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Full Time: 4 Years
With this BA Spanish and English Literature course you can combine your study of English literature with learning the Spanish language and exploring the cultures in which it is central.
Join our friendly and dynamic Department of Languages and Cultures, which offers the opportunity to study in a lively, multilingual community with staff and students from all over the world. We offer a flexible and supportive approach to learning which allows you to tailor your degree to your interests, including the opportunity to learn other languages.
Through this course you will become confident and highly skilled in written and spoken Spanish. You will master the fundamental elements of the language, to the point where you will graduate with a near-native command of it. Direct access to expert staff for help and feedback ensures you develop your language skills to the best of your ability.
In Spanish, you will learn the language in the political, social and cultural contexts of the countries in which it is spoken. You can study a wide range of optional modules in Spanish and Latin American culture, history, literature, politics and film with staff who are internationally recognised experts. These include comprehensive first-year modules including Icons of Spain and Latin America and Introduction to Spanish and Latin American Culture; second-year narratives including Literature and Society in the Modern Hispanic World and Culture and Revolution in Modern Latin America; and final-year modules including Memory, Dictatorship and Cultural Resistance in the Southern Cone, Writers and Publishers in Spain and Testimonial Writing from Modern Latin America.
In your English Literature modules, you will read more of authors and genres that you already know (from tragedy to Gothic, from Shakespeare and Dickens to Plath and Beckett). But you will also encounter aspects of literary studies that may be less familiar to you, from children’s literature to publishing studies and the history of the book. Our academics have published research on everything from medieval poetry to contemporary Caribbean and American fiction. As you progress through your degree, your module choices become more diverse and specialised: you can do archive work on Studying Manuscripts, or look at the politics of literature in Class Matters. Everyone in our Department, from new lecturers to professors, teaches at every level of the degree: this gives you the benefit of our expertise and makes you part of the conversation about our research and its impact outside the classroom. We place a strong emphasis on small-group learning within a friendly and supportive environment. In your first and second years, you will have a mix of lectures (which can be quite large) and seminars (which will never have more than 16 people).
An integral part of the degree is the opportunity for you to spend up to a year in a Spanish-speaking country, either studying at a partner institution through the Erasmus+ programme, undertaking a work placement or working as a British Council language teaching assistant. It enables you to directly immerse yourself in the culture and develop your language to a near-native level. The core language module in the second year will prepare you for your time abroad, equipping you with the skills and knowledge required to work and live in a different culture.
Typical offer A Level BBB | IB 30 pts overall
What will you study?
How much will it cost?
New UK/EU students: £9,250* per year
New international students: £17,320 per year
* UK and EU fee changes
UK undergraduate fees are regulated by the government. These fees are subject to parliamentary approval and any decision on raising the tuition fees cap for new UK and EU** students would require the formal approval of both Houses of Parliament before it becomes law.
From 2020, the UK government may link tuition fees to the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).
**EU students
For more information on fees, loans and grants for EU students, see fees and funding for home/EU students.
Additional costs
These course fees cover the cost of your tuition. Some courses will require additional payments for field trips and extra resources. You will also need to budget for your accommodation and living costs. See our information on living costs for more details.
Financial support for your studies
You may be eligible for a scholarship or bursary to help pay for your study. Students from the UK and other EU countries may also be eligible for a student loan to help cover these costs. See our fees and funding information for more information on what's available.
* UK and EU Fee Changes
Subject to the Government passing legislation to raise the minimum fee cap, we will raise undergraduate tuition fees from £9,000 to £9,250 for new UK/EU students applying to start courses in the 2017/18 academic year. You will not be affected by this rise if you have deferred entry to the 2017/18 academic year. The Government will confirm future arrangements for EU students in due course.
The tuition fee will remain £9,000 per year for the full duration of this course if you start in the 2016/17 academic year or have accepted an offer but deferred your entry until the 2017/18 academic year. This is unlike other institutions who are planning to raise fees midway through courses.
For further information, please see our webpage on the Teaching Excellence Framework and future tuition fees.
Additional costs
These course fees cover the cost of your tuition. Some courses will require additional payments for field trips and extra resources. You will also need to budget for your accommodation and living costs. See our information on living costs for more details.
Financial support for your studies
You may be eligible for a scholarship or bursary to help pay for your study. Students from the UK and other EU countries may also be eligible for a student loan to help cover these costs. See our fees and funding information for more information on what's available.
What career can you have?
By the time you graduate, you will be able to write and speak fluently in Spanish – an immensely useful skill to have given that there is currently a great shortage of well-qualified linguists in the UK. The experience of studying or working abroad also distinguishes you from non-language graduates, providing evidence of self-reliance, adaptability and enterprise. You will also develop strong transferable skills in oral communication, research and writing, together with a high level of cultural literacy and critical sophistication.
Overall, 94% of graduates from the Department of Languages and Cultures were in work or further study within six months of graduating (DLHE survey, 2016/17 - this data is for the department as a whole.)