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.

Human Geography
Gain first-hand experience of the ways people interact with their environment and how they form communities, cultures and economies. With a strong emphasis on fieldwork, you’ll gain a wealth of knowledge and skills from world-renowned lecturers.

In this programme, you will benefit from studying at the multidisciplinary Lancaster Environment Centre (LEC), and will spend one year of your study gaining hands-on experience in USA, Canada, Australia or New Zealand. You will study a diverse range of modules that are developed and taught by our world-class academics who are leading experts in human, environmental and political geography, development studies and Anthropology, political economy and science and technology studies.

First year modules equip you with a well-rounded introduction to some of the key themes of human geography, as well as helping you to develop skills used by geographers to analyse problems within the discipline. In addition to the Human Geography modules, you will be given the opportunity to take two other subjects alongside your first year studies. You may use this opportunity to explore some of the many subjects offered within the Lancaster Environment Centre, study further social sciences such as Sociology or Politics, or gain transferable skills in Economics or Marketing, for example.

Second year modules will be taught at one of our partner universities in Australia or New Zealand, Canada or the USA. You will gain hands-on-experience with overseas culture and climates, build an international network, and will undertake a variety of module topics.

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 your academic supervisor, researching 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. In addition, you may select from a range of optional modules which cover topics such as food and agriculture, health, enterprise and global consumption, as well as field courses to New York, Croatia and the Brazilian Amazon.