Is the year abroad compulsory for MFL degree

[1y7]

I know that might seem like a daft question but bear with me ...

DD is in 1st year of a joint honours degree. French plus a non language subject.

The university has said that they don't know what funding will be available for the year abroad.

I saw a post on here which said Pippa Middleton wasn't allowed to do her year abroad whilst at Edinburgh because her marks weren’t good enough Now I know that MN isn't the best source for info on the Middletons but it did make me wonder:

Is the year abroad compulsory?
Is it dependent upon getting to a level of language proficiency before hand?

It was for my joint honours MFL and non MFL subject 10 years ago.

You'd need to read the specific uni regulations for the answer. At my institution the year abroad isn't compulsory, but obvs strongly encouraged.

Presumably they're still waiting to find out how much Turing funds they'll get?

DD is studying joint honours with a modern language and another subject. She did her year abroad in Mexico. Unlike Edinburgh the year abroad didn’t carry credit so her degree is a year longer than other humanities. She got some funding through Turing and was at a university with a reciprocal scheme so no fees (if I recall correctly). She went during Covid so was lucky to have chosen Mexico since it didn’t have travel restrictions. I think it was compulsory, it certainly had a huge positive impact on her language skills and Independence.

I think it is optional in at least some universities. You would have to check the course information for the relevant university. I think you normally choose when you initially for the course - with or without year abroad.

If anyone is going to teach a foreign language, they really should spend at least 1 year in the target language. I do hope this is compulsory.

I think it might depend on the university. I did a joint honours language and other subjects ject degree and had to do a year abroad.

My daughter is studying a languages UG degree outside of UK, but reported when home at Xmas, that her friend at Edinburgh expressed concern that her year abroad for her JH language was at risk if she didn’t pass exams well enough post Xmas.

Anecdotal and not first hand feedback, but I don’t think your question is stupid.

When I did my year abroad (in France), I had to pass an entrance exam in the UK before I was allowed to apply and after arriving in France I had to pass another exam before I was allowed to start my course there. This was for Sciences-Po in Paris who are notoriously tough to get into though.

I assume if I hadn't passed my entrance exam in the UK, my uni would have suggested I try other French universities which had lower entry requirements (some of my peers doing didn't have take any exams/tests other than just passing their 2nd year uni exams).

Thanks for replies.

Looked at Uni website and it appears year abroad is mandatory. I'd wondered if post Erasmus they would make it optional as funding could be problematic.

Oh well!

The university I used to work had a policy that the year abroad for language students was compulsory unless there were approved mitigating circumstances (e.g we had a student who was also a parent, so couldn’t really move abroad with their child). In these cases the students would be moved off their French degree (for example) onto a general “Cultural Studies” degree which didn’t require a year abroad in order to graduate.

If remember correctly, financial reasons would not be an approved mitigating circumstances as the rationale was that students would know for several years beforehand that their course had year 3 abroad included, so they would have the first two years of their degree to get a part time job/save up etc. Not sure if the cost of living crisis would have changed this approach.

My dd is year 3 of her joint honours degree (French and English lit), and is working as a paid language assistant in a French secondary school. she left it to late to apply for any funding grr but is being paid so is fine .

Edinburgh prioritise those taking mfl degrees and who are financially or socially disadvantaged for funding. However you do need good grades in first two years too.

It is compulsory at the university DD went to. During covid a couple of her friends had to defer a year in the middle of their degree course because they couldn't go abroad. It will have taken them 5 years to complete their degree.

For other courses most universities will only allow the most academically able to have a year abroad.

My son went recently, there was no Turing funding available and it was a great experience but hugely expensive.

My DD is doing joint honours MFL as is my DN - at two different universities, both first years so just beginning to think about it but early days. At both universities the year abroad is definitely compulsory and at Edinburgh you need to collect 120 credits. The DC at Edinburgh said your first year results affect which university you go to as Edinburgh rank your exam results then top performers get first dibs.

You still get your student loan and the home fees are much reduced. Unis tend to have reciprocal fees with a few unis and this gives free fees which means these unis tend to more popular. Turing scheme is less nous than Erasmus so some unis are rightly targeting their allocation to this students with less family financial support.

One way around this is to choose a city where accommodation is cheaper. So Marseille rather than Paris would be an example of how to reduce costs.

She also may not have to do a university placement abroad btw. My friends in Paris did a mix of university (Erasmus) or TEFL either in schools or in businesses. So she may be able to make some money during her year out. I did Erasmus and lived in the 5e arrondissement of Paris so was extremely broke, but it didn't need to be that way!

B2 minimum for French 3 years ago when DD applied.

DD said Edinburgh really good at helping out poorer students. However if bank of mum of dad not willing to shell out £££ then some unis (Science Po Paris) out of reach for most.

When did your friends do this? Now, unless she has an EU passport, working is nigh on impossible thanks to Brexit. DS currently on his year abroad and not allowed to work in Germany, he has had to do a uni placement - and frankly getting the student visa for that was hard enough.

@1y7 My DD did joint honours MFL. The year abroad was compulsory and it gained credits. I don’t see how a decent MFL degree could miss this out. It’s vital for all sorts of reasons. Obviously Brexit has been a disaster and for many, Turing is needs based and now others fund the year far more than before. We are such a stupid country! . Obviously Erasmus was far superior!

The year abroad is very very valuable. It’s all about growing up, learning a greater depth of language and engaging in the culture of where you go. DD had to choose a topic for each language and research it based on her experience whilst abroad. It counted. For the best degrees, it really should. Improvement at the language was needed for y4 and for ab initio I would have thought it would be very important.

She had to compete against others to get to both her unis abroad. She had to write an application. I’ve no idea if anyone didn’t go. I doubt it. She chose unis based on world ranking. Clearly some unis were over subscribed and popular. One was brilliant but the other suffered from the culture of the country with world ranking going down. The best public uni in the country though. The city and travel opportunities were amazing though.

I would always try and encourage dc to go. It’s often the best experience and gives dc so many more skills than the language immersion.

Hi

My DD is mid way through an MFL degree. The year abroad is compulsory for her, but many, many students work (and get paid) rather than studying at an overseas university. She is currently applying for a teaching assistant job where she will get accommodation and enough pay to cover her basic needs while there. Some students use the year to gain valuable work experience in whatever than plan to do post uni.

So finance should not be a barrier to the year abroad. Oh, and it’s unlikely it needs to be a full year, there will be a minimum number of months that need to be done.

What options are there for the year abroad? At my uni one of our options was to work as an English Language Assistant, being paid a few hundred euros a month. That combined with some savings (e.g. from summer jobs) would see you through the year with little issue.

Here's a link to the English Language Assistants programme. Still possible in some EU countries post-brexit as well as further afield
https://www.britishcouncil.org/study-work-abroad/outside-uk/english-language-assistants

When I applied many years ago most unis said it was compulsory, for a few it wasn't.

I worked as a language assistant in a secondary school abroad, instead of going to uni. Meant I pretty much broke even. (I did joint honours 2 languages so also spent a term in a different country at a language school).

Agree with PP. The experience was incredible. Both for independence and language immersion. And getting to know the country.

The 18 months I spent abroad mid degree (2 countries, 4 different towns) totally changed my life and through talking to friends I made during that time, I constructed my career path. After uni I moved abroad, did a masters and have lived abroad ever since.

I did 18 months from choice. Uni required 3 months in 1 country and 9 months in the other.

Again I think it varies by uni @rainbowxlight . My DD’s uni, or for her course specifically, she will be completing a semester each in 2 different countries at partner unis that enables them to continue learning both languages, alongside the other modules. Teaching will be in both English and native.

But most UK models seem to have the flexibility that PPs have highlighted.