Modern Languages and International Relations

Modern languages combined with international relations creates one of the most coherent and practically useful degree combinations available for students who want to understand and engage with the world beyond national borders. Languages give you genuine access to how people in other countries think, communicate, and frame the issues that matter to them. International relations provides the analytical frameworks for understanding conflict, diplomacy, global governance, and the forces reshaping the international order.

Together they produce graduates who can engage with international issues not only analytically but in the linguistic and cultural terms that actual participants in those issues use.

At Leeds this four-year full-time programme examines the issues facing international society today alongside the challenges confronting the major players in international relations. You will study the society and culture of the countries where your chosen language is spoken, developing linguistic proficiency alongside cultural knowledge. The international relations strand covers ongoing debates and conflicts, security studies, decolonial approaches, social movements across cultures, and the practical dimensions of working across languages, including translation and interpreting.

The programme includes a sandwich year, providing professional experience in a relevant context, and work placements are integrated throughout.

You will develop strong analytical and communication skills in both your chosen language and English, alongside the critical and research capabilities that characterise rigorous international relations study.

Graduates move into careers in diplomacy, the civil service, international organisations, journalism, translation and interpreting, NGOs, consulting, and international business. The combination of language proficiency and political analytical training makes graduates genuinely distinctive to employers working across borders. Many continue to postgraduate study in international relations, European studies, or translation.