Gaelic/Central & East European Studies

Scottish Gaelic is one of the Celtic languages of Scotland, with a literary and oral tradition stretching back more than a millennium, and it remains a living language with a community of speakers concentrated in the Western Isles and scattered across urban Scotland. Studying it opens access to a distinct cultural heritage, to poetry, song, storytelling, and ways of understanding landscape and community that are uniquely rooted in the Gaelic world. Central and East European Studies, meanwhile, covers the languages, histories, literatures, and cultures of a region that spans the former Soviet bloc and encompasses some of the most dramatic political and cultural transformations of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

At the University of Glasgow, this part-time combination brings these two language traditions together in a programme that is rare in the breadth of its comparative reach.

You will develop your Gaelic language skills for contemporary use, equipping you for roles in the growing Gaelic media, education, and cultural sectors, while also engaging with the history and culture of the Gaelic tradition across the centuries. In Central and East European Studies, you will combine language learning with cultural and historical analysis, examining how the countries of the region have shaped and been shaped by imperial legacies, Cold War division, and post-communist transition. A year abroad is built into the programme, giving you the opportunity to develop your language skills in context.

The part-time mode makes the degree accessible to students with other commitments.

Graduates pursue careers in Gaelic media, broadcasting, and education, as well as in roles in diplomacy, international development, journalism, and cultural institutions relating to the Central and East European region. The combination of a minority language expertise and a major regional specialism is genuinely distinctive in the graduate market, and Glasgow's strong research culture in both areas provides an excellent foundation for those who wish to continue to postgraduate study.