Undergraduate study | Arabic

• You’ll complete a four-year Master of Arts (MA) honours degree. You can take Arabic with Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies as a single honours degree, or study Arabic jointly with one of a range of other subjects, including other languages.
• It doesn't matter whether you’re starting from scratch, or have some existing knowledge of Arabic. Over the course of your four years, ​​​alongside the written and spoken language, you'll acquire an in-depth understanding of the culture, politics and society of the Arab world, and the wider region of the Middle East, including Turkey and Iran.

Years 1 & 2

• Our programmes are very flexible. In your first two years, alongside language learning, you'll study a range of courses giving you a broad knowledge base and transferable skills. This may enable you to change the focus of your degree going into your final two (honours) years, which is when you start to specialise.

Years 3 & 4

• Your third year will typically be spent abroad, turning classroom learning into living engagement with other cultures. Our graduates have told us how much the Year Abroad has benefitted their broader life experience and skills, as well as their understanding of Arabic, including dialects.
• If Arabic is the only language you are studying, your Year Abroad will be in a country where Arabic is spoken. If you’re doing a joint degree with another language, you’ll divide your time and travel plans between your two languages.
• You will learn how to undertake your own research to the level of completing a dissertation in your final year. This is your chance to focus on a topic, period or discipline that’s of particular interest to you. We have an extensive range of honours courses to choose from, spanning the Islamic world and the Middle East.
• In your final year, you will also take advanced courses in translation, and in reading, listening to, writing and speaking Arabic.

Location

• You’ll be based at the heart of the University of Edinburgh, in the city’s historic centre. Our Georgian building has its own library and the Main University Library is just across the square from us, housing over 23,000 IMES resources, including the Serjeant and Watt Collections.

Teaching and learning

• Our approach to learning and teaching is active, inclusive and question driven to help you gain skills for life after university.
• Across your courses, you’ll typically be taught in a combination of lectures, tutorials (including language classes) and seminars. On some courses, you will have seminars instead of lectures, especially in your honours years.
• You will also be expected to study independently and in small groups, and to read widely.

Assessment and support

• You’ll be assessed through a combination of coursework and exams. 
• Coursework may take a range of forms to give you the opportunity to practice different skills. 
• Exams will include oral exams to test your spoken language skills.
• Depending on where you go and what you do on your Year Abroad, Year 3 may include being assessed, in part, by a host university.
• As well as the teaching and other staff you will meet day-to-day, there are lots of ways to get help with your learning, including through the University’s Institute for Academic Development and Edinburgh University Students' Association.

In the 2025 to 2026 academic year, you can take Arabic with Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies ​​​​as a single honours degree, or study any of the following joint honours degree combinations...

If you’d like to study on any of our undergraduate programmes, you must apply through UCAS, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. 

The UCAS site will show you if any of our Arabic degree programmes remain open for application for 2025 entry.

Search the UCAS website for our Arabic programmes

If you have applied to start studying Arabic with us in September 2025, check out our applicant website for 2025 entry.

Visit the applicant website for Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies

Keen to get a head start for 2026?

There’s lots of information about our undergraduate Arabic programmes on the University of Edinburgh Degree Finder. 

For example, you can find out about:

• the courses you will take each year
• how you will be taught and assessed
• the support we offer
• entrance requirements
• English language requirements
• fees and funding opportunities
• student societies and living in Edinburgh

Browse our Arabic programmes on Degree Finder 2026

Applications for 2026 entry open in September 2025.

Skills and experience

Studying one or more languages to degree level demonstrates that you're a good communicator, and someone open to other cultures and new ideas – what employers value as Intercultural Competence.

Beyond the language skills you will develop on our programmes, and the nuanced understanding you will gain of diverse cultures and societies, graduating with a four-year Master of Arts degree from the University of Edinburgh shows intellectual maturity, resilience, and flexibility.

The skills you will be able to demonstrate to employers when you graduate include the ability to:

• understand, analyse and articulate complex issues and concepts
• manage your time to meet deadlines on different types of projects
• work independently and as part of a group

Opportunities across sectors

Our programmes are an excellent primer for a range of careers, especially those that place a premium on thinking that is both disciplined and imaginative.

Within the private, public, not-for-profit, and for-benefit sectors, previous graduates have gone on to work in:

• business, finance, commerce and tech
• communications, marketing, advertising and public relations
• education, outreach, advocacy and training
• journalism, broadcasting and media
• leisure, tourism and travel
• politics, policy work, diplomacy, civil service and law
• publishing, culture, heritage and the arts
• research, development, consultancy and venture acceleration
• translating and interpreting

Local and global opportunities

With increasing migration in response to changing global dynamics, there is demand for our graduates in Scotland, the UK and abroad.

Wherever you are based in the world, the ability to communicate in another major world language, and to understand the cultures to which it opens doors, will make you stand out.

If you are keen to work abroad, it’s good to know that more than 350 million people are native speakers of Arabic, the sixth most widely spoken language in the world.

Arabic is the common language of the 22 countries in the Arab League, and one of the six official languages of the United Nations, with sizeable communities of speakers in Western Europe and Latin America.

Further study

The enhanced research skills you will develop on a four-year programme, particularly in your honours years, are a valuable asset if you wish to continue studying at postgraduate level. 

At the University of Edinburgh, we typically offer both taught and research-led masters programmes in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, and interdisciplinary taught Masters programmes in:

• Comparative Literature
• Intermediality
• Translation Studies

Find out more about LLC alumni and futures