Management and Arabic

Management and Arabic is a combination that equips you with both the commercial competencies to work effectively in organisations and the linguistic and cultural tools to do so in the Arabic-speaking world, one of the most commercially and geopolitically significant regions on Earth. Arabic is spoken by over 400 million people across the Middle East and North Africa, and it is the language of energy, finance, and politics in a region that has profound global importance. Management studies provides the strategic, financial, and operational knowledge needed to run businesses and understand organisations of all kinds.

At the School of Oriental and African Studies, you will develop Modern Standard Arabic to a high level of proficiency alongside studying management theory and practice, grounded in SOAS's unparalleled expertise in the cultures, histories, and societies of the Arab world. The programme includes a foundation year for students who benefit from additional academic preparation before degree-level study, and runs over four years full-time. You will engage with Arabic language and culture in depth while developing commercial skills that are directly relevant to working in and with Arabic-speaking markets and institutions.

Graduates of management and Arabic programmes pursue careers in international business, the foreign and civil service, diplomacy, banking and finance in the Gulf and wider Arab world, management consultancy, NGOs, and international development organisations. Arabic-language proficiency combined with management training is a genuinely rare and valuable combination for employers with interests in the Middle East and North Africa. Many graduates also go on to postgraduate study in management, area studies, or Middle Eastern studies.