Your career
Studying any of the languages offered at Sheffield will prepare you for a diverse range of rewarding and profitable careers. However you choose to use your degree, the combination of academic excellence and personal skills developed in your course will make you highly prized by employers.
A degree in languages will not only help you gain linguistic and cultural knowledge, but it will also train your self-awareness and your sensitivity towards the world around you. Particularly your third year abroad will be a crucial moment in your personal and intellectual development.
Your year abroad will give you a head start
The experience you gain during your year abroad - and during the preparation for it - will be of crucial importance to your chances on the labour market. Employers like language students because they have something extra to offer: they have all been on a year abroad.
Whatever you decide to do during your third year abroad, our close collaboration with the Careers Service will guarantee that you make the most of your international experience in employability terms too.
Developing your skills
You will, of course, graduate from Sheffield with the foreign language expertise to make you stand out in an increasingly competitive job market.
However, a language degree from the University of Sheffield is about so much more than mastering another tongue. The experience and skill set developed on your course will equip you for a range of graduate careers.
What skills will I learn with a languages degree at Sheffield?
A languages degree from Sheffield is about much more than mastering another tongue. Studying with us gives you a range of skills which are transferable to the professional world.
More than a linguist
Your heightened cultural awareness will enable you to address problems from a variety of perspectives, critically analysing information and arriving at an independent point of view.
With group projects to manage, your negotiation, teamwork and leadership will be on show, while managing your own workload will demonstrate your self-reliance. Your communication skills will, of course, be first rate, enabling you to articulate your views confidently both verbally and in writing.
Your year abroad
Academic skills are an excellent thing to have, but with many similar graduates in competition for that elusive first job, employers now want more.
Demonstrating that you have lived, studied and worked in another country will allow you to compete more effectively in the job market, giving you the added value that employers are looking for.
[Academic knowledge] is not enough. We're looking for colleagues who can be innovative in difficult situations; who can work under pressure; can build relationships and who are not afraid to challenge and be challenged. Doing an Erasmus exchange is the perfect way to develop these skills.
Michelle MacFadyen
KPMG
What makes the year abroad at Sheffield so special is the range of choice we offer. Our students go across the world and do a variety of things: teaching, volunteering, gaining professional experience, studying.
Your year abroad with Sheffield could put you in any number of challenging and exciting situations which will develop your skills in a variety of ways; all of which will impress future employers.
International scholarships
We offer a generous package of financial support for international students, including undergraduate and postgraduate taught scholarships worth £10,000 towards the annual tuition fee.
Applications are open for existing offer holders for programmes starting in autumn 2025.