Masters Degrees in Italian Society & Culture, United Kingdom

The Italian Studies MA is a pathway in the faculty-wide MA in Language, Culture and History, offering an extensive range of modules in Italian literature, history and literary theory. Students can take this flexible, interdisciplinary programme as self-contained study or as preparation for a research degree.

About this degree

The programme introduces students to texts from a variety of periods in Italian history and places them within a historical and philosophical framework. Students develop subject-specific, professional skills necessary for the pursuit of their chosen options, including sourcing material, fieldwork techniques, bibliographic skills and linguistic skills.

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits. The programme offers two pathways: taught and research.

Taught: one core cross-language module (30 credits), three optional modules (90 credits), dissertation (60 credits). Research: one core cross-language module (30 credits), two optional modules (60 credits), dissertation (90 credits).

A Postgraduate Diploma, one core module (30 credits), three optional modules (90 credits) full-time nine months or part-time two years, is offered.

A Postgraduate Certificate, one core module (30 credits), one optional module (30 credits) full-time three months, part-time six months, is offered.

Core module

• Language, Culture and History. This core module permits research into two areas of major contemporary interest; recent modules available have included Trauma, Visual Culture, Comedy, Que(e)rying Sexuality.

Optional modules

Students choose from a range of optional modules on topics such as the following:

• Medieval and Renaissance Italian
• Renaissance Texts: Resources and Research Techniques
• Dante: Divina Commedia
• Genre in Italian Cinema
• Italy: A Difficult Modernity
• Advanced Translation from and into Italian
• Contemporary Italian Cultures

Dissertation/report

All students undertake an independent research project which culminates in a dissertation of 12,000 words (taught pathway) or 18,000 words (research pathway).

Teaching and learning

The programme is delivered through a combination of seminars, tutorials, seminar-presentations, film screenings, and visits to research libraries including the British Library, the Warburg Institute, Institute of Historical Research and Senate House. Students are assessed by a variety of methods: unseen examinations, long essays, coursework and the dissertation.

Further information on modules and degree structure is available on the department website: Language, Culture and History: Italian Studies MA

Careers

The programme will be of interest both to those who wish to enhance their knowledge of Italian culture for professional purposes - in the fields, for example, of education, media, commerce and tourism - as well as to students wishing to pursue their studies at doctoral level.

Recent career destinations for this degree

• Public Relations (PR) Associate, Nudge Factory
• Press Officer, MLPR
• PhD in Italian Poetry, UCL

Careers data is taken from the ‘Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education’ survey undertaken by HESA looking at the destinations of UK and EU students in the 2013–2015 graduating cohorts six months after graduation.

Why study this degree at UCL?

UCL Italian is the original home of Italian studies in Britain, and has a distinguished record in the field of graduate studies and research. Students benefit from UCL's excellent Italian resources, including the Rotton and Ogden collections, and the Castiglione and Dante collections.

UCL's central location enables easy access to London's exceptional resources including the specialist collections of Italian material in the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes. The British Film Institute Library holds major Italian film periodicals and numerous books on Italian cinema, and the nearby British Library houses the largest collection of early printed books in the world.

Research Excellence Framework (REF)

The Research Excellence Framework, or REF, is the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. The 2014 REF was carried out by the UK's higher education funding bodies, and the results used to allocate research funding from 2015/16.

The following REF score was awarded to the department: School of European Languages, Culture & Society

74% rated 4* (‘world-leading’) or 3* (‘internationally excellent’)

Learn more about the scope of UCL's research, and browse case studies, on our Research Impact website.

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• Study Rome’s history, archaeology, topography, demography, art and architecture, from antiquity to the present
• Typically includes one term’s residential study at the British School at Rome
• Department rated third in UK for the quality of its publications
• Tailored ‘Approaches to Rome’ module thoroughly prepares you for your time in Italy

What will you study?

Sample modules:

• Approaches to Rome
• Latin or Italian
• City of Rome (taught at the British School at Rome)
• Research methods
• Dissertation

Please note that all modules are subject to change. Please see our modules disclaimer for more information.

What career can you have?

Our Classics MA programmes equip you with vital transferable skills for a range of career paths. They also provide ideal preparation for a PhD and further academic research. 

Recent graduates have gone on to careers in publishing, finance, museum curatorship, teaching, human resources, manufacturing, the police, information management and academia.

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Are you keen to specialise in academic study of your chosen language and culture, and do you have the curiosity and motivation to develop an individual research path, leading potentially to PhD study? This innovative course, combining cross-School taught modules with languagespecific research, offers an advanced preparation for doctoral research.

You’ll work with the support of leading researchers of international reputation, drawing on our expertise in critical theory, research skills, and key research themes from across the School of Modern Languages and Cultures. You’ll benefit from a broad introduction to critical theories and perspectives across the European and North American intellectual traditions, as well as the opportunity to develop your research specialism in French, German, Hispanic or Italian Studies, or in comparative analysis of these cultures. We also provide research skills training, helping you to build subject-specific and transferrable skills.

Our researchers collaborate to teach the core critical modules, and we encourage interdisciplinary teaching or supervision within and outside Modern Languages through optional taught modules, Advanced Study Options, and your dissertation. Advanced Study Options enable you to pursue individual research pathways with the guidance of a tutor or tutors before undertaking your dissertation.

The skills you’ll acquire in research, critical analysis and advanced argumentation, written and oral presentation, project design, and time management will prepare you thoroughly for doctoral research and an academic research career. Equally, you’ll be well placed to pursue professional routes into sectors such as publishing, media, and non-academic research.

Course details

We offer a taught MA course specifically designed for postgraduates with a strong desire to continue their studies through PhD research. This 'for research' course includes:
-A core module on critical theory (shared with French Studies, German Studies, and Hispanic Studies): 30 credits; 1 essay, 5000 words.
-A related core module Research Skills in Modern Languages: 15 credits.
-Two taught modules or Advanced Study Options (functioning on a tutorial basis, with topics to be agreed with the relevant tutor). Reflecting the School's expertise in Italian Studies from medieval times to the present, some of the MA modules offered typically include 'Shapes of Knowledge in Early Modern Italy' and 'Emigrants, Migrants, Immigrants' (offered according to student demand). There is scope for taking one of the two modules or ASOs in French, German or Hispanic Studies): 2 x 30 credits, 2 essays of 5000 words each.
-A dissertation of 20,000 words: 75 credits.

Note that this course is different from the Italian Studies BY Research MA in that the latter does not include taught elements.

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If you already have a considerable base of knowledge and a firm idea of where your interests lie, the MA by Research may be for you.

This degree requires no coursework; the main focus is a dissertation of 40,000 words, which will be undertaken under the supervision of an appropriate member of staff. You will be encouraged to undertake relevant research-skills training and, where appropriate, further language study.

Research interests

Medieval and Renaissance Intellectual Culture — the reception of texts and ideas, and their relationship with institutions of learning and habits of reading, including manuscript and print culture; 18th- and 19th-Century Reading Cultures — the rise of the novel and the development of reading cultures; Transnational engagements with Italy in the 20th- and 21st-Century — forms of cultural expression associated with migration and mobility within, out of, and into Italy since Unification.

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Note: this MPhil can be developed into a PHD.

This degree requires no coursework; the main focus is a dissertation of 80,000 words, which will be undertaken under the supervision of an appropriate member of staff. You will be encouraged to undertake relevant research-skills training and, where appropriate, further language study. You may apply if you already have (or are finishing) an MA, you wish to pursue further research, and have a clear project in mind, which can be pursued under the direction of a Warwick staff member.

You would be initially registered for the MPhil, and upon completion of a successful upgrade placed on the track for the PhD.

Research interests

Medieval and Renaissance Intellectual Culture — the reception of texts and ideas, and their relationship with institutions of learning and habits of reading, including manuscript and print culture; 18th- and 19th-Century Reading Cultures — the rise of the novel and the development of reading cultures; Transnational engagements with Italy in the 20th- and 21st-Century — forms of cultural expression associated with migration and mobility within, out of, and into Italy since Unification.

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The MLitt in Italian Studies is a one-year taught programme run by the Department of Italian in the School of Modern Languages. The programme's core focus is on questions of Italian national identity, and students are encouraged to take their particular interests in Italian culture further through more research-focused study, drawing on the wide historical and thematic range of specialist expertise offered by the Italian Department.

Highlights

• Students will deepen their knowledge of Italian history and culture through the study of literature, cinema, and other forms of cultural expression.
• Students receive training in theory and its applications and are introduced to traditional and new research techniques through seminars with staff from across the School.
• Teaching is delivered in small class sizes made up of diverse international students, providing a close-knit postgraduate community and friendly environment. 

Teaching format

The taught element of the course consists of five compulsory modules involving literary theory, research skills, and Italian literature and culture. Classes are delivered through a mixture of lectures, seminars and fortnightly tutorials, with class sizes ranging from individual one-to-one teaching up to 20 students. Modules are assessed through coursework; there are no final exams for this programme.

Targeted attention is also drawn to practical skills, such as designing research posters, giving formal presentations, and designing funding bids. Students will have the opportunity to broaden their language portfolios.

You will spend the summer months focusing on researching and writing a final dissertation of no more than 15,000 words.

Further particulars regarding curriculum development.

Modules

The modules in this programme have varying methods of delivery and assessment. For more details of each module, including weekly contact hours, teaching methods and assessment, please see the latest module catalogue which is for the 2017–2018 academic year; some elements may be subject to change for 2018 entry.

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