Modern Languages Year Abroad

Undergraduate Modern Languages and Cultures degree programmes require that all students should spend their third year abroad. There are three ways in which this can be done:

1. Study abroad
2. Work abroad 
3. British Council English Language Assistant;

Please note that students of Chinese or Russian can only study on their Year Abroad.   

Pre-requisites for a Modern Languages and Cultures Year Abroad:

Whereas students from other disciplines require a minimum mark of 60 to go on a Study Abroad placement, please note that this requirement does not apply for students going on a Modern Languages and Cultures Year Abroad.

As the Year Abroad is a compulsory part of the MLC programme (including Combined Honours programmes with MLC), students going on a Modern Languages and Cultures Year Abroad are only required to pass the first and second years to be eligible to go on their Year Abroad placement.

If you began studying a language as a beginner (ab initio) in your first year, continued it in your second year, and you wish to continue studying that language in your final year, you will be required to study and/or work in a country that speaks that language. For example, if you started Italian as a beginner in your first year, and you take it in the second year, then you will have to go to Italy for your Year Abroad (for a minimum of 28 weeks) to be eligible to take the final-year Italian language module.

Please note, you must have completed 60 credits in a language to be eligible to spend your Year Abroad in the country of that language. This means that if you started studying a new language in your second year then you will not be able to go abroad to the country in which that language is spoken.

What can you do on your Modern Languages and Cultures Year Abroad?

To start off, please either follow one of the above links or visit the What can I do? section of these webpages. 

It is possible to combine study and work on your Year Abroad, but you cannot do this with a British Council ELA placement.

Please also note the following exceptions: Students of Russian or Chinese can only study in their respective countries while students of Portuguese can study or work but cannot do a British Council placement.

Students studying or working abroad pay 15-20% of their normal tuition fee to the University of Exeter. No tuition fees have to be paid to partner universities. For more information, please see the Global Opportunities Outbound website.