The School of Language, Literature, Music and Visual Culture (LLMVC) at the University of Aberdeen is a world-class centre for teaching and research in the arts and humanities. Both at home here in the north east of Scotland and online across the world, we are a welcoming community of students and staff. Our guiding principles are enquiry, creativity, inclusivity, and understanding.
The School is home to a wide range of disciplines, including:
- English (including Creative Writing)
- Music (including Music Education)
- Modern Languages and Cultures (Arabic, French and Francophone Studies, Gaelic, German, Mandarin, Spanish and Latin American Studies, Swedish)
- Language and Linguistics (including Communication and TESOL)
- Film and Visual Culture
- Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Studies
- Translation and Interpreting
The School is also home to the Elphinstone Institute, which carries out ethnographic research and promotes the culture of the North and North-East of Scotland.
LLMVC is both multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary, and we benefit from the strong linkages between our various subjects. Our undergraduate MA and BMus programmes are unique for their combination of intellectual breadth with subject-specific depth, enabling students to acquire an ideal set of skills and knowledge for their future careers. The School offers a diverse series of specialised taught postgraduate programmes in areas of staff expertise, many of them with optional work placements.
The quality of our teaching has been recognised in all the major league tables. The 2020 National Student Survey rated French 1st and Spanish 6th in the UK. The 2022 Complete University Guide placed Linguistics 3rd in the UK, and Music was rated 1st in Scotland in the 2024 Guardian University Guide.
We have a long history of excellent research across all our disciplines. The School hosts a number of research centres, and we also play a major role in the work of interdisciplinary research centres in the University. We are home to a vibrant community of PhD researchers.
LLMVC is international in its outlook, with students and staff from all over the world. Every year we welcome dozens of international exchange students, and there are many opportunities for our Aberdeen-based students to undertake a year abroad. Our global reach has deep roots in the North-East of Scotland, and we proudly celebrate the living literary, musical, linguistic and ethnographical traditions of Scotland. The School hosts many events and activities for students, University staff and members of the public, including concerts, literary and film festivals, workshops, and public lectures.
Whether you are a prospective student, an academic, or an interested member of the public, we warmly invite you to join our dynamic and stimulating community.
Professor Chris Collins, Head of School