The bachelor programme in Ancient Languages and Letters: Oriental Languages totals 180 credits over 3 blocks (3 x 60 credits). It consists of a basic major syllabus of 150 credits and a minor syllabus of 30 credits (2 x 15 credits), over blocks 2 and 3.
There are four main strands in the Bachelor’s degree programme :
(1) general training in different humanities subjects (history and historical criticism, literature and linguistics, philosophy and religious studies) as well as training in the methodology and practice of academic discourse.
(2) training in the methodology of Oriental philology, including an introduction to classical studies and classical languages and literature.
(3) training in various Oriental languages chosen according to each student’s personal project from Greek, Arabic, Akkadian, Hittite, hieroglyphic Egyptian, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Armenian, Georgian or Sanskrit ; this forms the subject of a Bachelor’s paper.
(4) training in various Oriental civilisations, their history, literature and religion (Pharaonic Egypt, ancient Near East, Christian and Byzantine East, Islam and the Arab world, India and Indian Asia).
The first block of undergraduate studies starts with a term of general foundation courses common to all of the faculty's Bachelor's programmes. Students will be introduced to history, art history, literature and the art of academic discourse, providing them with a solid grounding and the opportunity to transfer to a different programme if they so wish at the end of the first term.
They will also receive discipline-specific courses from the first term of Block 1. These will become their core courses in the second term of Block 1.
From Block 2, students continue their studies in their major subject and are also invited to choose a 30-credit minor with a view to broadening their intellectual and professional horizons. This minor can be selected from another faculty discipline or from another UCL faculty, subject to certain admission requirements set by the programme managers.