International relations + MFL. Ideas about where please

[Sanddancing]

So it has taken a while but year 13 DS has decided they would like to do an international relations degree, with French and would like to learn Arabic from scratch.

Recent decision so trying to get to grips with options for Univerisites.
So far looked at St Andrews and Durham but DS keen to look at options in bigger or livelier places.
Ds is looking A star, A A and taking English lit, history and French . He has completed an EPQ based on human rights legislation, speaks fluent Spanish and has GCSE Spanish, French and German at grade 9.
Grateful for any help and thoughts

Suggesting Durham, Edinburgh and St Andrews here. It was many moons ago when I went to Durham but the languages department is excellent and very flexible with what you can bolt on. I added linguistics and economics to a French degree and one of my friends did French and 2 other languages from scratch (Russian and one other I can't remember)

Then Birmingham is an excellent uni and a really lively vibrant city; offers IR with French. Offer is AAB.

DD graduated from that course (with a First) in 2023. Birmingham is certainly vibrant and lively.

Although Arabic isn't offered as a second language, that is 'IR with French and Arabic', it may be possible to take Arabic under the 'Languages for All' programme.

Free Language courses - University of Birmingham https://share.google/V27yVXxDhgrLu5MPh

DD looked at incorporating both French and Arabic into the Flexible Combined Honours at Exeter, but was put off by having to spend the whole year abroad in a de novo language country.

Just asked DD as was messaging her about her upcoming LLM graduation (she'll get a proper job eventually...), and unfortunately, she says that she tried to get onto the LFA programme at Birmingham to study Arabic, but huge numbers offered people apply and many - including her - are unsuccessful.

Lancaster has a major/minor system so you certainly can do international relations with a foreign language. You can also do solo MFL courses or "modern languages" where you study three languages.

Lancaster is also a great city for students. Very safe, very student focussed.

If you look at study for 2026-27 (searching French, say) the only course listed is languages and global cultures which is the one I mentioned. Unless I am being thick (certainly possible). So pretty sure there are no solo MFL courses. There are lots of courses listed for this year but it looks as tho the programme is being cut back. Which is a real shame.

We’ve been looking at Languages for All offerings at some of these unis. Durham’s disappointing in that it charges around £175-195 per set of nine sessions, and if their website is correct you can’t use the credits towards your degree if your degree is in any MFL. So if you are doing Arabic and Politics, apparently LFA credits for French aren’t available as they would be if you weren’t a linguist. Seems perverse.

Edinburgh’s LFA offering is free and credit-bearing, but doesn’t go above CEFR level B1 (my DD is already certified C1 and wants to build on that). The excellent Institut Français Ecosse in the middle of Edinburgh does have a great offering for Francophiles, at a cost.

Manchester - good, free, high-level, fosters links with the local Alliance Française branch.

Exeter probably the best at this. The flexibility to build in elective credits is built into their degrees, and if you do enough credits in a LFA language they will add it to your degree title as “with proficiency/ advanced proficiency in [language]”. There is also an Alliance Française branch in Exeter.

I’d start with where does Arabic and it’s not many places! IR is not particularly valued over History and History with MFLs is so much easier to find! It won’t stop him getting any IR type job.

That course is adaptable though. You study up to four languages from chinese, arabic, french german italian and spanish but you pick one core language out of all of those and then up to three other minor languages.

So they still offer all of those languages as a major. You can also combine with international relations.

I think they have made a major marketing error in that people will skim the list and think they cant do french or cant do arabic but that isn't the case. Its just called languages and global cultures.

So Lancaster does indeed offer a degree in International relations with french and beginners arabic.

Bath would get my vote

Interesting. Important to note, though, that for Arabic there is no option to progress beyond the beginners’ course, which aims to terminate at CEFR A2 level.

@Casparina That’s not Arabic at degree level and not high quality enough to work in that language. No year abroad in an Arabic speaking country either presumably. If DS wants Arabic at a high level (degree) look for Arabic and see what it can be combined with so DS is competitive when it comes to looking for work.

Agreed! Perhaps you didn’t mean to address this me as I am all for high-quality Arabic courses.

@Casparina Sorry! Didn’t read in sufficient depth.

Surely the key here is the Arabic degree. IR isn’t necessary for any job. It won’t ever be specified so any university offering politics or history would widen choices with Arabic. French is most widely offered but three subjects is a bit thin in my view. DS could just do the MFLs and take politics modules. Employers won’t mind.

No worries @OhDear111! Yes, the Arabic aspect of the degree is absolutely central for my DD and she is pretty forensic in sussing out which courses and institutions offer what she wants. But I am conscious that this thread is for @Sanddancing and her DS, and we don’t know how important learning Arabic is to him.

@OhDear111 did you used to post under @TizerorFizz by any chance?

@Casparina I was assuming he did want Arabic. If you study IR then MFLs are vital in my view. So he’s being sensible but it’s a case of looking at jobs. Does IR make any difference? MFL grads will be just as employable.

Interesting @user927464 I stand corrected. I agree tho Lancaster has made a mistake in marketing terms. For this year there is a huge list of MFL options. For next year, not so much. So can you still take all the options listed for this year under the 2026 course?

At the very least it looks as tho the uni is cutting back on MFL which would give me pause as a prospective student. If it isn't doing that, it would be wise to make it clearer.

I mentioned Lancaster on another thread re MFL ,(I think anyway) a d another poster flagged that it was stopping MFL.

Hi All

this has all been hugely useful to us and taken us forward in the hunt. Yes, Arabic is very important to the search, the drive is to learn a none European language from scratch, and this is the one that they are attracted to, over say mandarin or Russian at this point, and the access the language will give to cultural understanding

@Sanddancing In that case make sure Arabic is at full degree standard and there is the third year abroad option. Or he won’t get the cultural impact. See if the universities have partner universities in target countries.

@Sanddancing Edinburgh are offering Arabic taster sessions, as well as subject talks, at their open days this autumn.

I mentioned Lancaster on another thread re MFL ,(I think anyway) a d another poster flagged that it was stopping MFL.

Clary, I suspect that was me. I think Lancaster are still offering MFL but as you say they seem to be changing it to a system whereby they're not offering (many) joint MFL + other subject degrees, the MFL ones are purely language ones but studying up to 3 of them.

My DD has just started Ling + Spanish joint honours and she had to choose one other subject from a very long list including things like Maths for the first year. Looking at courses for 2026 Lancaster have abandoned the old mix and match system of old. You have to focus on the degree subject from the start.

Having said that the Lancaster Language and Global cultures course might suit the OP's child as it can apparently include basic Arabic and seems to cover a lot more than just learning the languages.

Although TBH Lancaster cannot be described as either big or overly lively!

It isn't the largest of universities but still has c20,000 students at Lancaster university plus all of the students at the University of Cumbria Lancaster campus. It is certainly lively at night if they want it. There are seven bars on campus and nightlife in the city is very student focussed. It's just that rather than them being very dispersed like they would be in a larger city, they are all in the same 20 or so venues. DC is there at the moment and hasn't been to bed before 4am yet this week..