Celtic Studies / Gaelic
By Emma Prest
Published: 15 August 2004
What do you come out with? BA or if you're studying in Scotland an MA.
Why do it? Becauseyou want to learn more about your heritage. Or if you're applying to Cambridge for the Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic degree you may be fed up with studying the Tudors, Stuarts, Hitler and Stalin and want to try something new, says Professor Simon Keynes at Trinity College, Cambridge.
What's it about? This degree varies depending on where you study. At Ulster the emphasis of the two degrees on offer is clearly on Ireland. One, in Irish Studies, covers Irish history and Anglo-Irish literature and the other, Irish Language and Literature, includes studying Scottish Gaelic. Cambridge offers a unique degree called Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic Studies. You will look at the history, culture, languages and literature of peoples who lived in the British Isles and Scandinavia in the early middle ages. This course covers the whole geographical area, looking particularly at the interaction between Scandinavia and the surrounding countries. There is a fair amount of choice over the three years. In the third year you can specialise in areas such as Beowulf, poetry of Aldhelm or advanced medieval Irish. Aberystwyth offer a Celtic Studies BA where you study Irish, Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Breton. Glasgow offers a Celtic MA where Scottish Gaelic is at the core. You can apply for this degree having never uttered a word of Gaelic before or it may be your native tongue. You can choose to study modern Scottish Gaelic or medieval Gaelic, which will include early and classical Gaelic literature and language, or Medieval Welsh Gaelic. At the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) you can study Gaelic language and culture or combine Gaelic with media studies and North Atlantic studies. All the classes are taught in Gaelic. In the language and culture degree you will learn about topics such as folklore, Celtic belief systems or sixteenth to nineteenth century poetry. It is possible to combine many of these Celtic and Gaelic courses with subjects such as media, modern languages or humanities subjects.
How long is a degree? Three years at most places; four years at Abersytwyth (with a year abroad) and in Scotland.
What are the students like? At Cambridge both the number of applications and the intake has increased significantly in the past year. Professor Keynes hopes they are not just attracting students who like Lord of the Rings.At Cambridge there are more women than men, the ratio is roughly 60:40. At UHI they find that students are predominantly Scottish and tend to be very musical.
How is it packaged? At Ulster the emphasis is on coursework. At Cambridge it is all about exams. At UHI it is about 50:50.
How cool is it? Not very. It is a fairly unknown subject.
What A-levels do you need? Most institutions, including Cambridge, are happy with either arts or sciences. Cambridge does like a modern or ancient language. Ulster require Irish A-level. UHI want some sort of Gaelic qualification.
What grades? AAB at Cambridge; BBC at Glasgow; CCC (240 UCAS points) at Ulster.
Will it keep you off the dole? Yes, if you can get a job working for a local TV or radio station in Scotland, Wales or Ireland. Job prospects are comparable to any other humanities degree.
Will you be interviewed? Not at Ulster. Yes at Cambridge.
What do students say? Joy Dunlop, 21, BA Gaelic Language and Culture, UHI. "I did Gaelic at school and came for one year to study it here. I planned to go off and do something else but I enjoyed it so much I decided to stay and do a four year degree. It is a very small and friendly place. The help you get is amazing. They gave me the chance to spend three and a half months in Canada."
Where's best for teaching? Ulster scored 24 out of 24. Queen's Belfast and Cambridge scored 23. St. Mary's College got 21.
Where's best for research? Cambridge, Bangor, Aberystwyth and Ulster scored an impressive 5*. Oxford, Edinburgh, Swansea, Cardiff and Queen's Belfast got a 5. Aberdeen and Glasgow received a 4.
Where's the cutting edge? Ulster has a multi-media digital language laboratory and is hot on combining different types of multimedia material within languages. They have a particular emphasis on modern Irish. Cambridge is strong on analysing primary sources very closely along with paleography (the study of manuscripts). UHI is developing its distance learning and is launching a traditional music degree in 2006.
Who are the stars? ProfessorsSeamus MacMathuna and Bertie O'Corrain at Ulster; Professors David Dumville and Simon Keynes at Cambridge. Professor Norman Gillies, Dr. Mark Ringe, Dr. Mike Cormack and Dr. Gillian Munro at UHI.
