Russian and Ukrainian
Russian and Ukrainian is a combination that offers linguistic and cultural access to two of the most historically intertwined and presently consequential national cultures in the Slavic world. Russian is one of the world's most widely spoken languages, the official language of the Russian Federation and a major language across the former Soviet space. Ukrainian is the official language of a nation of more than 40 million people with a rich literary and cultural heritage that has asserted its distinctiveness with particular urgency in recent years.
Understanding both languages and their respective cultures is genuinely important for anyone seeking to engage seriously with the post-Soviet space and its contemporary dynamics.
At University College London, this four-year, full-time programme benefits from UCL's School of Slavonic and East European Studies, the UK's leading institution for the academic study of this region. You will develop advanced competence in both Russian and Ukrainian, reading literary and cultural texts in the original, developing spoken and written fluency, and engaging with the histories, literatures, and political cultures that each language carries. The programme engages with the complex and often contested relationships between Russian and Ukrainian culture, language, and identity, a question that has particular scholarly and political significance in the present moment.
A typical entry tariff of 152 UCAS points reflects UCL's academic expectations.
Mastery of both Russian and Ukrainian is exceptionally rare and opens access to a region of immense geopolitical significance in ways that specialists in only one language cannot match.
Graduates pursue careers in diplomacy, journalism, international organisations, academic research, translation and interpreting, the charitable sector, and business with interests in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet states. Many continue to postgraduate study in Slavonic studies, Eastern European politics, or international relations.