BA Modern Languages and History
About this course
BA Modern Languages and History, a combined arts degree focusing on historical developments alongside the study of a modern European language. Core topics include Research Methods, Fieldwork, and Historical Research. The course includes a compulsory year abroad spent studying at a partner university, completing a work placement, or working as a language teaching assistant. The first year covers foundational historical perspectives and language acquisition through modules such as Perspectives in History, Making History and You: Practices and Possibilities, Ideas of Frenchness 1, and Beginners French, German, Italian or Spanish Language. In the second year, students build proficiency through compulsory studies like Cinema of Germany, Transatlantic Exchanges: Latin America in the Global Nineteenth Century, and Intermediate French, German, Italian or Spanish Language. The third year consists of the compulsory study year abroad. The final year allows students to undertake advanced language learning and extended independent research via modules such as Language and Power, Extended Essay, and Advanced French, German, Italian or Spanish Language I, with optional modules including Dissertation in History and Medieval Magic and the Origins of the Witch-Craze.
Written by AI from the university's course page and module list. It can get details wrong, so check the official course page before you rely on it.
Entry requirements
A level: BBB, including History or a humanities-based essay subject. Humanities-based essay subjects include: Classical Civilisation, English Language, English Literature, Geography, Philosophy, Politics, Religious Studies. IB: 30 points overall including 5 in History or a humanities-based essay subject at higher level.
See the highest paying Languages & English degrees in the UK →
See the highest paying History, Philosophy & Religion degrees in the UK →
What students say
Based on about 72 final-year students who answered, across similar courses at this university
- Teaching on my course: 95%
- Learning opportunities: 91%
- Assessment and feedback: 90%
- Academic support: 97%
- Organisation and management: 91%
- Learning resources: 91%
- Student voice: 86%
Do students stay on the course?
Based on about 10 students who started (a small group: a rough guide only)
- Continued on course: 70%
- Left higher education: 30%
What graduates do next
Based on about 18 graduates who answered, across similar courses at this university (a small group: a rough guide only)
- Working: 55%
- Working and studying: 5%
- Further study: 20%
- Unemployed: 10%
Most common jobs
- Administrative occupations: 20%
- Business and public service associate professionals: 15%
- Secretarial and related occupations: 10%
- Teaching Professionals: 10%
- Teaching and Childcare Support Occupation: 10%
- Find their work meaningful: 80%
- Feel on track for their future plans: 55%
- Use what they learnt on the course: 50%
Where graduates work (5 years on)
Based on about 135 graduates, across similar courses at this university
- North East: 1%
- North West: 4%
- Yorkshire and the Humber: 3%
- East Midlands: 3%
- West Midlands: 4%
- East of England: 11%
- London: 21%
- South East: 33%
- South West: 12%
- Wales: 6%
- Scotland: 2%
- Northern Ireland: 1%
Who gets in
Based on about 105 students who started, across similar courses at this university
- A levels: 96%
- Access course: 1%
- Other HE qualification: 3%
Accreditation & quality ratings
TEF 2023 (whole university): Silver overall, Silver for student experience, Silver for student outcomes.
Modules
- Perspectives in History
- Making History and You: Practices and Possibilities
- Beginners French, German, Italian or Spanish Language
- Intermediate French, German, Italian or Spanish Language
- Advanced French, German, Italian or Spanish Language I
- Ideas of Frenchness 1
- The Making of Contemporary Germany
- Making Italians: A Journey in the History and Culture of Modern Italy
- The Making of Modern Spain and Latin America
- Rape in the United States: From Colonisation to Civil Rights
- Warfare in Early Modern Europe, c.1500-1715
- Doomsday Dystopias: Nuclear Disaster in the Cold War Imagination
- US Environmental Diplomacy from Nixon to Obama
- Arriving in Britain: A History of Immigration, 1685-2004
- 'After Malthus': Sex, Society Sustainability and the Politics of Population in the Long Nineteenth Century
- Merlin the Magician
- Ideas of Frenchness 2
- Belonging in Germany
- Introduction to Linguistics (for students of Italian)
- Introduction to Spanish and Latin American Culture
- Liberty and Empire in the Making of the Modern World
- Thinking Translation: History and Theory
- Introduction to Linguistics
- Intermediate French, German, Italian or Spanish Language
- Advanced French, German, Italian or Spanish Language I
- Advanced French, German, Italian or Spanish Language II
- The First World War: Then and Now
- Cinema of Germany
- 'Apocalittici e integrati': Intellectuals and Society in Twentieth Century Italy
- Transatlantic Exchanges: Latin America in the Global Nineteenth Century
- Culture and Revolution in Modern Latin America
- How to Think in French
- Children’s Books in France
- Glorification, Denial and Contempt – Reconstructing Austria's Past
- One Country, Many Languages: Linguistic Variety and Society in Contemporary Italy
- Modern and Contemporary Spanish Narratives
- Culture, communication and context: contemporary challenges in the interconnected world
- Going Public: Presenting the Past, Planning the Future
- People, Power and Revolution: Political Culture in Seventeenth-Century England
- Hollywood Histories: Film and the Past
- Europe in the Twentieth Century
- Medieval Medicine
- American Century: United States History since 1898
- 'The Brightest Jewel in the British Crown': The Making of Modern South Asia, 1757-1947
- Reform and Revolt in the Modern Middle East: Egypt from Ataturk to the 'Arab Spring'
- The Crusades, 1095-1291
- Encountering the Atlantic World, 1450-1850
- Kingship and Crisis in England, c.1154-1330
- Women and Medieval History
- Black Britain: Race and Migration in Post-War Britain
- The Colonial Experience: Africa since 1879
- Preparing for your Dissertation
- Noise Annoys: British Youth Culture, Popular Music and Social Change, 1950s-90s
- Medieval Europe: Power, Religion and Death
- From Revolution to Reconstruction: A Social History of the Nineteenth-Century USA
- Society, Thought and Art in Modern Europe
- Unity, Nationalism and Regionalism in Europe
- Study Year Abroad
- Language and Power
- Extended Essay
- Advanced French, German, Italian or Spanish Language I
- Advanced French, German, Italian or Spanish Language II
- Advanced French, German, Italian or Spanish Language III
- The German Language and National identity
- Memory, Dictatorship and Cultural Resistance in the Southern Cone
- Future Worlds in Film
- Narrating the Colombian Conflict
- Writers and Publishers in Spain
- War on Screen - Germany and its films about WWII
- Language, Diversity, and Inclusion: The Representation of Otherness in the Italian Context
- Philanthropy à la française : The History of Ideas and Practices in the French Third Sector
- Dissertation in History
- Becoming a Revolutionary: The Old Regime and the French Revolution, 1787-1794
- Heretics and Popes: Heresy and Persecution in the Medieval World
- Sexual Politics: Gender, Sex, and Feminism in Britain after 1918
- Slavery in America
- Anarchy in the UK: Punk, Politics and Youth Culture in Britain, 1976-84
- Medieval Magic and the Origins of the Witch-Craze
- 'Battleaxes and Benchwarmers': Early Female MPs 1919-1931
- History of Education
- Axis at War: Life and Death in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, 1936-45
- From Darwin to Death Camps? Evolution and Eugenics in European society, 1859-1945
- The American Civil War
- Utopia: The Quest for a Perfect World
- Poor Law to Hostile Environment: Repatriation, Deportation and Exclusion from Britain 1800-2016
- Gender in Africa: From Eighteenth Century 'Amazons' to Twentieth Century Child Soldiers
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Empire, Slavery, and Society, 1550-1750
- May '68
- French Popular Music and Society
- The United States and the Cold War
Questions about this course
How much do graduates of BA Modern Languages and History at University of Reading earn?
The median salary is £30,000 after 15 months, £25,000 after 3 years, £29,500 after 5 years. After five years the middle half of graduates earn between £25,000 and £36,000. The £29,500 median after five years is £3,500 less than the UK median for Language and area studies (other).
What do graduates of BA Modern Languages and History at University of Reading do next?
85% were in work or further study 15 months after finishing (Graduate Outcomes 2023-24).
Are students happy with the teaching on BA Modern Languages and History at University of Reading?
95% of final-year students were positive about the teaching in the National Student Survey 2025-26.
What grades do I need for BA Modern Languages and History at University of Reading?
The typical offer is BBB at A level, or 30 points in the IB. The average entrant had 116 UCAS points.
Does BA Modern Languages and History at University of Reading include a placement year or year abroad?
The course has a compulsory year abroad.
How many students continue on BA Modern Languages and History at University of Reading?
70% of students continued into their second year, and 30% left higher education.