Modern Languages (French and Italian) and International Relations

Modern languages, international relations, and the specific combination of French and Italian at St Andrews form a degree that takes seriously the relationship between linguistic competence and geopolitical understanding. French is the official or working language of dozens of states and international organisations, from the European Union and the United Nations to the African Union. Italian opens access to one of Europe's most culturally rich nations and a literature stretching from Dante to the present.

International relations provides the frameworks for understanding how states, organisations, and actors interact across borders, what shapes foreign policy, and how global order is maintained or contested.

At the University of St Andrews this four-year full-time degree develops your French and Italian language skills to a high level of proficiency, with both literary and communicative dimensions, while also grounding you in the theory and practice of international relations, including political science, diplomacy, security studies, and international law. The degree includes a year abroad, which is particularly significant for language learning and for experiencing international environments at first hand. St Andrews is one of the UK's most internationally diverse universities, and studying there gives you an intellectual environment shaped by students and scholars from across the world.

Graduates of this kind of programme are exceptionally well positioned for careers in international affairs. Diplomacy, the foreign service, international organisations, policy research, journalism with an international focus, and work with NGOs or advocacy groups are all natural destinations. The language skills open doors in European and international business, translation, and cultural institutions.

Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in international relations, European studies, languages, or law, and some pursue doctoral research. The combination of two European languages with an international relations grounding is genuinely distinctive and highly valued by employers working across borders.