BA French Studies

• Learn all about French language and culture, including literature, philosophy, history, visual and popular cultures, linguistics and translation.
• Spend your third year studying and/or working abroad in France, Belgium, Switzerland, the French Caribbean or Quebec.
• Study at a university ranked sixth in the UK for Modern Languages (QS World University Rankings by subject 2024).
• Book your place on our October and November taster webinars to learn more about your subject areas!

With a strong heritage dating back to 1896, French Studies at Manchester is the oldest in the UK.

It's also one of the largest, with over 120 students registering on its various programmes each year.

You will be taught by experienced academic staff of international distinction, including three winners of University and Faculty Teaching Excellence Awards, and a dedicated team of specialist language tutors.

Among our staff, over 70% are native speakers of French and we teach you in that language from Year 1.

Our innovative language-teaching programme, which follows an enquiry-based learning approach, is central to a curriculum that offers an extremely wide choice of course units.

These cover the Early Modern period to the present and fall into the four broad categories of history and politics, literature, popular and visual culture, and linguistics and translation.

You will benefit from our rich Library resources - including precious manuscripts, a vast French literature collection, and contemporary digital media - and from our long-established partnership with the Alliance Francaise de Manchester, which hosts cultural events throughout the year such as film screenings, talks, plays, concerts, exhibitions and intensive language classes.

You will also benefit from our collaboration with the Institut de Touraine in the Loire Valley, which hosts Easter and Summer French language classes that are appropriate for ab initio students and finalists.

Although language units may show here as optional, they are a mandatory part of your modern languages degree and you will take the units relevant to your level of language in each year of study.

It is compulsory to study language at all levels of your modern languages degree.

34 points overall. 6,5,5 in Higher Level subjects

All applicants to the University (from the UK and Overseas) are required to show evidence of English Language proficiency.

The minimum English Language requirement for this course is either:

• GCSE/iGCSE English Language gradeC/4 or;
• IELTS 7.0 overall with no less than 6.5 in any one component or;
• An acceptable equivalent qualification.

Please note that if you hold English as a second language iGCSE qualification, we may also require you to offer one of our acceptable equivalent English Language qualifications or achieve a higher grade in your iGCSE than the one stated above. Please contact the academic School for clarification.

The UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) requires that every student from outside the UK and the EU must show evidence of a minimum level of English Language in order to be granted a UK visa (Tier 4 visa) to study at undergraduate or postgraduate level. This level is often referred to as the 'B2 level'.

Additionally, our individual Schools may ask for specific English Language proficiency levels that are necessary for their academic programmes. In most cases these requirements are likely to be higher than the B2 level.

Further information about our English Language policy, including a list of some of the English Language qualifications we accept, can be found on our English Language requirements page.

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