Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Chinese and English Language

at University of Westminster - Regent Campus United Kingdom

Our Chinese and International Relations course focuses on questions of governance, democracy and human rights while training competent Chinese linguists ready to enter graduate employment.

You'll have the opportunity to study language, culture and international relations in an integrated way, exploring the connections between them and the broader geopolitical and cross-cultural contexts in which they are produced. You'll also gain the transferable and cognitive skills necessary for lifelong personal and professional development.

We place particular emphasis on employability and the contemporary cultural context and offer high-quality teaching in all language skills.

Top reasons to study with us

• Combine language skills with a knowledge of global affairs – develop your language skills against a backdrop of political and social understanding
• Learn Chinese in context – our authentic teaching, which focuses on language in a cultural context, equips you for real-life situations in the Chinese-speaking world
• Practise your language skills abroad – spend a year abroad perfecting your communication skills in a Chinese-speaking country
• Benefit from an expert teaching team – you'll learn from internationally recognised experts and benefit from the significant amount of contact time allocated to language learning on the course

This course enables you to develop a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of the international system and to relate this to contemporary developments in international relations. It provides a theoretical framework for understanding the distribution of power at the global, regional and national levels.

You'll focus particularly on the changing dynamics of international security and the challenges of state-building within contemporary international relations. This course is linked to the renowned Security and International Relations research programme in the Centre for the Study of Democracy. The Centre regularly invites high-profile speakers to our central London campus for seminars, public lectures and conferences to which you will be invited as a student.

With excellent links to employers, this course offers you the opportunity to advance your knowledge in an applied setting. You will also gain the transferable and cognitive skills necessary for lifelong personal and professional development.

Top reasons to study with us

• A global environment – we are ranked top 20 in the world for the percentage of international students (Times Higher Education World University rankings 2021)
• International experience - the course includes a year studying, working or volunteering abroad, helping students to develop international experience
• Expert speakers – The Centre for the Study of Democracy regularly invites high-profile speakers to our central London campus location for seminars, public lectures and conferences

We place particular emphasis on employability and the contemporary cultural context, and offer high-quality teaching in all language skills.

Our course offers you an opportunity to study the Chinese and English languages and cultures in an integrated interdisciplinary way, exploring the connections between them and the broader historical and cross-cultural contexts in which they are produced.

This course will enable you to achieve a good or high level of linguistic competence in Chinese in all four skill areas (reading, writing, listening and speaking), enhance your skills in using English, and develop linguistic and cultural knowledge and understanding.

Top reasons to study with us

• Integrated curriculum – develop your Chinese language skills alongside your cultural knowledge of the Chinese-speaking world
• Opportunities to undertake a year abroad in a Chinese-speaking country where you can practise your skills
• Individually focused academic support through our tutorial modules
• Opportunities to practise one-to-one conversation with a native speaker through the Languages Plus programme
• Study English language with world experts in language and gender, and the history of English

The English Language and Literature MA aims to allow you to explore the interconnections between language and literature. It will provide you with a thorough understanding of the linguistic features of English from a wide range of perspectives (theoretical and applied, synchronic and diachronic), as well as leading you to explore a wide array of texts in connection with the social, historical and political circumstances from which they emerge. Furthermore, the MA will equip you with the intellectual perspectives and the scholarly skills that will prepare you to conduct independent research.

The MA is suitable for students who have taken English language and/or literature modules at undergraduate level, and others who have taken allied disciplines such as TESOL. It is of particular interest to those wishing to pursue further study and those teaching English who wish to gain a further qualification and investigate recent and current developments in the field.

Our Arabic and Linguistics BA trains you to be a competent linguist ready to enter graduate employment.

Our degree offers the exciting combination of the study of Arabic language and culture alongside the wider study of the forms, structures and varieties of language itself.

You'll develop a high level of competence in oral and written communication in Arabic, proficiency in language transfer skills, and a thorough knowledge of Arabic culture. On graduation, you'll be able to thrive linguistically in diverse cultural situations.

You'll study an integrated curriculum with a focus on applied language skills and cultural studies, supported by a rigorous development of your foreign languages skills in all areas. We teach in an integrated interdisciplinary way, exploring the connections between language and culture and the broader historical and cross-cultural contexts in which they are produced. 

We place particular emphasis on employability and the contemporary cultural context, and offer high-quality teaching in all language skills.

The linguistics component of your combined degree will develop your understanding and knowledge of language to an advanced and sophisticated level, while fostering and enhancing your skills in using English.

This Creative Writing: Writing the City Masters course is the first to focus entirely on the city of London. It will allow you to explore the city as subject matter from a range of perspectives and across all genres. It will also give you a theoretical and practical platform from which to develop your understanding, and become part of the London writing scene.

Taught by professional writers and researchers, the course offers plenty of opportunities to network with other writers, agents, TV producers and performance poets. As part of the MA, you will be part of the team managing the Wells Street Journal, our student-led in-house magazine. You will be based in the University's headquarters building at 309 Regent Street, which means you will be writing about the city in the heart of London, with ready access to the capital's excellent academic, social and cultural opportunities, including the vibrant West End theatre scene.

Knowledge of corporate finance law is essential for lawyers, bankers and financiers who are keen to develop professional skills in corporate fundraising, deal structures and transactional management. This course offers an enhanced qualification for professionals working or planning to work in a technically demanding and dynamic global industry. It will appeal to both recent graduates and practitioners considering various fields of work, including law, investment banking, corporate finance, private equity, securities, investments, financial regulation, government agencies and international financial authorities.

You will focus on learning how the financial markets work, from the primary markets involving the issuance of equity, debt and derivatives, to the secondary markets involving trading and investments, as well as very large financial transactions in the international capital markets. Importantly, you will also learn how to take account of legal and regulatory risks facing financiers and bankers, and structure financial instruments to suit commercial priorities and social welfare policies.

The Cultural and Critical Studies MA is part of the Cultural and Literary Studies Suite, a cluster of four MAs that bring together academics, curators and practitioners who share a commitment to investigating modern and contemporary culture from aesthetic, critical, literary and experiential perspectives. You will share classes with students from the Art and Visual Culture MA, the English Literature: Modern and Contemporary Fictions MA and the Museum, Galleries and Contemporary Culture MA, joining a fruitful and intellectually rigorous environment designed to facilitate interdisciplinary thinking. As part of our Suite, you may also choose an option module from the other three MA programmes (what is referred to as an ‘elective’ module), a fantastic opportunity to explore a facet of culture outside of your chosen MA programme.

The Cultural and Critical Studies MA offers you the rare opportunity to study contemporary critical and cultural debates across a wide range of fields. Exploring a variety of different visual, textual and popular forms of culture, the course will particularly appeal to those with wide-ranging interests in the arts and humanities, as well as those interested in cutting-edge theoretical debates.

Our French and Linguistics BA trains you to be a competent linguist ready to enter graduate employment.

Our degree offers the exciting combination of the study of French language and culture alongside the wider study of the forms, structures and varieties of language itself.

You'll develop a high level of competence in oral and written communication in French, proficiency in language transfer skills, and a thorough knowledge of French culture. On graduation, you'll be able to thrive linguistically in diverse cultural situations.

You'll study an integrated curriculum with a focus on applied language skills and cultural studies, supported by a rigorous development of your foreign languages skills in all areas. We teach in an integrated interdisciplinary way, exploring the connections between language and culture and the broader historical and cross-cultural contexts in which they are produced. 

We place particular emphasis on employability and the contemporary cultural context, and offer high-quality teaching in all language skills.

The linguistics component of your combined degree will develop your understanding and knowledge of language to an advanced and sophisticated level, while fostering and enhancing your skills in using English.

The Specialised Translation MA prepares you for a career in the translation market. The course is open to native and non-native speakers of English, who combine English with any of the following languages: Chinese, French, German, Italian or Spanish. At the heart of the Specialised Translation MA lie our weekly practical translation classes between English and one of the languages listed above. Building on your existing language skills, you will learn how to research specialised subjects to produce, with and without the use of translation memory software tools, commercially viable translations of a broad range of specialised texts, applying insights drawn from linguistics and translation theory as well as from professional practice.

If you are studying the Specialised Translation MA with English and one other language, you will also attend modules that introduce you to audio-visual and computer-assisted translation, revision, editing, post-editing, quality assurance, and project management skills for translators. If you are a native speaker of English and would like to study translation with two of the above languages, you can choose to replace the Audio-visual and Computer-Assisted Translation and Quality Assurance and Project Management for Translators modules with two Specialised Translation modules in your second foreign language. You will also engage with a comprehensive programme of professional development activities and will further complement the knowledge and skills acquired on the core modules by choosing either Translation as Cultural Practice or International Organisations and Institutional Discourses as an option module. At the end of the course, you will submit an MA Translation Project or an MA Dissertation.