Latin/Social & Public Policy

Latin and social and public policy is a combination that might seem surprising at first, but which makes genuine intellectual sense for students who want both the linguistic and cultural depth of classical study and the rigorous social scientific understanding of how modern states and governments function. Latin gives you access to the literature, history, and thought of ancient Rome, one of the most formative civilisations in the Western tradition, reading Virgil, Ovid, Roman historians and orators in their own language. Social and public policy examines how governments design and deliver policies in areas such as welfare, housing, education, health, and social justice, and what determines whether those policies work.

This four-year, full-time programme at the University of Glasgow leads to a Master of Arts with Honours and includes a year abroad, which gives you the opportunity to engage with both Latin studies and policy questions in a different academic and national setting. You will develop your Latin to a high level through reading demanding texts across poetry, drama, philosophy, and historical writing, while also studying the theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence used to analyse social policy, evaluate welfare state development, and assess the politics of public provision.

Graduates of this unusual combination have an intellectual profile that is genuinely distinctive. The analytical rigour and close reading skills of Latin, combined with the empirical and policy-focused thinking of social policy, produce graduates who are well prepared for careers in the civil service, policy research, journalism, education, international organisations, and the broader public and voluntary sectors. The combination also provides a strong foundation for postgraduate study in either classical studies or social policy, and for academic careers in either discipline.