Careers and Languages

Modern Languages graduates are highly valued by employers for their linguistic and cultural knowledge, and for their set of transferable skills. These include the ability to speak, understand and write in a foreign language, intercultural understanding, translation and communication skills, and analytical rigour.

SELCS graduates go on to work in varied roles across the public, private and charitable sectors, as well as working as language consultants and teachers. Some of our recent graduates have been employed by the following organisations:

• Cambridge Education Group
• BBC Worldwide
• Royal Bank of Scotland
• KPMG
• UFR d’Anglais Universite Paris Sorbonne
• Grey Court School
• JC Decaux
• The Sport Review
• MIS Training Institute

Careers by Language

Dutch

As labour market intelligence by the University Council for Modern Languages (2011) points out, Dutch is one of the five most requested languages in the UK job adverts, ahead of Russian and even Chinese! This is due to the close economic and cultural ties between the Netherlands, Flanders and the UK. Moreover, the report points out that even if your trading partners speak English well, it still pays to speak their language, having developed intercultural skills as taught by UCL Dutch. 

As graduates with Dutch are rare this makes for a very vibrant employment situation, even in times of economic crisis. There is demand for graduates who can help overcome the shortage of teachers of Dutch and translators from Dutch into English. The demand for teachers is from adult education institutes and increasingly from higher and secondary education; in the case of translators it comes from Dutch, Belgian and European institutions, from translation agencies and from business.

Our Dutch programmes, unique to the UK, will be of interest both to those who wish to enhance their knowledge of Dutch culture for professional purposes - in the field, for example, of education, media, commerce and tourism.

French

German

Selected Alumni Careers:

• Richard Green (German and Scandinavian Studies BA) continued on to postgraduate study at UCL during which time he also developed a successful boutique translation company (The Nordic Word) specialising in the translation and localisation of Danish, English, German, Norwegian, and Swedish.
• Emmanuel Valentine (German BA) went on to spend a year as a foreign language assistant in Austria. He now works at a video games developer in Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Chris Morillon (German and French BA) Currently working as a trainee assistant to a MEP at the European Parliament in Brussels, mainly focussing on internal market operations of the EU.
• Reena Rayani (French and German BA) is currently working on the German Equity Derivatives Sales desk at a major investment bank.
• Matthew McCarthy-Rechowicz (Polish and German BA) is teaching English for the British Council at the bilingual Technische Hochschule für Textilindustrie, Vienna.

Italian

Scandinavian Studies

Spanish, Portuguese & Latin American Studies

Our UG/PG programmes may lead to research, or to employment in which a broad familiarity with Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American culture is an asset. Some of the destinations of recent graduates of our programmes include:

• IMS: Live Subtitler
• British Council: Project Delivery Officer
• University of Westminster: Teacher
• UCL: doctoral research in Spanish Literature

Careers by Programme

Comparative Literature

Early Modern Studies

This MA will give you a very specific skill set, including manuscript handling and archival research. Depending on the optional modules you select you may also develop language skills and knowledge in information technologies and database use. These transferable skills will make you very employable within the heritage or cultural sectors, as well as library work, the arts, and other roles which require intensive research and/or information management. Our alumni have gone on to undertake further study as research students at UCL and elsewhere, including the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, York and Swansea, as well as some exciting careers in publishing and the heritage sector. They have successfully obtained funding and prizes including the Bryce-Jebb and Dorris Russell Scholarships and the prestigious John Edward Kerry Prize.

Selected career destinations:

• PhD in English, University College London
• Conservation Assistant, National Trust
• Visitor Services Officer, Historical Royal Palaces
• Research Intern, Opus
• PhD in History, University of Cambridge
• Editorial Assistant, Law Business Research

”I teach literature at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and I’m also a computational linguist. I think the EMS MA’s focus on bibliography was of great help. It certainly enriched my understanding of literature and I also think it made me stand out when I was hired at the university.” Francesca Barbera, MA Early Modern Studies Graduate

European Culture & Thought

European Studies

Film Studies

Gender & Sexuality Studies

Health Humanities

TBA

Translation Studies