French Studies

Durham is a leading centre for research and undergraduate and postgraduate study in French. We are ranked 5th in the UK (Complete University Guide 2025).

• Most of our students study French alongside another language on our BA in Modern Languages and Cultures
• You can study French alongside History on the BA in Modern European Languages and History
• You can study French alongside Classics, English, Music, Philosophy or Theology through the Liberal Arts programme
• You can take Combined Honours in Social Sciences if you want to combine French with subjects including Economics, Geography and Politics

• Our French programme offers language modules at every level plus cultural modules on cinema, cultural history, political theory, literature and philosophy. 
• Our cultural modules embrace the diversity of staff expertise across French and Francophone cultures from the Middle Ages to the present day and assume no prior knowledge of the areas studied 
• You can study French with us ab initio (from scratch, without an A-level) or post A-level – see our entry requirements (BA Modern Languages and Cultures with Year Abroad / Modern European Languages and History with Year Abroad)
• Most of our students spend time in a French-speaking country as part of their year abroad 
• Studying French with us provides a significant boost to your employability and projected earnings

Postgraduate students can study French and Francophone topics on our MA courses and PhD programmes. 

See further our staff profiles on our research interests. 

Discover our modules 

• Year One
• Year Two
• Year Three (Study Abroad)
• Year Four

Year One

Our first-year core language module is practice-focussed, developing your skills in writing and speaking in French. Oral classes are led by Francophone speakers and you will have the opportunity to discuss contemporary topics like global South feminisms, bio-inspired technologies, and freedom of speech and cancel culture.

We also offer an ab initio (beginners) language module in French, which develops your reading, writing, speaking and listening skills from scratch. You will have five hours of French language class per week to rapidly develop your writing and speaking skills and introduce you to Francophone culture.

Both ab initio and post A-level students also take between one and three cultural modules, all of which work as introductions to studying French culture and which take into account students’ knowledge of French. Example modules include:

• Reading French Literature: an introduction to French literature through the ages, focussing on race, gender and identities
• Society and its Outsiders: an introduction to twentieth-century French culture through key texts and films, taught in French
• The Invention of France: an introduction to France’s evolution as a geopolitical entity, its intellectual legacies and political traditions

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Year Two

In our second-year core language module, the written class will enhance your ‘human’ translation skills, engaging critically with the challenge of machine translation in order to produce better-quality content in terms of creativity and readability. Work in oral classes is entirely in French and offers a wide range of topics relevant to student life and the Year Abroad.

In our second-year ab initio (beginners) language module, students develop their writing and speaking skills by discussing Francophone contemporary literature and film and current affairs in French.

You will take between one and three cultural modules, developing your knowledge of French and Francophone cinema, cultural history, political theory, literature and philosophy.

Example modules include:

• The Canon in Context: French Theatre of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
• The Francophone Imaginary: Legacies of Colonialism in Literature and Culture
• Modernity and Disenchantment: Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century French Literature and Culture
• Revolutionary Works in French Politics
• Sex, Gender and Identity in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

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Year Three (study abroad)

Students in French follow one of these paths for their year abroad, often splitting their time between a Francophone country and a country speaking their other language of study. We help ab initio students find suitable Francophone study placements, where they can continue to take French language classes.

• Study: we currently have exchange agreements with eight French and Belgian universities, including the prestigious Sorbonne Université and Sorbonne Nouvelle, allowing our students to study in a French-speaking environment. We also help students get places on courses at other Francophone universities 
• Teach: we help students apply for the British Council scheme to become English language assistants in a school in a Francophone country 
• Work: we have links with over fifty companies in France, Belgium and Luxembourg who have regularly employed Durham students, including posts in sales, marketing, recruitment, media, banking and tourism 

^{View from the Citadel, Besançon. Photo taken by our student Rosie Cooper on their year abroad.}

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Year Four

In the final-year core language module, you will build on the skills you have developed in first and second year, and during your year abroad. In the written language classes, you will fine tune your reading and writing skills, with material and exercises drawing on broad range of themes (French language, culture, sport, the francophone world, and social and environmental justice).

The teaching programme for this oral class is based on thought-provoking discussions of topical issues covering French/francophone current affairs, almost exclusively supported by audio-visual material (e.g. new masculinities, freedom of speech in higher education, the boundaries of humour).

The ab initio and post A-level streams merge at this level.

You will write a dissertation, which may be on a French topic, or one relating to your other main language of study. Dissertations are independent research projects, and students choose a topic growing out of their cultural modules they have taken at Durham. Recent dissertation topics in French have included:

• Gen Z and Language Use in Morocco
• Indigenous Languages and Identities in Québec
• Marie-Antoinette, Pornography and the French Revolution

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Depending on your module choices in your other language, you may also take further cultural modules in French, further developing your knowledge of French and Francophone politics, philosophy, film, literature or theatre. A different range of modules is available each year, inspired by the latest research of our staff.