French

By Neda Mostafavi

Published: 15 August 2004

What do you come out with? BA

Why do it? To perfect your French and learn more about the culture so that you can work for a company that trades with France or so that you can go and work in la belle France.

What's it about? French, silly. You study the language, literature, society and culture of France. In the first year at Sussex, you have to read Racine and Molière. At Bristol you can take options on migration, chansons français and French history. The degree is no longer the long slog through French literature that it used to be. Manchester's degree includes urban and performance studies and women's writing. Lots of students now combine French with another subject - another language or business studies.

How long is a degree? Four years. One year is spent in France though at Sussex you may instead be able to wangle a year on the French island of Reunion or Martinique. At Warwick on your year abroad you can either teach English, go to a French Uni, or work.

What are the students like? They love the French, their food, countryside, history, cinema and couture. The majority are women. They are good at their work, adaptable and visually literate. At Birkbeck they are adults in work so they want value for money. And they're tenacious, highly motivated and open-minded.

How is it packaged? At Royal Holloway 80 per cent is by examination and 20 per cent by coursework. At Birkbeck the ratio is 75:25 for language units and 60:40 for non-language units. Warwick's assessment varies throughout the course.

How cool is it? Not as cool as it used to be, though it's more popular than any other language. French single honours is going out of fashion. Probably because students prefer to combine it with economics or management or European studies to give it more of a vocational edge.

What A-level subjects do you need? French, and any other relevant subject e.g. another foreign language, history and English. Bristol doesn't accept A-level general studies. Birkbeck doesn't recruit through A-levels. Instead, it gives entrance tests.

What grades? Bristol asks for BBB/BBC. Sussex, Royal Holloway want BBC (you must have a B in French at Royal Holloway).

Will it keep you off the dole? Yes. Graduates of French are pretty employable. You can go into business, publishing, management, banking, teaching, research or the media. French graduates at Sussex join American Express in Brighton.

Will you be interviewed? Not at Sussex, Warwick, Bristol and Royal Holloway. Yes at Birkbeck.

What do students say? Ed de-Lacy, 20, who is studying French at Leeds. "The language side of the course is quite tricky, but very useful. I think you can feel the language when you understand the background, I especially enjoyed learning about French history and great thinkers."

Where's best for teaching? Portsmouth and Westminster scored 23 out of 24. Aston, Oxford Brookes, Durham, Exeter, Leeds, Liverpool and Sussex scored 22.

Where's best for research? Birmingham, Cambridge, Manchester, Oxford, Royal Holloway and Aberdeen were awarded a tip-top 5*; Bristol, Durham, King's College London, Liverpool, Nottingham, Oxford Brookes, Queen Mary, Reading, Sheffield, Warwick, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling were awarded a 5. Birkbeck, Exeter, Hull, Kent, Leeds, Newcastle, Nottingham Trent, Sussex, St.Andrews, Strathclyde, Bangor, Swansea, Queen's Belfast and Ulster got a 4.

Where's the cutting edge? Manchester specialises in performance studies and film studies, Bristol in the study of Caribbean and African literature in French. Birkbeck covers medieval to contemporary literature, film, French decolonisation, second language acquisition. Sussex specialises in French philosophy. Royal Holloway concentrates on research in the visual arts, autobiography and the 19th century. Warwick's expertise is in the area of Francophonic Studies, especially North Africa and the French Caribbean; they are also very strong on interdisciplinary studies as the course choice shows.

Who are the stars? Professor Henry Phillips, early modern period, Professor Adrian Armstrong, media, and Professor Dee Reynolds, dance, all at Manchester. Professor Michael Freeman, early Renaissance, and Peter Hawkins, literature of Francophone Africa and the Caribbean, both at Bristol. Professor Ian Short, a medievalist at Birkbeck. Professor Geoffrey Bennington, an expert on Derrida, at Sussex. Professor Michael Sheringham, French literature and culture since 1850, at Royal Holloway. At Warwick is Professor Colin Davis who specialises in French Holocaust Studies and Film.

Related degrees: You can study French with German, Spanish, Italian and Russian or with philosophy, politics, classics, French and Latin at Bristol. At Birkbeck you can combine it with another language, linguistics, management and humanities. At Sussex with Russian, Italian and German. At Manchester with English, history of art and history. Warwick for example has options with Italian, German, International Studies, Film Studies and Sociology where most (75 per cent) of the course is the French side, alternatively French can be equally split with either History, History of Art, English, Italian or German.