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.

Linguistics (Study Abroad)
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.

The study abroad option is an exciting and informative experience for anyone who is thinking of working abroad during their career.  It’s a chance to broaden your horizons and make international contacts.  You’ll spend your second year at one of our partner universities around the world including the U.S.A., Europe, Canada, and Australia. Here you’ll move onto core subjects such as English phonetics and English grammar, but you will also be able to benefit from the courses offered by our partner universities, some of which we may not offer here at Lancaster. Our academics here at Lancaster will ensure that the programme you select whilst studying abroad is appropriate. We are careful to make sure that you will benefit from the study abroad experience, ensuring that there is a smooth transition into third-year when you return from abroad.

Exciting options await when you return to Lancaster for 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.

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.