Arabic

Whilst St Andrews does not offer Arabic as a single Honours degree, you can take Arabic in combination with a wide variety of other subjects as part of a joint Honours degree. It is useful to study Arabic, by far the most commonly used language of the Middle East, alongside almost any subject as it offers the opportunity for comparative analyses between different languages, literatures, cultures, histories, politics and economics.

By choosing to study Arabic, you will learn the language of the Arabic media as well as classical and modern Arabic languages and literature. All Arabic modules prioritise building a high level of competence in language skills, and after completing the first two years of your course, you will be able to read, write and converse in basic Modern Standard Arabic.

Careers

Graduates in Arabic go on to a wide range of careers for which an Arts degree is a recognised qualification. Graduates of the Department have become:

• academics in international institutions
• civil servants in government departments (notably the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the US State Department)
• employees in non-governmental organisations and international companies
• human rights lawyers
• journalists.

The Careers Centre offers one-to-one advice to all students as well as a programme of events to assist students to build their employability skills.

Art History

The MA (Hons) in Art History will teach you to critically and perceptively assess artworks of all kinds, allowing you to become visually and verbally articulate. The main focus of the course is on the major arts of painting, sculpture and architecture, but it also encompasses the applied arts, graphic arts and photography.

As part of your degree, you will learn to analyse the style, content, meaning, theory and aesthetics behind works of art. You will learn different approaches to art by studying patronage and social significance, and the implicit and explicit ideas behind each work.