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

Oh it's certainly big enough and lively enough for my DD who has just started there but it is a completely different experience to living in a big city. I think those who choose big cities (particularly those that aren't confined to a campus) don't necessarily want a city that is completely student focussed and possibly like the anonymity of a non- student population.

A friend's DS is in his 2nd year at Leeds and aside from lectures he's not really involved in Uni life, he and a couple of his mates tend to spend their free time either working, playing in their band or watching all sorts of live music around the city. He deliberately wanted the big city experience and everything it has to offer probably because he comes from a small market town.

By contrast my DD loves the feeling of safety on the Lancaster campus. She's embracing the Lancaster college bar culture (but staying up clubbing until 4 am would be her idea of hell!).

If the DS here wants bigger and livlier than it’s not really Lancaster. Arabic is the key here and at degree level, it’s not common. For me, IR is the big ? It’s much easier to find a MFL and history.
Lancaster is the darling uni of MN but my DDs went to city unis and did enjoy life away from uni life but also did uni based things too. It’s not one or the other. It’s perfectly safe in cities unless you insist on walking alone at night. Crime is everywhere. It’s not confined to cities.

I did IR a long time ago at Leeds - excellent course and we were expected to study a language each year. I did Arabic in the first year and Farsi in the second. It wasn’t named on the degree but all the languages were available.

@Plinketyplonks Unfortunately 1 year isn’t enough to work professionally in that language although a smattering and a cultural understanding is better than nothing. Leeds does offer MFL degree in Arabic and French. It also appears to offer IR and one MFL and it’s compulsory to spend the year abroad getting immersed in the language. So an option one might think.

Yes I know, what I meant was other people carried on into years two and three with the same language but I wanted to try Farsi so switched. But it def wasn’t a full time language so wheyher it would be enough, some people are so good at languages they can learn around it outside of the lessons. I suppose what you are looking for is a dual honours so IR + language? SOAS (where I also went!) used to be known for that so you could do eg Japanese studies and Tibetan.

@Plinketyplonks Few would get up to fully conversant speed for work outside of the degree. There’s no immersion which really matters. Doing 3 subjects as OP is talking about means something ends up being a bit less.

Both DD are doing a humanities subject + Arabic from scratch.

From memory, there are about 10 unis in the UK which offer Arabic. A number have been mentioned here (Edinburgh, Durham, Exeter, Leeds, Oxbridge). Also, SOAS, Warwick and Manchester.

One DD is at Edinburgh and loving it - is now on her 3rd year abroad in an Arabic speaking country. The other has just started at Durham and is doing her combo (which was strangely hard to achieve) under the Liberal Arts rubric.

I’m not sure there’s room in a degree for your son to do IR + French + Arabic de novo if he wants to have the full Arabic language experience.

I looked into this a lot for both daughters, especially younger DD. Arabic seems to take up more of the curriculum than other languages.

So, for example, my DD at Edinburgh only had room in her timetable for history + Arabic (she had been hoping to take some French language optional credits). She was unable to take any optional credits whereas the other history + MFL courses did have room for optional credits.

Similarly my younger DD is studying philosophy + Arabic – only 4 universities where she could’ve done this particular combination in the UK (Durham, Exeter, SOAS and St Andrew) whereas it is possible to do philosophy + other MFLs at a large number of universities.

I can’t remember if you’ve said that he’s looking at St Andrews but that may be a place where he could do all 3 subjects. It’s philosophy + Arabic degree is a 5-year degree with the year abroad. (That said, it’s very hard to get into - DD was predicted A star, A star, A and didn’t get an offer but her A prediction was in philosophy and i think that may have made a difference. She didn’t really mind as she wanted a 4-year degree, not 5).

Good luck - exciting times!

@Sanddancing Sorry, re-checked your OP and can see your DS has looked St A. I think that’s his best bet for keeping a bit of French going for the reasons explained in my post above.

Couple more things, OP, and then i’m done 😀. If your son does IR + Arabic at Edinburgh, he will likely have to spend his 3rd year abroad in Cairo. This is because - unless things suddenly change - he will continue to study IR during his 3rd year and will be based at American University of Cairo for this. This is not necessarily a problem of course but my elder DD only discovered this once she had started at Edinburgh (she had applied for French and Arabic and switched after A levels) and it was initially a bit of a disappointment because Egyptian Arabic is not the Arabic spoken by the Arab members of our extended family. But she quickly got used to the idea and is loving it so far.

Also bear in mind for Exeter (and possibly some other unis) that the Arabic language students actually go abroad in their second year rather than the third year and would not have been able to spend the year in an Atabiv speaking country. For my younger DD, this meant that while she could achieve philosophy and Arabic under Exeter’s flexible combined honours rubric, she would only have been allowed a year abroad in her third year. This would’ve worked with any other language but not with Arabic. She had really liked Exeter but this ruled it out for her.

Anyway, these are just things to bear in mind and may not be relevant as international relations plus Arabic is probably a more common combination which more universities accommodate.

Sorry – posting again despite saying I wouldn’t but my previous message got a bit messed up.

What I was trying to say was that at Exeter my younger DD would not have been able to spend her third year abroad in an Arabic-speaking country because the flexible combined honours rubric doesn’t offer that option (under that rubric you can only go abroad in your third and not your second year). But also as mentioned I think international relations plus Arabic is a more common combination and, if Exeter offers it in a joint honours format (rather than the student having to create that combo under the flexible combined honours format), it is probably built around a second year abroad.

@Dery at Exeter the relevant joint honours format is Arabic and Politics (the Politics having lots of flexibility and a good flavour of IR about it) and they go abroad to an Arabic speaking country in 2nd year with everyone else. You are absolutely right that it wouldn’t work to try and create Arabic and International Relations under Flexible Combined Honours at Exeter, because FCH people (linguists) go abroad in 3rd year and that’s out of step with the way Arabic is taught there. We too asked about this specifically earlier in the year and DD ruled out a FCH option accordingly.

@Dery me again - you mention IR + Arabic at Edinburgh which is a course we haven’t seen. DD looking at Politics & Arabic there. Are they the same thing, or have we missed a course?

Sorry @Dery <consults spreadsheet> we have Arabic & Politics with UCAS code TL62. I know you are a few years ahead of us 2026 people so of course things may have changed.

@Dery - another question if I may. I understand what you say about the reasons Edinburgh sends students to Cairo rather than, say, Jordan. But if a student wanted for family reasons to become fluent in Levantine rather than Egyptian Arabic, can they do that at the American University of Cairo? We have been told yes (I can’t now remember who by!), but I’d welcome any insight you may have on this.

Hi @Casparina - it may now be Arabic + politics at Edinburgh (indeed perhaps it always was; i’m speaking from memory of combinations studied by friends of elder DD). I have learnt from testing the possibility of Arabic + philosophy at Edinburgh is that Edinburgh only offers the courses which are named on the website.

We also had family reasons for DD wanting to learn Levantine Arabic but it’s not happening quite as we had in mind - but DD only discovered the AUC situation after starting at Edinburgh. So elder DD has been learning Modern Standard Arabic at Edinburgh and then, from 2nd year onwards, some Egyptian Arabic in addition to MSA in preparation for going to Cairo. She is finding that she’s still able to speak to her Levantine Arabic-speaking relatives in Arabic (not sure re which dialect) and is loving Cairo. But i will ask her whether there is an option to learn Levantine Arabic at AUC.

Thank you @Dery. There are so many nuances behind the headline titles of these courses that it’s incredibly helpful to benefit from the insights of those a few years ahead.

@Casparina - it really was quite a journey, so it’s great to share the information with someone for whom it might be useful!

Elder DD isn’t aware that it’s possible to do Levantine Arabic at AUC but she doesn’t rule it out so it’s probably best to ask Edinburgh or AUC directly.

I'm not claiming Lancaster is a heaving metropolis, simply saying that it's not true that there isn't a great social life to be had.

The reality is that if the OP's DS is wanting a top 20 university and wants to do IR with French and Arabic then there are going to be very limited choices and so something might have to give (and this might be the lively city given that the best options outside of London are probably St Andrews, Lancaster and Exeter all of which are very similar in terms of being small cities which are student dominated)

I know St Andrews is not an exciting city, but it should be possible to take all three subjects to degree level, and potentially split the third year between Paris (Sciences Po) and Cairo (American University), which are both quite exciting cities, and would mean it would be a four-year rather than five-year programme. The caveat as always is that places on the study abroad placements will also be competitive so there are no cast-iron guarantees.

I don’t think Lancaster offers Arabic.

I completely agree that options are quite limited and the priority is the degree course. Younger DD would have preferred a bigger city than Durham but that’s where her course is and she was very relieved to get an offer and meet it.

@ZacharinaQuack - St A is a good shout for possibly managing to do all three subjects.

I would ask if employers care about IR, certainly the government doesn’t. No IR at Oxbridge and look at the civil service! It gives no advantage as far as I can see and not really to charity sector either. So why does IR matter when so few universities will do all three? I’m assuming the Arabic is to assist with work and French for NGOs based in Geneva. So how many of them want IR? Or do they want competent linguists with any degree?

What a negative post. Do your research Tizer, see below:

https://apexlearning.org.uk/highest-paying-international-relations-jobs-uk-2025/

Lancaster does offer arabic

Because IR is an interesting degree. It's effectively international politics, international political history and some law/ethics stuff

@user927464 That might all be good stuff but it doesn’t guarantee a job. So I’m not sure anyone recruits because someone has this degree. As I said, Oxbridge doesn’t offer it. So clearly other degrees are just as employable.