You may choose to divide your studies equally between both languages or study up to two thirds from either language.
• You will continue with your core language course and choose additional units from a wide range of even more specialised course units, building on Year 2 study.

Facilities

• The University Language Centre is home to language resources, including a new interpreting suite, purpose-built recording rooms, and resources for more than 70 languages.

Disability support

• Practical support and advice for current students and applicants is available from the Disability Advisory and Support Service.

Careers

Career opportunities

• A degree in Modern Languages and Cultures paves the way for a broad range of careers. You'll develop intercultural awareness and enhanced communication skills - both highly valued by employers.
• You'll also acquire transferable expertise at the very heart of language learning, including enhanced powers of perception and interpretation and advanced decision-making and multitasking skills.

Employers

• Employers who have taken on graduates of our French courses in the past include KPMG, Deloitte, L'Oréal, BT, Louis Vuitton, Rothschild, Hilton Hotels, British Council, Teach First, Barclays and the BBC.
• Employers who have taken on graduates of our Chinese courses in the past include Nova (Kyoto), Berlitz, The University of Manchester, The Confucius Institute, Hamburg Sud, Skin SN, Dell, DISCO, Christian Dior Couture, JET and London LEA.

The University's Careers Service

• The University has its own dedicated Careers Service that you would have full access to as a student and for two years after you graduate.