Arabic, Islamic, Middle Eastern and North African Studies

Arabic, Islamic, Middle Eastern and North African Studies is a degree that takes one of the world's most significant languages and situates it within the full historical, cultural, political, and religious context that makes it meaningful. Arabic is spoken as a first language by over 400 million people and serves as the liturgical language of Islam and the language of scholarship, literature, and public discourse across a vast and diverse region. The Islamic and area studies dimension of this degree means that language learning is never separated from the knowledge of societies, histories, and belief systems that gives it depth.

At the University of Leeds, this four-year, full-time programme builds your proficiency in spoken and written Arabic from the foundations to an advanced level, including the colloquial varieties that you will encounter in everyday life in an Arabic-speaking country. You will spend a year abroad in an Arabic-speaking context, studying a curriculum designed specifically for Leeds students and developing your skills in the living language as it is actually used. Alongside Arabic, you will engage with the cultural, historical, political, and religious contexts that have shaped the Middle East, North Africa, and the wider Muslim world, from the early Islamic period through to the contemporary challenges of statehood, identity, and international relations.

The option to study Persian alongside Arabic gives you the chance to extend your range into another major language of the region.

Graduates of this degree are in demand across a wide range of professions. Diplomacy, intelligence, journalism, international development, and academia all actively recruit people with deep Arabic and regional expertise. International organisations, governments, NGOs, businesses operating in the region, and think tanks focused on the Middle East and North Africa are also significant employers.

Many graduates continue to postgraduate study in Arabic, Islamic studies, international relations, or area studies, building specialist academic or professional careers.