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Discover the Year Abroad on our language undergraduate degrees

The Year Abroad is an exciting part of our language degrees. You'll spend time in Europe, or beyond, studying, doing a placement, or a combination of the two.

All our undergraduate courses with languages include a Year Abroad:

The Year Abroad takes place during your third year of study.

What can I do on my Year Abroad?

On the BA (Hons) International Politics and Modern Languages, and BA (Hons) Modern Languages, the Year Abroad options are:

  • a professional work placement
  • a study exchange or study placement
  • working as an English Language Assistant

It is possible to ‘mix and match’ both the activities and the countries they take place in, but if you study two languages, you must devote at least three months abroad to each language.

If you study the BSc (Hons) International Management and Modern Languages you will also have a Year Abroad, but with different options:

  • a professional work placement
  • an International Academic Exchange at another business school
  • a combination of the two

Choose your Year Abroad experience

During your Year Abroad, you can choose to take a work placement, study exchange or work as a language assistant. You can also choose a mix of these.

Work placements

A work placement is usually within a commercial business environment. The aim is to provide you with a professional experience that will be of value both during your studies and in your future career. This is a flexible option. You can mix and match longer and shorter work placements in different countries.

Our dedicated and experienced Placements Officer will support and guide you through the recruitment process to gain your placement. Students have been employed in a number of interesting roles for all or part of the year.

Previous destinations

  • American Chamber of Commerce to the EU (Belgium)
  • EURORDIS Rare Diseases Europe (France) (Spain)
  • HSBC (France)
  • PIE (France)
  • Cotton House Hotel (Spain)
  • Stay U-nique (Spain)
  • DMA Partners Design Consultancy S.L. (Spain)
  • Ernst Young (Germany)
  • Kern AG Global Translation Services (Germany)
  • Techo (Chile)
  • The Bubble (Argentina)
  • Butera 28 (Italy)
  • ABC Schools (Italy)

Study exchange

We have exchange agreements with a wide range of partner universities.

On a study exchange you can spend either one or two semesters in our partner universities in France, Germany, Italy or Spain, or further afield outside of Europe.

Our diverse range of exchange universities are located in capital cities, medium and small-sized towns, where you can experience studying in a very different university system. You will become fully integrated into your selected university, choose a number of appropriate units and undertake assessment in them.

We currently offer a separate exchange with Voronezh State University who provide study placements for students of Russian. Students of Spanish may also study in Santiago, Chile.

The study exchange programme is competitive. Places on the scheme are neither automatic nor guaranteed, but will be offered on the basis of your personal interests and academic performance.

Language assistantship

Teaching English as a Language Assistant in a school or college is also a popular and rewarding option. Applications are processed by the British Council. Experiences vary - you may find yourself in a large city or in a rural community, teaching English to small groups of children for around 12 hours a week.

It is also possible to be an assistant outside Europe and some of our students have found themselves, for example, in the exotic locations of La Reunion, Mexico and French Guyana. Assistantships differ in length from country to country but on average last nine months.

Find out more about our undergraduate language courses

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