Modern Languages and Cultures: New undergraduate students
New undergraduates
New undergraduates
Welcome message from Professor Fiona Cox
Many congratulations on joining Modern Languages and Cultures at Exeter! The MLC community is welcoming, diverse, ambitious, successful and a lot of fun. I hope that you will feel relaxed and at home here for the duration of your degree. You are now part of one of the most dynamic and high-achieving Modern Languages departments in the UK. Please do feel free to ask questions, and to seek out support and assistance when you need it: staff and students will be ready and willing to help. You’ll hear more about this on arrival, when you will be able to meet with your personal tutors. We all look forward to meeting you in Freshers’ Week, when you’ll have a chance to learn all about the opportunities (academic and extra-curricular) that are open to you. In the meantime, please follow our ‘Joining Instructions’ to make your initial choice of modules. We are really looking forward to meeting you and working with you for the next four years.
Professor Fiona Cox
Head of Languages, Cultures and Visual Studies
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Ahead of your arrival, please complete our online pre-arrival induction which is available via FutureLearn; your Exeter email will have a message with the link. The induction is full of important information and advice about your studies and life as a student here. It also contains activities and discussion boards so you can start to get to know other students even before you start your course.
We strongly recommend that you access this as soon as possible and make the most of this fantastic opportunity to learn more about us, your peers and your programme.
Freshers’ Week 2022: Monday 19 September - Sunday 25 September
During Fresher's Week you should attend the Academic Induction events and activities for your subject/s, as detailed below. If there is any reason why you may not be here for Fresher's Week, please contact the Queen's Hub, who support Modern Languages and Cultures students, as soon as possible by emailing modernlanguages@exeter.ac.uk.
The Student's Guild is also running welcome events throughout the week, including a Welcome Festival and regular guided tours of campus.
Please check your academic timetable during Freshers’ Week, so that you know exactly where and when you need to attend your first classes and lectures! If you have any timetable-related problems or questions, please contact the Queen's Hub at modernlanguages@exeter.ac.uk.
The purpose of Academic Induction is to introduce you to your academic programme, complete any necessary pre-registration tasks, familiarise yourself with your academic buildings, and meet fellow students and the academic staff for your subjects. These sessions form the core part of your Freshers' Week timetable and we expect all students to be present at these compulsory sessions. As well as the compulsory induction activities, there are optional social activities - a mixer and a quiz - for you to get to know your classmates and lecturers.
If you need any advice about issues or clashes within your Freshers' Week timetable please contact modernlanguages@exeter.ac.uk. If you have a clash between talks you should attend the talk for your first named subject e.g. English and Modern Languages, you should attend English as it is named first, or Modern Languages and Arabic, you would attend ML. Your Academic Tutor for the other department will be able to advise you on what information you missed.
| Academic Induction for new undergraduate students studying Modern Languages and Cultures | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Start | Finish | Details | Location |
| Tuesday 20 September | 13:00 | 14:30 |
Modern Languages Welcome Talk |
Newman Blue LT (A) |
| Tuesday 20 September | 15:00 | 17:00 |
Modern Languages Coffee and Cake Mixer |
Queens LT6.2, Queens LT6.1 |
| Wednesday 21 September | 11:00 | 12:00 |
Personal Tutor Meetings |
Please check your personal timetable for location |
| Thursday 22 September | 15:00 | 17:00 |
Languages Quiz |
Queens LT4.2, Queens LT4.1 |
Please also be aware that an optional Humanities and Social Sciences Information Fair will be held in Amory C501 from 15:00 to 16:30 on Wednesday 21st September.
If you are a Combined Honours or Flexible Combined Honours student please ensure you view the New Students information for all your subjects since each will have its own Academic Induction information and timetable.
New undergraduate student information
Joining instructions
If you wish to start with some reading before you arrive in Exeter, please view the Modern Languages and Cultures 2022 Reading list.
Please note that these reading lists are only here as guidance and for those interested, you are not expected to purchase these books.
Modules for Combined Honours programmes
For students on Combined Honours programmes, module choice information will be released and co-ordinated by the lead discipline for the programme, that is the first named subject in the degree title. For example, BA Archaeology and Anthropology is led by the Archaeology department; BA Philosophy and Theology is led by the Philosophy department. (Please see the ‘Combined Honours or Flexible Combined Honours Students’ link above for more information).
Useful information
- New students
- New Students Guide
- Freshers' Week
- Information for parents
- Your studies
- Your health and welfare
- Coronavirus - Information and Advice
- Introduction to Wellbeing Services - Peter Chalk Building [video]
- Your Welfare Advisors - Peter Chalk (Wellbeing Services) [pdf]
- Introduction to Education Services at the Peter Chalk Hub [video]
Modules are available at a range of levels from Beginners to Advanced via the Language Centre in:
• French
• German
• Italian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Mandarin Chinese
• Russian
• Spanish
• British Sign Language
We can help you get the language you study with us named on your degree title. This involves successfully completing a minimum of 60 credits in one language taken through the Language Centre. You could choose to start a new language from scratch or develop an existing one. For example, a Geography student who passes 30 credits at Spanish Beginners and a further 30 credits at Spanish Intermediate 1 could have their degree title amended to BA (Hons) Geography with proficiency in Spanish.
If you are not able to take a language as part of your programme due to timetabling constraints, or if you are interested in studying a language that is not currently available via modularity, our Language Centre also runs an Evening Language Programme with many more language options.
Please note that Modern Languages and Cultures students are not able to take three languages without DESE approval and should only take languages not offered by the department (Japanese, Korean or BSL) through the Language Centre.
To find out more about language modules and other languages offered by different departments see the pages.