French Studies

French studies is a discipline that goes beyond language teaching to encompass a full engagement with the culture, literature, history, cinema, philosophy and politics of France and the wider Francophone world. French is not just the language of Paris but the shared tongue of communities across sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, North Africa, Canada and beyond, each with its own distinct cultural production and political history. A French studies degree develops the linguistic proficiency to engage with all of these contexts directly while also developing critical frameworks for understanding how French and Francophone culture has been made and how it has changed.

At the University of Manchester, this four-year full-time programme includes a sandwich year with embedded work placement opportunities, giving you sustained professional experience alongside your academic studies. Manchester's French and Francophone studies provision is part of a wider modern languages department with strong research depth, and the city's international character provides an active professional context for language learners. The typical entry tariff for this programme is around 152 UCAS points.

You will develop high-level proficiency in French through extensive reading, writing, speaking and listening, working with contemporary and literary texts, film, journalism and other cultural forms. The critical studies component will engage you with French literature from the seventeenth century to the present, the history of France from the Revolution to the contemporary republic, twentieth-century French philosophy, and the literatures and cultures of the Francophone world. The sandwich year typically involves a period living and working in a French-speaking environment, consolidating and transforming your linguistic and cultural knowledge.

Graduates of French studies programmes work in a wide range of careers where French language ability and cultural knowledge are assets. International business, diplomacy, journalism, translation and interpreting, education, publishing, the European institutions, cultural organisations and law are among the most common destinations. Manchester's work placement component means graduates arrive with professional experience that helps them stand out in competitive graduate recruitment.

Postgraduate study in French, Francophone studies, translation, European studies or international relations is a natural continuation.