Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in International Relations and Development

at University of Westminster - Regent Campus United Kingdom

History remains among the most fascinating and best-loved of the arts and social science disciplines. This is an exceptional degree which makes the most of our unique West End location.

Our course is modern, with a focus on British and European history, but there are many opportunities to study American, imperial and global history as well. A distinctive element of the degree is its focus on the extraordinary history of London.

You’ll explore the streets of the capital, learn how to conduct your own research in London’s unique archives, and graduate as a well-trained and experienced historian, ready to launch yourself into the world of work in careers such as the media, education, law and the Civil Service – or into further study or research.

You’ll also gain the transferable and cognitive skills necessary for lifelong personal and professional development.

Research underpins much of our teaching, and we encourage you into a community of scholars, through teaching which will enthuse and inspire you.

Our Creative Writing and English Literature BA combines the study of literary and non-literary texts in English with the development of your own creative writing skills.

The study of texts and their background in the history of ideas informs your progress as a writer, while your experience of writing in a variety of genres (the novel, the short story, poetry and drama) enhances your appreciation of literature.

This course will be of particular interest to those who wish to write or develop their reading with the experience that comes from writing literary texts. You’ll gain the knowledge and understanding necessary to begin a career in freelance writing, publishing, theatre, or teaching literature and creative writing. The course will also equip you with the transferable and cognitive skills necessary for lifelong personal and professional development.

Top reasons to study with us

• Fantastic location for the creative industries – London has unrivalled access to publishing houses, film production companies, theatre and poetry networks, and other literary opportunities
• Writer-led workshops – all of our creative writing tutors are either practising poets, dramatists or novelists
• Subject-leading researchers – our English Literature staff are leading experts in their fields, producing internationally recognised research that they bring straight back into the classroom
• Gain valuable industry contacts – you’ll have the opportunity to make writing contacts through our talented creative writing tutors, our expert guest speakers and our industry links
• Get experience before graduating – you’ll have the option to do a work placement as part of this course
• Opportunities to gain international experience – our students enjoy regular field trips and amazing opportunities to travel, work and study abroad

Our Arabic and International Business BA will help you develop the skills and knowledge you'll need to succeed in the internationalised business world.

In today's global economy, language skills are of significant value to prospective employers when combined with business expertise. This combination can greatly enhance your career opportunities.

On our course, you'll have the opportunity to study Arabic language, culture and international business in an integrated way, exploring the relationships between these elements and the broader economic, financial and cross-cultural contexts in which they are produced.

Our comprehensive language training places strong emphasis on the use of language in a professional environment, while our business modules will allow you to gain a solid understanding of international business – a combination that will enable you to gain the real-world skills required to progress to a rewarding career.

The training you'll receive in cross-cultural communication will equip you with the flexibility, adaptability and creativity required in global interactions.

You'll also have the opportunity to benefit from experiencing life, culture and the world of work or study outside the UK by taking part in an optional year-long placement overseas. Study placements take place at a partner educational institution in a country where Arabic is the official language.

This course gives you the chance to study English literature in a modern university environment, while taking advantage of the wealth of resources offered by London's rich cultural life. You will examine literary texts in the wider context of cultural production and relate them to the social, historical and political circumstances from which they emerge.

The course team consists of academic specialists who make use of the many nearby museums, galleries and libraries in their teaching. The course will be of particular interest to those wishing to prepare for further study at MPhil or PhD level, and those teaching English who want to gain a further qualification and investigate recent and current developments in the field.

The English Literature: Modern and Contemporary Fictions MA at the University of Westminster is designed to offer a coherent programme of postgraduate study that allows for both chronological range and specific topical focus. It gives you the opportunity to revisit and reinvestigate the texts, critical practices, institutions and periods that make up the discipline in order to see it in new and exciting ways.

Our course provides you with the foundation subjects required to obtain a Qualifying Law Degree, along with an exciting and dynamic educational experience, which includes the opportunity to spend a year studying at one of our partner universities in France.

Law is an interesting and challenging discipline, which impacts at every level, from people's individual daily lives to the operations of Government on the international stage.

Increasingly, the international dimension to legal study has become more important, across a wide range of legal areas, as the influence of the European Union and international organisations have become so significant.

Our course enables you to gain invaluable experience of another legal culture while acquiring knowledge of its legal language and legal system. It will also equip you with the transferable and cognitive skills necessary for lifelong personal and professional development.

When you apply, you'll need to demonstrate a good working knowledge of French to ensure you're able to study in France. You'll spend the third year of your degree at a French partner university and study law in French.

Top reasons to study with us

• Gain international experience – You'll have the opportunity to live and study abroad with one of our French partner universities, gaining invaluable international experience and developing your French legal language as a part of your studies
• Practise in a real-world environment – As part of the course, you’ll have the opportunity to develop your legal skills at the Westminster Law School Legal Advice Clinic
• Expand your network – Introduce yourself to the legal profession by taking part in our Legal Skills Academy, attending employer-led workshops and visiting the London Law Fair
• Specialise in your area of interest – Alongside our core professional modules, you can specialise in Entertainment/Media Law, Commercial Law, International Law, Theory and Human Rights, Criminal Law and Justice, or Welfare Law
• Be inspired by our graduates – Many of our alumni are now student mentors and regular contributors to the Legal Skills Academy

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.

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.

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

This course will enable you to achieve a good or high level of linguistic competence in French in all four skill areas (reading, writing, listening and speaking), and a critical understanding of culture and politics from the perspective of the changing dynamics of the global political order. You will 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 will 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.

We accept students at two different entry points – beginner or intermediate. Please note that we may need to test you to determine your entry point.

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.

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

You'll have the opportunity to spend a full academic year abroad at a partner institution and/or, depending on your language level, an approved form of employment in a country where French is the official language. You can also study an elective module from across the University in each year.

On our Spanish and English Literature BA, you'll develop the skills you need to become a competent linguist, ready to enter graduate employment. Our course places particular emphasis on employability and the contemporary cultural context of language learning, offering high-quality teaching in all language skills and a thorough knowledge of the way language is used in real-life situations.

The course will develop your Spanish reading, writing, listening and speaking skills in a culturally aware style, allowing you 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 language skills in all areas.

In English Literature you'll have the opportunity to examine literary and non-literary works of all periods, from Shakespeare to the present day, taking in a wide range of authors and themes, with a full and balanced coverage of dramatic, poetic and prose works. You'll consider the wider historical and political contexts in which cultural and literary works have been produced and received, and relate the works both to intellectual history and to work in other arts and media, such as architecture and the visual arts. You'll also have the opportunity to consider the theoretical tools of textual, cultural and literary analysis in detail.

Top reasons to study with us

• Learn real-world language skills – our authentic teaching, which focuses on language in a cultural context, equips you for real-life situations in the Spanish-speaking world
• Study literature in the heart of London – discover a historic literary city with centuries of literature to uncover and explore
• Practise your language skills abroad – spend a year abroad perfecting your language skills in a Spanish-speaking country
• Academic support – individually focused academic support through our tutorial modules ensures you'll get the most out of your course

History and Politics are deeply complimentary disciplines: history (and the writing of history) is entrenched in politics and political frameworks, while contemporary politics and political institutions, organisations and movements can only be fully understood when examined in longer historical patterns. Combining these subjects equips you with the analytical tools to explore and understand societies, both past and present.

In our course, you'll explore the factors that have helped shape the modern world since 1789 – including war and revolution, nationalism and liberalism, democracy, socialism and fascism – from both the historical and political perspectives.

Based in the heart of London, you'll make the most of the city’s resources, interacting first-hand with your subject matter through field walks and visits.

Aside from learning the main themes, skills and approaches in both disciplines, you'll also be able to choose from a wide range of optional modules, which give you a truly global outlook: history lectures explore the modern histories of Europe, China, Africa, South-East Asia and America form British, European and international perspectives, while politics modules focus on Britain, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, Asia and America.

Ultimately, by completing a degree in History and Politics here, you have the opportunity to study two fundamental disciplines in one of the world’s oldest and most influential political capitals.

Research underpins much of our teaching, and we encourage you into a community of scholars through teaching that will enthuse and inspire you.

London is our campus, but as students of a joint degree you are also given the opportunity to travel to international destinations from Europe to Asia.