COURSE CURRICULUM

The Arabic and Russian BA is a five-year joint honours degree designed to develop advanced language skills alongside deep cultural, historical, and social understanding of the Middle East, North Africa, and Russian-speaking regions. In the first year, students study beginner Arabic through modules that develop listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, alongside modules exploring the culture, history, politics, and religion of the Middle East. Russian language study begins at beginner, post-beginner, or heritage-speaker levels, accompanied by modules introducing Russian society, history, and culture. Optional modules allow students to explore literature, politics, intercultural competence, and media. In the second year, students build practical skills in Arabic and Russian through modules focused on grammar, essay writing, discussion, and presentation, while optional modules explore Arab media, law, culture, and Russian literature and phonetics. The third and fourth years are spent abroad in Arabic- and Russian-speaking countries, providing immersive language practice and cultural experience. In the final year, students advance their Arabic and Russian through complex texts and communicative exercises, and complete a final year project, which may be a dissertation, translation project, or a digitised research-based podcast. Optional modules in the fifth year include Arabic stylistics, Islam and modernity, Russian translation, world literature, social movements, and decolonial approaches, equipping students with linguistic proficiency and intercultural competence for global careers.