The MSt and MPhil in Modern Languages allow you to undertake advanced work in one or more languages and literatures, and as part of our dedicated comparative pathways. You will join a community of researchers and students working in and between most fields from medieval and early modern literature and culture through to modern and contemporary literature, film and cultural history and in areas of expansion in the subject such as decolonial approaches, gender and diversity, medical humanities and life writing, translation and adaptation, and environmental humanities.

Students can opt to study one language and its literature on its own, or to study two or more literatures comparatively on our Comparative Literature pathway or on one of our cross-linguistic pathways in European Enlightenment, Cultural Studies, or Medieval Literature.

The one-year MSt is suitable if you are unsure whether you want to do a research degree, as it provides a self-contained qualification that can lead on to further study but is also valuable in its own right. It is designed to allow those who have a high level of attainment in a foreign language, and have studied literature to a degree level, to undertake advanced study. Progressing from carefully designed Special Subjects to the dissertation, students discover and define their own interests with increasing independence.

The MPhil course enables candidates to develop their interests even further. Like the MSt, the MPhil is designed to allow those who have a high level of attainment in a foreign language, and have studied literature to a degree level, to undertake advanced study. By addressing general problems in literary study in more depth and by writing a substantial piece of independent research in the second-year dissertation project, the MPhil is a valuable qualification in its own right.