Classics and Spanish

Classics and Spanish is a combination that places you at the intersection of two great literary and intellectual traditions, each with deep roots and a global reach. Classical studies gives you access to the foundational texts of Western culture in their original Greek and Latin, developing the language skills, literary sensitivity and historical awareness to engage with ancient Greek and Roman civilisation on its own terms. Spanish opens the literature, culture, history and contemporary realities of one of the world's most widely spoken languages, connecting you to the Hispanophone world across Spain, Latin America and beyond.

The disciplines complement each other particularly well: both reward close reading of complex texts, both require cultural as well as linguistic competence, and both engage with questions of power, identity and the transmission of ideas across time.

At the University of St Andrews you will study across four years full-time, including a year abroad that deepens your linguistic fluency and cultural immersion in both traditions. You will develop Latin and Greek to a level that allows you to read literature in the original, while also progressing your Spanish from an advanced undergraduate to a genuinely post-A-level standard of fluency. The programme cultivates skills of literary and cultural analysis that are transferable tools for understanding complex texts and contemporary problems.

Classics and Spanish graduates are strongly placed for competitive careers in law, diplomacy, international business, publishing, academia, journalism, cultural organisations and the civil service. The combination of languages, close textual reasoning and cultural breadth is valued in a wide range of professional contexts. Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in classical languages or literature, Hispanic studies, translation, comparative literature or related fields.

The MA (Hons) awarded at St Andrews carries considerable weight with employers and admissions tutors across the professional and academic world.