UCL SCHOOL OF SLAVONIC AND EAST EUROPEAN STUDIES

SSEES Home

Contacts

News and Events

Prospective Students

International Students

Directory of Internet Resources

Alumni

Russian - BA Degrees

Cathedral of Our Saviour on the Spilled Blood, St Petersburg

UCAS R700	BA Russian Studies Track A: Literature and Culture Track B: Politics and Culture Track C: History and Culture
UCAS R715	BA Russian with an East European Language
UCAS R7W6	BA Russian with Film Studies
UCAS RV71	BA Russian and History
UCAS R000	Modern Languages BA BA Russian and an East European Language
	BA Russian and French
	BA Russian and German
	BA Russian and Italian
	BA Russian and Scandinavian Studies
	BA Russian and Spanish

Russian is also available in the European Social and Political Studies (UCAS R990) and Language and Culture (UCAS R991) degrees.

Studying Russian

Russian is one of the most important languages in the world, and Russia itself, with its fascinating history and culture, is a country that has the attraction and interest of being different yet no longer distant. In the world today, a knowledge of Russia, its language and people has more to offer than ever before.

UCL-SSEES offers unrivalled opportunities for studying Russian because we have experts in virtually all the areas that are relevant to a knowledge and understanding of Russia, in both contemporary and historical perspectives.

Teaching and Assessment

UCL-SSEES is at the forefront of Russian language teaching and is committed to lively and varied teaching methods in all its courses. These involve lectures, seminars and small classes in which the focus is on active student participation, with use of video, computer and internet resources.

Assessment is also varied and includes examinations, presentations, essays and a project undertaken during the period abroad.

Degree Programmes

The Russian degrees are designed both for students with little or no previous knowledge of Russian (Mode 1), and for students with Russian GCE A level or equivalent (Mode 2). All degrees are four years in length with the third year spent abroad.

There are separate strands in Russian language in the first two years for the two Modes, with intensive development of the language for those starting from scratch, but the two strands come together and have the same outcome in the final year (following the period of study abroad). The Russian language is central to all the degrees and the department's staff includes teachers who are native speakers of Russian. By the end of the degree students can expect to have reached the highest level of proficiency in speaking, writing and understanding Russian.

Alongside the Russian language our degrees offer a comprehensive choice of courses on Russia: Russian literature - a wide choice of authors and periods; culture - cinema, philosophy, music, art and architecture; history - from the earliest times to the present; social sciences - Russian society, politics, government, foreign policy and international relations, economics.

Russian Degrees at a Glance

Year 1	Russian language Core courses in literature and culture, politics, history, economics depending on degree/track Choice of background introductory courses in Russian culture and civilisation, Russian history, Russian linguistics
Year 2	Russian language Core courses in literature and culture, politics, history, economics Choice from wide range of options depending on degree/track
Year 3	Study Abroad
Year 4	Russian language Choice from wide range of options depending on degree/track

BA in Russian Studies

Russian Studies is the most comprehensive single-subject Russian degree programme in the country. There are four tracks which allow for specialisation depending on the student's own interests:

Track A: Literature and Culture
Track B: Politics and Culture
Track C: History and Culture

Downloadable Course Booklet

When making your UCAS application, you may not be entirely sure about your choice of track. This does not matter: it will be something that can be discussed with tutors at interview. You can achieve extra variety during the degree by taking up to two courses from outside the chosen track, e.g. from one of the other tracks, or another language.

Combined-studies degrees with Russian

SSEES offers the opportunity to take a combined-studies degree in an East European Language and Russian either on an equal basis in the BA Modern Languages R000 degree or as a major/minor combination in BA in Russian with an East European Language (UCAS R715). The languages available are: Bulgarian, Serbian/Croatian, Czech, Finnish, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Ukrainian). Combinations with other languages, such as Russian and French, or even Russian with Finnish and Swedish, may be studied as part of BA Modern Languages (UCAS R000) or BA in Language and Culture (UCAS R991). Whatever combination students may choose to study in the Modern Languages, the final degree title that is awarded to them on completion of their studies will always reflect this e.g. French and Russian.

In the Modern Languages degrees students normally take half their courses in each subject. However, for students starting Russian from scratch, rather more time is devoted to Russian in the first year in order to provide an intensive foundation in the language. In order to take French and Spanish you must have grade A at A level, B at A level for German, or equivalent in the relevant language, and for other combined degrees such as Italian and Scandinavian Studies you should have studied at least one of the languages to an advanced level.

Downloadable Course Booklet

BA in Russian and History is a four-year programme for which you must have GCE A level History (or equivalent). Russian can be started from scratch. Alongside Russian language you can choose, for the other half of the degree, from the wealth of history courses taught throughout the University of London, and from the full range of Russian literature and culture courses.

Downloadable Course Booklet

Red Square, Moscow

Study in Russia

The third year of our degree programmes is spent in Russia, or for students of combined-languages degrees, the year is divided between Russia and the country of the other language. The department can offer a choice of courses in Russia, not only in Moscow and St Petersburg but also in other cities. In addition, for those who start Russian from scratch, the first-year course is completed with a month in Russia at the end of the summer term: this provides an invaluable experience, not only in getting to know the country but also in further developing command of Russian.

Careers

The prospects for using Russian in a career have never been so good. Leading figures from government and business regularly stress the need for well-qualified Russianists, and our students are excellently fitted to take advantage of this situation. A degree with Russian can lead to a career in whole range of fields, such as journalism, the civil service, business and finance. Jobs that our graduates have found include: documentary film making in Russia, organising Russian trade exhibitions, working for international companies in Moscow, and teaching or charity work in Russia.

Course units available in Russian topics

Literature

Cultural Studies

Social Science

History

Further options in history may also be available.

Full list of BA Course Units: Russian

For further information about degrees and admissions, contact:

Dr Daniel Abondolo, Admissions Tutor
Admissions: Lisa Walters
Tel: +44 (0)20 7679 8830
e-mail: ugadmissions@ssees.ucl.ac.uk

This page last modified Friday 14 December 2012.