French Studies
With a strong heritage dating back to 1896, teaching and research in French at Manchester are long-established.
Study French at Manchester and you will explore cultural specialisms ranging from the Early Modern period to the present, including contemporary French cinema, protest music in France, literature, and questions of identity and power in the French-speaking world.
Ab initio French is available as a Joint Honours combination, or as a Minor subject within Flexible Honours.
We also emphasise the wider Francophone world in our teaching and research. Our courses enable you to explore aspects of French and Francophone culture across a range of complementary course units throughout all years of study.
Our extensive library resources, which include rare manuscripts, a vast French literature collection, and contemporary digital media, will enrich your learning experience.
Why French Studies at Manchester?
Residence abroad
Study, work or teach English during your year abroad, thanks to our wide network of partner universities across the French-speaking world, and benefit from our dedicated Residence Abroad support team.
Alongside opportunities to study in France, Belgium or Switzerland, you can also study in Quebec. Full support and guidance is provided both when preparing ahead of and during the residence abroad period.
Quality teaching
You will be taught by our highly experienced and internationally recognised academic staff, alongside our dedicated team of specialist language tutors.
Our innovative language-teaching programme follows an Enquiry-Based Learning approach and the majority of our staff are native speakers.
Our commitment to teaching and excellent practice has been recognised by the several teaching awards our staff have received.
The many French-speaking students we welcome annually to Manchester from our university exchange partners also provide ample opportunities to practice French with native speakers outside the classroom setting.
Peer mentoring
Our highly successful peer mentoring scheme enables students to take advantage of the many French-related activities that take place annually on campus and throughout the Manchester region.
This will also enable you to make connections with students across all our courses.
Extracurricular activities
French students at Manchester also benefit from our long-standing collaboration with the Alliance Française de Manchester, which regularly hosts cultural events including Working with French workshops, book clubs, concerts, film screenings, cultural events and talks.
Our participation in the many French-related activities that take place throughout each year across the city of Manchester also ensure that students can explore French language and culture via Manchester's dynamic cultural sector.
Find out more
Explore a few of the benefits of studying French at The University of Manchester in the video below.
I always enjoyed languages at school so I decided to continue with both French and Spanish at University. This degree really appealed to me as I love languages and wanted to become fluent in both. I’m also interested in history, culture and literature, and a modern language degree gives you the opportunity to continue learning these subjects in relation to whichever language you study, which is great for me. At the moment I am studying a French art module and a Spanish play.
Katherine Moore / BA (Hons) French and Spanish