Submitted by Administrator on Wed, 16/03/2016 - 09:17
The University of Cambridge has launched a new joint undergraduate degree course for 2017 in History and Modern Languages, together with two other new courses – one a joint degree in History and Politics and the other a new single-honours course in Archaeology.
The University of Cambridge has launched a new joint undergraduate degree course for 2017 in History and Modern Languages, together with two other new courses – one a joint degree in History and Politics and the other a new single-honours course in Archaeology.
The new courses have been introduced to meet growing demand in these subject areas from prospective students, and will offer a range of new educational opportunities to undergraduates. Typical offers for all three courses will require A*AA at A-level.
Cambridge has world-leading teaching and research in Modern Languages, and is at the forefront of research and policy in this area. Combined with the University’s excellence in History and Politics, the new joint courses will give students a broad and rigorous academic experience that will equip them for future postgraduate study, or careers in fields as diverse as business, politics, charitable work, teaching and more.
The new joint courses will allow students to study two complementary subjects together at degree level, and to engage critically and intellectually with the connections between them.
The first year of the course will introduce students to the fundamental materials and concepts of both disciplines. The second year will extend this core knowledge while further integrating the two subjects, and the final year will allow for specialisation within the disciplines, while encouraging students to draw and reflect on their knowledge of both.
In the new joint History and Modern Languages degree, students will graduate with near native-speaker skills in one modern language, and with a deep cultural knowledge and understanding of the area in which that language is spoken. They will also acquire wide-ranging knowledge of European and global history, being able to specialise in the history of ideas, history of culture or political, social and economic history.
For the 2017 entry, the language options available to students will be French, German and Spanish (post A-level) and Russian (either post A-level or for beginners). It is hoped that the range of language combinations will be extended in forthcoming years.
In the third year of the course, students will take a year abroad to fully immerse themselves in the language, culture and politics of their chosen language area.
“The new joint degree in History and Modern Languages combines the best elements of each course”, said Joachim Whaley, Professor of German History and Thought at the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages. “Students have the chance to become fluent in speaking and writing a modern language and to study the culture of the regions in which it is spoken, and to get a first-rate training in historical methods as well as knowledge of key periods in European and world history and the history of ideas”.
Graduates from this course will be well-equipped to appeal to a broad range of potential employers, as the possession of advanced language skills and experience of living abroad are in high demand as transferrable skills in many fields. Students on this course will also be well qualified to undertake further study, at Cambridge or elsewhere, in either History or Languages.
Chris Young, Deputy Head of the School of Arts and Humanities and Professor of Modern and Medieval German Studies, said: “Cambridge boasts world-class expertise in each of the disciplines offered in the new courses, and their combination in new pairings will open up distinctive pathways for future undergraduates that will equip them well for postgraduate study or careers beyond the academy”.
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