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.

Social Studies
The International Foundation Year in Social Studies leads to a choice of undergraduate degrees in the Faculty of Arts and Social Studies and the Faculty of Science and Technology. To prepare for your degree, you will study core English language modules and subject modules. Degree options include Philosophy, Sociology, and Film.

You will learn about global issues and contemporary events, including business, culture, politics and environment. Other areas of study include advertising, social media, psychology, and theories that relate to media and modern society.

Geography
Discover Geography at Lancaster and overseas with our exciting Study Abroad programme. Explore a range of amazing locations; study Masters-level modules; and learn from world-renowned lecturers.

Geography is a distinctive subject: it studies our world in a vast range of areas. Our Study Abroad programme provides a unique first-hand experience of work and life in a different country. You will spend a year exploring the diverse physical environments, societies and culture in North America or Australasia, as well as benefiting from our world-class teaching at the state-of-the-art Lancaster Environment Centre (LEC).

While studying at LEC, you will have access to a host of new facilities including teaching and research labs, computer systems and software, and even our very own weather monitoring station. Working in comfortable class sizes, you will have the opportunity to get to know your lecturers personally, enabling you to benefit from their expert knowledge and helpful one-to-one advice.

Modules taken at Lancaster will make extensive use of the rural settings of the north and the bustling cities of Liverpool and Manchester, allowing you to explore some of the UK’s most unique areas of geographic interest. You will gain a wealth of hands-on experience with field trips to places such as the Yorkshire Dales, Cumbrian coast and Lake District, as well as international locations including New York, Croatia or the Brazilian Amazon.

You will develop a fundamental understanding of human, physical and environmental geography in your first year Geography modules. These modules equip you with a well-rounded introduction to some of the key themes in geography, as well as providing you with key skills used by geographers to analyse problems in both the human and physical aspects of the discipline.

Second year modules will be taught at a partner university in North America or Australasia. You may engage in topics such as cities and globalisation, environmental change, glacial systems, coastal processes, and water management. In addition, you will gain valuable fieldwork experience in another country.

Lancaster University will make reasonable endeavours to place students at an approved overseas partner university that offers appropriate modules which contribute credit to your Lancaster degree.  Occasionally places overseas may not be available for all students who want to study abroad or the place at the partner university may be withdrawn if core modules are unavailable. If you are not offered a place to study overseas, you will be able to transfer to the equivalent standard degree scheme and would complete your studies at Lancaster.

Lancaster University cannot accept responsibility for any financial aspects of the year or term abroad.

In the third year, you will undertake a dissertation project, guided by an academic supervisor, which offers a chance to perform original geographical research on a topic of your choice. While completing the dissertation, you will use the key research, analytical and academic writing skills you have learnt throughout your degree. You will be offered further optional module choices with an emphasis on both human and physical geography, and there will be fieldwork opportunities in locations such as Iceland, the Amazon and New York.

Your fourth year of study provides an advanced qualification which will give you a competitive edge in the graduate jobs market by equipping you with the extra experience, knowledge and skills that come with studying Masters-level modules and undertaking a second dissertation.