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Modern Languages and Comparative Literatures at Birkbeck, University of London - UCAS

Course options

2025 - 2026
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There are other course options available which may have a different vacancy status or entry requirements – view the full list of options

Course summary

Birkbeck’s MA Modern Languages and Comparative Literatures is a highly flexible course offering you the chance to explore the languages and cultures of the French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Spanish and Latin American worlds. It also gives you a thorough grounding in theoretical approaches to comparative literary and cultural studies. Why choose this course?

  • We will help you tailor a pathway through the course that reflects your interests, career ambitions and language knowledge.
  • You will be taught by a team of renowned academic experts who bring their research experience in cultural studies, comparative literature, visual culture, history and thought.
  • The flexible nature of this course means that you can take a broadly comparative pathway through the degree or instead focus on specific cultures.
What you will learn The core module provides you with frameworks for engaging with comparative literature and cultural theory. You will then choose option modules that explore the study of culture and the modern world across different cultures and texts, and specialise via one or more language strands focusing on specific cultural contexts. You can choose one language module at advanced level. This will incorporate academic writing workshops and allow you to enhance and perfect your language skills. You will develop your research and writing skills through a series of workshops, culminating in a dissertation or research project. How you will learn This course is available to study full- or part-time and offers you classes in the evening so you can balance your studies with other commitments. Our language-learning modules are offered on campus, but other modules may also be offered online. Our teaching on this course is mainly interactive and seminar-based, with small groups led by our expert teachers. Our research-skills workshops culminate in a mini-conference where you present your dissertation/research project to other students and staff. MRes The MRes is ideal if you wish to pursue a more research-oriented pathway through this course, as it offers you specialist training in research skills. You can opt to write your dissertation on a specific language-speaking area or areas and, if you also work with cultural artefacts in the original language/s, the title of your award will reflect this, e.g. MRes French Studies. Highlights
  • Our affiliated research centres, the Centre for French, Francophone and Comparative Studies and the Centre for Iberian and Latin American Visual Studies, and Birkbeck’s Eighteenth-Century Research Group, host workshops, lectures and conferences.
  • All teaching takes place in our central London location in Bloomsbury, a stone’s throw from research libraries and all the cultural richness that London has to offer by way of theatre, museums and galleries.
  • We are at the heart of London’s research library complex: the British Library, Senate House Library, SOAS and the Warburg Institute. We are surrounded by cultural institutes and centres such as the Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies, the Goethe Institute, Institut Français, Instituto Cervantes, and Japan House London.
  • The School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication offers a number of bursaries.
Careers and employability On successfully graduating from this course, you will have gained an array of important transferable skills, including:
  • a sophisticated use of written and spoken English
  • an advanced critical ability in the use of theoretical perspectives
  • enhanced intercultural awareness
  • facility and precision in the use of analytical tools
  • strong skills and initiative in collecting and organising complex materials and writing up clear, well-presented reports.
You will find graduates of this MA following career paths in international organisations or businesses, translating, teaching, research, journalism, publishing, law and the civil service.

Modules

For information about course structure and the modules you will be studying, please visit Birkbeck’s online prospectus.

Assessment method

modules on this course are mostly assessed via essays (2500-5000 words). You will also undertake a research project (8500 words) or dissertation (15,000 words). Modules focusing on language learning (French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese) are also assessed via short written exercises, quizzes, multiple-choice questionnaires, in-class tests (written, aural, listening) and a piece of advanced academic writing (3500 words) that connects to your research project.

How to apply

International applicants

If English is not your first language or you have not previously studied in English, our usual requirement is the equivalent of an International English Language Testing System (IELTS Academic Test) score of 6.5, with not less than 6.0 in each of the sub-tests. If you don't meet the minimum IELTS requirement, we offer pre-sessional English courses, foundation programmes and language support services to help you improve your English language skills and get your place at Birkbeck.

Entry requirements

A second-class honours degree (2:2 or above) in an arts or humanities subject from a UK university, or an equivalent international qualification. Applications are reviewed on their individual merits and your professional qualifications and/or relevant work experience will be taken into consideration positively. We actively support and encourage applications from mature learners.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees

England £11070 Year 1
Northern Ireland £11070 Year 1
Scotland £11070 Year 1
Wales £11070 Year 1
International £20340 Year 1

Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website .

Additional fee information

Students are charged a tuition fee in each year of their course. Tuition fees for students continuing on their course in following years may be subject to annual inflationary increases.
Modern Languages and Comparative Literatures at Birkbeck, University of London - UCAS