Program Overview

An International Foundation Year at our International Study Centre prepares you for your degree at Lancaster University. You will focus on English language, university-level study skills, and academic modules that relate to your degree subject.

Supporting your progression to the University
At the International Study Centre, we take every measure to ensure you are supported in your academic journey. Our programmes allow for increased time spent learning, researching and developing your skills. By studying with us, you will benefit from:

• Formal assessments at the end of each term.
• An improved English language module, Academic English Skills, providing greater opportunity for informal assessments and feedback.
• Combining and reducing the number of module assessments allowing more time to prepare.
• A personal tutorial system with a focus on your academic progress at key points of the academic year, creating action plans based on your performance and progession options.

Law
The International Foundation Year in Law leads to a choice of degrees at Lancaster University Law School – one of the UK’s most respected law schools. To prepare for your degree, you will study core English language modules and subject modules for Law. Your degree options include Criminology, Law, and Law with Politics.

As a Law student the topics you will study include justice, ethics, democracy and political institutions. You will learn about important cases and the history of the law, and you will either study Globalisation or Core mathematics.

Linguistics (Placement Year)
What is the relationship between accents and social status? How can voice recognition technologies be improved? How does a child learn language? What do the world’s languages have in common, and how are they different? Linguistics offers a fresh insight into the human mind, combining arts and sciences into one captivating subject.

Our approach to linguistics brings to life the theory through exploring real-world implications and applications. We are one of the country’s largest Linguistics and English Language departments, meaning that we have a wide range of optional modules available to you throughout your degree programme. Our world-leading academics cover a very wide range of language study specialisms, and our students benefit from their expertise in lectures, seminars, tutorials, and supervisions. They will teach you from day one in small classes designed to challenge you as a linguist.

Whether you want to understand more about accents or the benefits of multilingualism, how people communicate across cultures or how politicians use words to persuade, we have expertise across a very wide spectrum. We have a large Phonetics Lab and Psycholinguistics Lab which students are encouraged to use throughout their degree programme.

In your first year, the Linguistics module gives you an introduction to the basics, touching on many intriguing and inspiring topics. You also take two other subjects to complement your major. A popular choice for one of these is English Language, but you could select subjects from other related disciplines.

In addition to the core courses about the sounds and structures of language, there are many exciting options for your second and final year. They include Child Language Acquisition, Corporate Communication, Language Change, Forensic Linguistics and Stylistics.  In your final year, you’ll also write your dissertation, exploring a topic that particularly interests you. You will be supported by a supervisor, one of our staff who has expertise in the area you choose to research.

A Linguistics degree is well-suited for careers in education, publishing, the media and information technology. It is highly valued in fields involving international communication, such as science, trade and international relations. We offer a Linguistics degree which teaches you the skills of data analysis, academic writing, and argumentation, and we are confident that our teaching, combined with your willingness to learn, will put you in a strong position to move forward in your career.

Your placement year
You will have the opportunity to spend Year 3 on a placement with a public, private or voluntary organisation in the UK or overseas.  This experience should boost your employment prospects and help you to decide on your career direction and the kind of organisation in which you want to work once you graduate. You will be doing a real, responsible job – with all the satisfaction that brings.

Applying for a placement is a competitive process and our Placements Team will support you in finding and applying for a suitable placement. The preparatory modules you will complete in years one and two are designed to give you the best chance of success in both your placement applications and the placement itself.

One of the aims of the placement year is to enhance your understanding of the connections between theory and practice which could benefit your final year of study. Placements provide an exciting opportunity to build up experience and transferable skills, as well as to make contacts with potential employers, which can place you a step ahead in the graduate recruitment market.

The University will use all reasonable effort to support you to find a suitable placement for your studies. While a placement role may not be available in a field or organisation that is directly related to your academic studies or career aspirations, all placement roles offer valuable experience of working at a graduate level and gaining a range of professional skills.

If you are unsuccessful in securing a suitable placement for your third year, you will be able to transfer to the equivalent non-placement degree scheme and would continue with your studies at Lancaster, finishing your degree after your third year. The University offers a range of shorter placement and internship opportunities for which you would be welcome to apply.