Founded in 1919, UCL houses one of the oldest centres for Dutch Studies (Neerlandistiek) in the UK. The Dutch Studies pathway of the Language, Culture and History MA provides the opportunity for in-depth study of Dutch literature, culture, history and society. It offers the opportunity to improve Dutch language skills as part of the course, along with the methods, concepts and theories essential for the intercultural labour market.
The course includes one core module that introduces a combination of research methods, historiography, and approaches to literary and cultural studies. This module provides a strong foundation at graduate level and helps you develop the skills and knowledge needed to carry out research, write academic essays and your final dissertation.
You will also take optional modules and a dissertation. The optional modules you choose will be specific to your subject language, as well as cultural modules, which cover a range of topics that draw on literature, film, history, and linguistics, from an interdisciplinary perspective. Further details can be found on our Postgraduate Modules page.
Modern Languages graduates are highly valued by employers for their linguistic and cultural knowledge, and for their set of transferable skills in communication, translation and intercultural understanding.
Graduates with Dutch are rare and this makes for a 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 may come from adult education institutes and from higher and secondary education; in the case of translators, it may come from Dutch, Belgian and European institutions, from translation agencies and from business.
The Netherlands are a top export and import destination for the UK and the connections with Flanders also make Dutch an extremely useful skill to have in an increasingly competitive job market.
Learning Dutch opens up unique career opportunities across Europe and beyond, with Dutch being spoken across the Netherlands, Flanders, Suriname and parts of the Caribbean. The course will be of interest both to those who wish to enhance their knowledge of Dutch culture for professional purposes in the fields of education, media, commerce and tourism, for example, as well as to students wishing to subsequently pursue their studies at doctoral level.