Master of Arts in Languages, Literatures, Cultures

at Durham University United Kingdom

Under the course, you must complete four compulsory modules, and choose from a range of optional modules. Modules will be delivered primarily through small group seminars. Attendance is mandatory for these seminars, which have been chosen as the primary means of delivering material to students due to the advanced nature of the course. Small group seminars encourage participation and the development of communications skills. They also allow you to benefit from close contact with the academics teaching on the course, many of which are also experienced practitioners and consultants in their respective fields of expertise.

The compulsory modules ensure that you develop an in-depth understanding of the fundamentals of international law and governance and become familiar with current debates in the field.

An important objective of the LLM in International Law and Governance course is to provide you with skills that will enable them to thoroughly analyse and interpret legal sources, literature, and cases, and to research and formulate an independent opinion on international legal questions. You will also learn to clearly present your findings both orally and in writing to international legal specialists, to participate actively in academic debate, and to apply this advanced academic knowledge in public international law in a professional context.

As such, an LLM in International Law and Governance will provide you with an excellent foundation to pursue an international law career, whether it is in legal practice, employment in international institutions, or employment in non-governmental organisations. The LLM qualification will also be an excellent vehicle for the further development of research skills and, as such, also offers entry into further postgraduate study and, in particular, doctoral research.

From the philosophical foundations of schooling, to the political implications of policy, education is a vast field that has multiple avenues to approach a seemingly straightforward subject. Our degree goes far beyond any classroom and considers education, people and their relationship to the ever-changing world.

The breadth of our modules allows for the creation of pathways through the course. This may be linked to one of the degree's four strands of educational expertise: pragmatic; sociological-philosophical; psychological; and international-intercultural education. You will also study modules in the Department of Psychology.

The first year of the History degree offers you the opportunity to study a range of periods and approaches to history. Many of the modules cover quite large topics or long periods; these are intended to introduce you to subjects which may be unfamiliar and which pose new questions and new problems, showing you how wide the study of history really is.

You will take ‘Making History’ which will enable you to develop more advanced study skills through working in a small, intensive seminar. These require extensive reading, discussion, and writing about problems of historical interpretation in a defined area, and will focus on both primary and secondary sources. The module is divided into different strands from which you will make your choice.

In addition, you will choose four further modules from a list of approximately 12. You must choose at least one Medieval, one Early Modern, and one Late Modern module. Typically, you will have one weekly lecture and a small-group seminar every two or three weeks. For the seminar, you will be given reading to do in advance, and on the basis of this you and the other students in your group will discuss particular issues. Students are expected to lead the discussion in seminars. Most modules are assessed by coursework essays and by a two-hour examination in May/June, in which you write answers to two essay-style questions.

The modules on offer change each year, as they reflect the research interests of staff; we cannot guarantee in advance that a particular module will be running in any particular year.

The MA in Languages, Literatures and Cultures at Durham University is an exciting, unique and dynamic course that invites you to engage critically with literatures emerging from diverse literary and cultural contexts from around the world. The course has a broad global reach and draws together a wealth of expertise in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Italian, Hispanic and Russian Studies.

This global approach to languages, literatures and cultures presents a distinct opportunity for students who wish to pursue a degree in world literatures and comparative studies with a firm emphasis on working on materials in their original language(s), with due attention to the local, national and regional contexts in which they originate.

Whether working with text in one, or several non-English languages, the course invites students to think within an international context, to cross borders, disciplines and canons, to reflect on questions of cultural transmission and exchange in literature, as well as to explore literary interactions with wider intellectual and cultural phenomena, such as translation, philosophy and visual culture.

Earth Sciences is a four-year Master's degree course that has been designed to provide a comprehensive and rigorous education in all aspects of Earth Sciences with the opportunity to interact with staff at the cutting-edge of scientific research. It provides you with the opportunity to follow the Geology or Environmental Geosciences or Geophysics with Geology or Geoscience for the first three years and undertake a detailed independent research project in the area of your choice in the fourth year.

The MSci Earth Sciences course incorporates a substantial amount of independent (and group) project work which will involve you in high-level quantitative investigations, in addition to advanced key skills training.

If you have been accepted on the BSc degree course you can choose to transfer to the four-year MSci degree in Earth Sciences at the end of your second year. This will depend on your progress in the first two years.

The three-year BSc Mathematics course gives you the opportunity to study a wide range of mathematics topics, with a particularly large choice of modules in your final year. It will prepare you for many graduate jobs as well as for further study including the PGCE and many MSc courses in mathematics or related subjects.

Our degree covers pure, applied, statistics and probability. You will cover the background to all areas in the first year, while in the second year you can begin to specialise if you want, allowing you to choose to fully specialise in one area, or to choose a broader range of modules in the third year. In your final year, you will develop your research and communication skills in the module Project III.

The study of philosophy at Durham does not follow one particular school. The Department is unique in the UK in its wide-ranging expertise in anglo-american analytical philosophy and continental philosophy. Each of these has its own distinctive set of issues and approaches to resolving them. We also have special expertise in the philosophy of science, and social science, and the history of science and medicine. So at Durham, you will follow one of the widest-ranging philosophy degrees in the country.

At Durham, you will have the opportunity to study Philosophy as a Single Honours degree, or with another subject including: English, Music, Psychology, Politics or Theology. Philosophy can also be combined in a Joint Honours degree within the Natural Sciences course or as part of a Combined Honours degree.

Philosophy is a new subject for many students, so in your first year you will follow a range of introductory courses, introducing the fundamental philosophical subject areas.

This course critically addresses a range of key issues and debates relating to crime and the criminal justice system. You will have the opportunity to develop an in-depth understanding of crime, deviance and criminal justice from critical, theoretical, policy, legal, political and practical perspectives and will address issues of historical and contemporary concern such as terrorism, sex work, legal and illegal drugs, crime in the night-time economy, forced migration, gender and crime, domestic violence, crime prevention, prison and punishment, policing, youth crime and justice, law enforcement and the use of new technologies. You will also study issues of theoretical and social importance with lecturers who are international experts in their fields.

Single Honours in English Studies offers a comprehensive syllabus, which combines traditional areas of literary study with new and developing areas of the discipline. It aims to develop your conceptual abilities and analytical skills by exposing you to a variety of literary critical approaches, to promote and develop clarity and persuasiveness in argument and expression, and to enable you to develop, to a high degree of competence, a range of skills which are subject-specific and transferable. A degree in English Studies will equip you for a wide variety of professions and employment, as well as for advanced postgraduate study of English and related disciplines.

Our specialist BSc Finance degree places considerable emphasis on the key quantitative and analytical skills needed to pursue a career in finance and financial markets. The degree prepares you for a career in the financial environment by providing a technical curriculum to strengthen the link between academia and practice. The BSc Finance enables you to acquire a critical understanding of theories, empirical evidence and practical application whilst maintaining a rigorous academic underpinning. In particular, you will learn about corporate finance, investments, financial institutions and the vast array of sophisticated financial products traded in today’s global financial markets. Furthermore, you will develop the quantitative techniques needed to analyse, in depth, financial data and financial securities.