Introduction
English and French at Aberdeen gives you all the advantages of the UK’s number-two research and creative hub for English literature, language and creative writing. You will study these two subjects from a European historical and contemporary context through top-rated study of French language and literature, history and culture. You will spend a whole year studying in a French-speaking country, and graduate fully prepared for a career across the creative arts, media, business and tourism.
Study Information
At a Glance
- Learning Mode
- On Campus Learning
- Degree Qualification
- MA
- Duration
- 60 months
- Study Mode
- Full Time
- Start Month
- September
- UCAS Code
- QR31
French & Francophone Studies at Aberdeen has a long-standing reputation for teaching and research. The programme explores the diversity of French and Francophone culture and the complex global influence of France and the French language over the centuries. You will add to your growing language skills with diverse courses in contemporary society and politics, philosophy and history, film and visual culture, advanced translation skills, and literature from the Renaissance to the present day.
What You'll Study
- Year 1
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Compulsory Courses
- Academic Writing for Language & Literature (AW1008)
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This compulsory evaluation is designed to find out if your academic writing is of a sufficient standard to enable you to succeed at university and, if you need it, to provide support to improve. It is completed on-line via MyAberdeen with clear instructions to guide you through it. If you pass the evaluation at the first assessment it will not take much of your time. If you do not, you will be provided with resources to help you improve. This evaluation does not carry credits but if you do not complete it this will be recorded on your degree transcript.
- Acts of Reading (EL1009)
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15 Credit Points
This course introduces students to the study of English by exploring the dynamic relationship between author, reader and text in a series of classic works of fiction and poetry. It covers a broad historical range (from Folk Tales and ballads to 21st century postmodernity) and offers a basic grounding in key elements of literary theory, literary history and the varieties of literary form.
- Getting Started at the University of Aberdeen (PD1002)
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This course, which is prescribed for level 1 undergraduate students (and articulating students who are in their first year at the University), is studied entirely online, takes approximately 5-6 hours to complete and can be taken in one sitting, or spread across a number of weeks.
Topics include orientation overview, equality and diversity, health, safety and cyber security and how to make the most of your time at university in relation to careers and employability.
Successful completion of this course will be recorded on your Enhanced Transcript as ‘Achieved’.
Optional Courses
Controversial Classics (EL1513) AND/OR Rethinking Reading (EL1536)
Plus select one of the following options:
Beginner
- FR1028: Beginners French Language 1
- FR1528: Beginners French Language 2
- FR1021: Introduction to Literature and Culture of Modern France 1 AND/OR FR1527: Introduction to Literature and Culture of Modern France in Context
Qualified
- FR1029: Qualified French Language 1
- FR1529: Qualified French Language 2
- FR1022: Literature and Culture of Modern France 1 AND/OR FR1526: Literature and Culture of Modern France in Context
Select further credit points from courses of choice to gain a total of 120 credits.
- Beginners French Language 1 (FR1028)
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15 Credit Points
This intensive language course is designed for students who have little or no previous knowledge of French.
- Beginners French Language 2 (FR1528)
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15 Credit Points
This course builds on the work done in FR1028, providing students with an adequate command of French language to allow them the possibility of continuing their studies into level 2 and Honours.
- Introduction to Literature and Culture of Modern France 1 (FR1021)
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15 Credit Points
This course offers students who are registered for the Beginners' course in French language an introduction to twentieth and twenty-first century French culture and society through the study of films, short prose texts and poetry. The course is organised around the broad themes of childhood and adolescence, gender, sexuality and love and marginalisation in contemporary France. The texts will be studied in translation or with subtitles.
- Introduction to Literature and Culture of Modern France In Context (FR1527)
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15 Credit Points
This course offers students who are registered for the beginners' course in French language an advanced introduction to twentieth and twenty-first century French and Francophone culture and society, focusing on the occupation of France during World War II and the experience of colonialism and post-colonialism. Written texts will be studied in translation or with vocabulary help and films will be studied with subtitles.
- Qualified French Language 1 (FR1029)
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15 Credit Points
This course is intended for students who have studied French to Higher or equivalent level. It will enable them to consolidate and extend their knowledge of French, written and spoken.
- Qualified French Language 2 (FR1529)
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15 Credit Points
This course is intended for students who have studied French to the equivalent of Scottish Higher or beyond. Building on the work done in the first semester, it seeks to enable students to consolidate and extend their knowledge of French, written and spoken.
- Literature and Culture of Modern France 1 (FR1022)
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15 Credit Points
This course offers students with intermediate or good knowledge French language an introduction to twentieth and twenty-first century French culture and society through the study of films, short prose texts and poetry. The course is organised around the broad themes of childhood and adolescence, gender, sexuality and love and marginalisation in contemporary France.
- Literature and Culture of Modern France in Context (FR1526)
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15 Credit Points
This course offers students with intermediate or good knowledge French language an advanced introduction to twentieth and twenty-first century French and Francophone culture and society, focusing on the occupation of France during World War II and the experience of colonialism and post-colonialism.
- Rethinking Reading (EL1536)
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15 Credit Points
'Rethinking Reading' complements the module ‘Acts of Reading’. Intended primarily for students with degree intentions in English, this course introduces key areas in critical theory that inform the current work of staff at Aberdeen. It asks students to consider the history of English studies and its relationship to colonialism, and how this impacts on conceptions of literature and authorship, alongside topics such as gender and sexuality, and genre. Through a series of modules, the course introduces each area of theory alongside a literary text used as a case study. The course supports students in learning to read and use critical theory in your work, incorporating reflective learning and a practical focus on the techniques involved in critical writing.
- Controversial Classics (EL1513)
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15 Credit Points
Literature can provoke, offend and disturb as well as entertain. This course considers some of the most powerful and controversial works of modern literature. It examines the circumstances of publication, the nature of the controversy, and the cultural and critical impact of each work. The course shows how poems, plays and novels can raise searching questions about national, racial and personal identity, and looks at the methods used by writers to challenge their readers, as well the responses of readers to such challenges.
- Year 2
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Compulsory Courses
- Encounters with Shakespeare (EL2011)
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30 Credit Points
So you think you know Shakespeare? This course invites you to think again. Studying a range of plays we get behind the mythology of Shakespeare, and rediscover the dynamic inventiveness of the Elizabethan theatre. Shakespeare and his contemporaries were the principal players in a period of literary experimentation that reinvented the possibilities of literature. Encounters with Shakespeare is your chance to find out more.
- The Tragedy of Knowledge (EL2512)
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30 Credit Points
This course traces the use of key Western myths from antiquity to the present to examine the way knowledge is often presented as both dangerous and compelling. As well as introducing students to a range of historical, social, and formal variations on the theme of knowledge, the course also highlights the role of storytelling and adaptation in the formation of knowledge and understanding.
- French Culture, Politics and Society i (FR2015)
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15 Credit Points
The course introduces students to the history, culture and identity of contemporary France by examining key moments and themes in the development of France as a political and cultural entity from the Early Modern period to the present.
- French Culture, Politics and Society II (FR2515)
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15 Credit Points
The course introduces students to the history, culture and identity of contemporary France by examining key moments and themes in the development of France as a political and cultural entity from the Early Modern period to the present.
Optional Courses
Select ONE of the following options:
Ex-beginner
- Advanced Introductory French Language 1 (FR2012)
- Advanced Introductory French Language 2 (FR2512)
Intermediate/Advanced
- Advanced French Language 1 (FR2002)
- Advanced French Language 2 (FR2502)
- Advanced French Language 1 (FR2002)
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15 Credit Points
This second year French language course which runs in the first half-session is only open to students who have passed FR1529. It will improve their written, oral and aural skills, and is one of the two second year French language courses required to be allowed into the French honours Programme.
- Advanced French Language 2 (FR2502)
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15 Credit Points
This second year French language course which runs in the second half-session is only open to students who have followed FR2002. It will improve their written, oral and aural skills, and is one of the two second year French language pre-requisite courses to be allowed into the French honours Programme.
- Advanced Introductory French Language 1 (FR2012)
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15 Credit Points
This second year French language course which runs in the first half-session is only open to students who have passed FR1528. It will improve their written, oral and aural skills, and is one of the two second year French language courses (along with FR2512) that has to have passed to be allowed into the French honours Programme.
- Advanced Introductory French Language 2 (FR2512)
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15 Credit Points
This second year French language course which runs in the second half-session is only open to students who have followed FR2012. It will improve their written, oral and aural skills, and is one of the two second year French language pre-requisite courses (along with FR2012) that one must have passed to be allowed into the French honours Programme.
- Year 3
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Compulsory Courses
Academic year spent in a French-speaking country
- Year 4
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Compulsory Courses
- Junior Honours French Language (FR3089)
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15 Credit Points
This Junior Honours French language course, whose pre-requisites are FR2502 or FR2512, runs over the full session and is only open to Single and Joint Junior Honours degree in French students.
Building on the skills gained during their first two years of study of French, this course will improve the students' French language skills in all four areas of listening, speaking, reading and writing, whilst increasing their grammatical and lexical knowledge, as well as their sensitivity to linguistic variety.
It carries 15 credits and is assessed by way of four equally weighted assignments.
Optional Courses
Select ONE course from EACH of the following categories:
Medieval/Renaissance Literature
- EL30CP: Page and Stage: Renaissance Writings 1500-1640
- EL35DQ: Knights, Virgins and Viragos: Chaucer and Medieval Writing
Romantic/Victorian Literature
- EL30XR: Romanticism
- EL30VC: Fallen Women and Self-Made Men
- EL35VB: Bildungsroman to Alien Invasion
- EL30SB: Britain and the 19th Century World
- EL35QA: Sympathy for the Devil: Scottish Short Stories
Contemporary/Modern Literature
- EL35KN: Haunted Texts
- EL30FF: Modernism: Make it New
- EL30RD: American Voices: Self and Society,1850-1930
- EL30WC: Queer Times
- EL35UT: Art and Atrocity: Representations of Violence and Trauma
- EL35UT: Art and Atrocity: Representations of Violence and Trauma
- EL35ZF: Images Adequate to Our Predicament: Art for the Anthropocene
Plus ONE course from the following:
- EL30YB: Creative Writing: Creativity and Craft
- CE301C: Celtic Encounters: The Gaelic World in
Irish and Scottish Literature
Plus, select further credit points of level 3 French to make up 60 credits.
- Page and Stage: Renaissance Writings 1500 - 1640 (EL30CP)
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30 Credit Points
This course explores the poetry, drama and prose of a period often referred to as the golden age of English literature. A period which saw Shakespeare and his contemporaries produce innovative new literary works in which the language of desire took centre stage.
- Knights, Virgins and Viragos: Chaucer and Medieval Writing (EL35DQ)
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30 Credit Points
Knights, Virgins, and Viragos offers an introduction to the variety of medieval literature and culture. Turning a critical eye on the role misconceptions of the Middle Ages play in present day white supremacy, the course highlights genres from medieval drama to life writing, with attention to the medieval history of race making and modern responses to the work of Chaucer in the poetry of Patience Agbabi.
- Modernism: Make IT New (EL30FF)
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30 Credit Points
The early twentieth century was a time of great literary experimentation as literary modernists rose to the challenge to make it new. We will explore modernism’s stylistic experimentation while also considering the social contexts and changes that shaped this literature. The course will examine a range of writers, genres, movements and locations which prompt us to consider what, when and where was modernism.
- American Voices: Self and Society, 1850 - 1930 (EL30RD)
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30 Credit Points
This course examines an important and diverse period in the development of American literature, lasting from the mid-nineteenth century until the 1930s. During the course we will be analysing works by a variety of American writers from this period in their historical, social and political contexts as well as considering the ways in which they pioneered innovative literary forms and techniques.
- Creative Writing: Creativity and Craft (EL30YB)
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30 Credit Points
This course offers students the opportunity, through lectures and interactive workshops, to develop their understanding of, and practical skills in, the writing of prose fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction. Taught by widely published, award-winning writers, it provides a thorough, practice-based understanding of creative process and of the technical challenges involved in developing an original idea into a completed literary artefact, presented to a professional standard. It also contributes to students' future career potential, whether as ‘creative’ or other kinds of professional writers/communicators.
- Fallen Women and Self - Made Men (EL30VC)
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30 Credit Points
The Victorian period is often seen as a time of sexual repression and rigid gender roles, in which men and women were expected to perform in accordance with established codes of behaviour that were based on assumptions about innate masculinity and femininity. While this perception of Victorian attitudes may be true to some extent, many Victorians were well aware of the dangers of gender stereotyping, and wrote fiction in order to interrogate and challenge these expectations. Focussing mainly on the novel, but including some poetry and drama, this module explores how Victorian writers engaged with gender stereotypes, and considers the literary tactics that authors used to re-examine, overthrow and sometimes reaffirm them. We will also consider how these stereotypes changed during the nineteenth century in response to public controversies and campaigns that kept questions of gender at the forefront of public consciousness. Figures such as the Fallen Woman, the Self-Made man and the Angel in the House will be explored in texts by authors including Emily Brontë, Christina Rossetti, Robert Louis Stevenson and Thomas Hardy.
- Art and Atrocity: Representations of Violence and Trauma (EL30UT)
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30 Credit Points
How is the artist to respond when the virtual becomes the real and when words cannot carry the weight of trauma? How can an author avoid the accusations of voyeuristic prurience or crass opportunism when he or she attempts to re-present events of public violence? This multi-disciplinary course examines work from a wide range of modes, including fiction, poetry, film and graphic art, and looks at the difficulties of inscribing trauma and the ethics and praxis of remembrance. Key events covered include the Holocaust, the Sabra and Shatila massacre, 9-11, the Gulf War and the conflict in the Balkans.
- Haunted Texts (EL35KN)
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30 Credit Points
This course offers an overview of a wide range of twentieth-century Scottish literature, focusing on themes of haunting, death, and place. Including novels, short stories, poetry, and drama, the course explores questions of the relationship between self and society, the legacy of the past, and the formation of gendered and regional identities. There are lots of ghosts.
- Art and Atrocity: Representations of Violence and Trauma (EL35UT)
-
30 Credit Points
How is the artist to respond when the virtual becomes the real and when words cannot carry the weight of trauma? How can an author avoid the accusations of voyeuristic prurience or crass opportunism when he or she attempts to re-present events of public violence? This multi-disciplinary course examines work from a wide range of modes, including fiction, poetry, film and graphic art, and looks at the difficulties of inscribing trauma and the ethics and praxis of remembrance. Key events covered include the Holocaust, the Sabra and Shatila massacre, 9-11, the Gulf War and the conflict in the Balkans.
- Bildungsroman to Alien Invasion (EL35VB)
- Images Adequate to Our Predicament: Art for the Anthropocene (EL35ZF)
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30 Credit Points
Through the effects of technological progress, industrialisation, deforestation, mining, our dependence on fossil fuels and plastics, and the testing of nuclear weapons, humans have become geological agents – radically transforming the Earth System in ways that will leave a trace for millions of years to come. This realisation has come to be known as the ‘Anthropocene’ – the time of humans. The implications – materially, emotionally and intellectually – are vast and complex. How do writers and artists respond to this complexity? What role can literature, film and visual art play in our understanding of it? This course addresses these and other questions. By studying select works of literature, film and visual art from the last sixty years alongside critical, theoretical and scientific writing on the Anthropocene, can we identify those images that might be thought adequate to our predicament?
- Celtic Encounters: the Gaelic World in Irish and Scottish Literature (CE301C)
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30 Credit Points
Celtic Encounters looks at the ways in which Irish and Scottish writers have reimagined texts of Celtic origin in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries, from the Irish Literary Revival through the Scottish Literary Renaissance, to the present day. Writers have adapted Old Gaelic sagas and hero tales for modern consumption, reinvented themselves as latter-day bardic poets, and been inspired by the Celtic and Gaelic past to produce daringly modernist and experimental new work.
- Year 5
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Compulsory Courses
- Senior Honours French Language (FR4089)
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30 Credit Points
This Senior Honours French language course, whose pre-requisite is the Junior Honours French Language course, is run over the full session and is only open to Single and Joint Senior Honours degree in French students.
Building on the skills gained in their third year of study of French, this course will help the students' French language gain very high skills in all four areas of listening, speaking, reading and writing, whilst increasing their grammatical and lexical knowledge, as well as their sensitivity to linguistic variety.
Optional Courses
Select ONE of the following dissertation options:
- English Dissertation (EL4502)
- Dissertation in French (FR4097)
Plus further courses of level 4 English and French to make up 60 credits in each discipline.
- English Dissertation (EL4502)
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30 Credit Points
Students will have the opportunity to write a dissertation on a topic of their choosing within English literature.
- Dissertation in French (FR4097)
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15 Credit Points
Candidates will write a dissertation of 8,000 words on a subject to be decided in consultation with the Course Co-ordinator, to be researched and written (under supervision by a member of staff) in the second half session of Junior Honours, and submitted at the beginning of Senior Honours.
We will endeavour to make all course options available. However, these may be subject to change - see our Student Terms and Conditions page.
How You'll Study
Learning Methods
- Individual Projects
- Lectures
- Research
- Tutorials
Assessment Methods
Students are assessed by any combination of three assessment methods:
- Coursework such as essays and reports completed throughout the course.
- Practical assessments of the skills and competencies they learn on the course.
- Written examinations at the end of each course.
The exact mix of these methods differs between subject areas, years of study and individual courses.
Honours projects are typically assessed on the basis of a written dissertation.
Why Study English and French?
Why English
- An international profile through major literary projects such as the Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen and the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels of Sir Walter Scott.
- The WORD Centre for Creative Writing, promoting creative projects in fiction, non-fiction and collaborative mixed-media in all the languages of northeast Scotland (from Doric to Polish).
- The spectacular, award-winning Sir Duncan Rice Library, home to literary treasures collected over 500 years, charting the power of the written word from ancient papyri and medieval manuscripts to contemporary e-books and other media.
- Historic collections including rare printed books, the 12th century Aberdeen Bestiary, MacBean Stuart and Jacobite Collection, the novels of Sir Walter Scott, and an exceptional collection of Charles Dickens' first editions.
- A packed campus programme of student and public events, exhibitions, seminars, invited speakers and the annual WayWORD Festival, welcoming internationally acclaimed authors to discuss literature, including European writers.
- Research centres include the nationally recognised Centre for the Novel, the Centre for Modern Thought, and the Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies.
Why French
- A vibrant international community on campus and across Aberdeen and north-east Scotland, with many French and French-speaking students, staff and activities on campus and across the region.
- A dynamic French Society, organising social and topical events throughout the year, and a brilliant way to get to know other students studying or speaking French.
- The spectacular, award-winning Sir Duncan Rice Library, with stunning study facilities, state-of-the-art learning technology, and a first-class collection of French books and films for your course.
- A packed campus programme of events, exhibitions, invited speakers and the popular WayWord literary festival, which often features work by Francophone writers.
- Your year abroad as a language assistant or visiting student at locations including Lyon, Rennes, Grenoble, Réunion, Brussels, Geneva, Lausanne, the IFP (Institute of French Petroleum) School in Paris and the Club des Langues in Anglet.
- International recognition as a centre for study and research in French, with research covering not only France, but also French-speaking Africa and the Caribbean.
Entry Requirements
Qualifications
The information below is provided as a guide only and does not guarantee entry to the University of Aberdeen.
General Entry Requirements
- 2024 Entry
-
SQA Highers
Standard: AABB
Applicants who have achieved AABB (or better), are encouraged to apply and will be considered. Good performance in additional Highers/ Advanced Highers may be required.
Minimum: BBB
Applicants who have achieved BBB (or are on course to achieve this by the end of S5) are encouraged to apply and will be considered. Good performance in additional Highers/Advanced Highers will normally be required.
Adjusted: BB
Applicants who achieve BB over S4 and S5 and who meet one of the widening access criteria are guaranteed a conditional offer. Good performance in additional Highers/Advanced Highers will be required.
More information on our definition of Standard, Minimum and Adjusted entry qualifications.
A LEVELS
Standard: BBB
Minimum: BBC
Adjusted: CCC
More information on our definition of Standard, Minimum and Adjusted entry qualifications.
International Baccalaureate
32 points, including 5, 5, 5 at HL.
Irish Leaving Certificate
5H with 3 at H2 AND 2 at H3.
Entry from College
Advanced entry to this degree may be possible from some HNC/HND qualifications, please see www.abdn.ac.uk/study/articulation for more details.
- 2025 Entry
-
SQA Highers
Standard: BBBB
Applicants who have achieved BBBB (or better), are encouraged to apply and will be considered. Good performance in additional Highers/ Advanced Highers may be required.
Minimum: BBC
Applicants who have achieved BBC at Higher and meet one of the widening participation criteria above are encouraged to apply and are guaranteed an unconditional offer for MA, BSc and BEng degrees.
Adjusted: BB
Applicants who have achieved BB at Higher, and who meet one of the widening participation criteria above are encouraged to apply and are guaranteed an adjusted conditional offer for MA, BSc and BEng degrees.
We would expect to issue a conditional offer asking for one additional C grade at Higher.
Foundation Apprenticeship: One FA is equivalent to a Higher at A. It cannot replace any required subjects.
More information on our definition of Standard, Minimum and Adjusted entry qualifications.
A LEVELS
Standard: BBC
Minimum: BCC
Adjusted: CCC
More information on our definition of Standard, Minimum and Adjusted entry qualifications.
International Baccalaureate
32 points, including 5, 5, 5 at HL.
Irish Leaving Certificate
5H with 3 at H2 AND 2 at H3.
Entry from College
Advanced entry to this degree may be possible from some HNC/HND qualifications, please see www.abdn.ac.uk/study/articulation for more details.
The information displayed in this section shows a shortened summary of our entry requirements. For more information, or for full entry requirements for Arts and Social Sciences degrees, see our detailed entry requirements section.
English Language Requirements
To study for an Undergraduate degree at the University of Aberdeen it is essential that you can speak, understand, read, and write English fluently. The minimum requirements for this degree are as follows:
IELTS Academic:
OVERALL - 6.0 with: Listening - 5.5; Reading - 5.5; Speaking - 5.5; Writing - 6.0
TOEFL iBT:
OVERALL - 78 with: Listening - 17; Reading - 18; Speaking - 20; Writing - 21
PTE Academic:
OVERALL - 59 with: Listening - 59; Reading - 59; Speaking - 59; Writing - 59
Cambridge English B2 First, C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency:
OVERALL - 169 with: Listening - 162; Reading - 162; Speaking - 162; Writing - 169
Read more about specific English Language requirements here.
Fees and Funding
You will be classified as one of the fee categories below.
| Fee category | Cost |
|---|---|
| RUK | £9,250 |
| Tuition Fees for 2025/26 Academic Year | |
| EU / International students | £20,800 |
| Tuition Fees for 2025/26 Academic Year | |
| Home Students | £1,820 |
| Tuition Fees for 2025/26 Academic Year |
Scholarships and Funding
Students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland, who pay tuition fees may be eligible for specific scholarships allowing them to receive additional funding. These are designed to provide assistance to help students support themselves during their time at Aberdeen.
Financial support for your study year abroad
We provide funding to students starting in 2021/22 on degrees with a compulsory period abroad at the same level as the Turing funding. This financial support can be used towards rent in your new city overseas, general living costs, or travelling to see more of your new home country. Students going abroad will continue to pay their normal rate of tuition fees with no increased charges or need to change tuition fee arrangements to the host university. For a full overview of how the tuition fees work, you can check this helpful funding table on our website.
Additional Fees
- In exceptional circumstances there may be additional fees associated with specialist courses, for example field trips. Any additional fees for a course can be found in our Catalogue of Courses.
- For more information about tuition fees for this programme, including payment plans and our refund policy, please visit our Tuition Fees page.
Our Funding Database
View all funding options in our Funding Database.
Careers
There are many opportunities at the University of Aberdeen to develop your knowledge, gain experience and build a competitive set of skills to enhance your employability. This is essential for your future career success. The Careers and Employability Service can help you to plan your career and support your choices throughout your time with us, from first to final year – and beyond.
- More information on employability at the University of Aberdeen
- More information on the Careers and Employability Service
Our Experts
Information About Staff Changes
You will be taught by a range of experts including professors, lecturers, teaching fellows and postgraduate tutors. However, these may be subject to change - see our Student Terms and Conditions page.
Discover Uni
Discover Uni draws together comparable information in areas students have identified as important in making decisions about what and where to study. You can compare these and other data for different degree programmes in which you are interested.
Get in Touch
Contact Details
- Address
-
Student Recruitment & Admissions
University of Aberdeen
University Office
Regent Walk
Aberdeen
AB24 3FX