2026/27 Undergraduate Programme Catalogue

BA Modern Languages and History (Russian) (For students entering from September 2026 onwards)

Programme overview

Programme code: BAML/RU&HS-Y
UCAS code: V1R1
Duration: 4 Years
Method of Attendance: Full Time
Programme manager: Stephan Petzold
Contact address: S.Petzold@leeds.ac.uk
Total credits: 480
School/Unit responsible for the parenting of students and programme: Languages, Cultures and Societies
Examination board through which the programme will be considered

Entry requirements

Entry Requirements are available on the Course Search entry

Programme specification

The information on this page is accurate for students entering the programme from September 2026.

For students who entered the programme before September 2026, you can find the details of your programme: BA Modern Languages and History (Russian) 

Modern Language and History is an exciting programme, which allows you to develop your own areas of specialism and a skillset that will be appealing to employers. You will benefit from contact with leading scholars in their field in both of the partner subjects. The Schools of History and Languages, Cultures and Societies are both internationally recognised research leaders in their fields, with long-established reputations for excellence in research.

The programme begins with structured foundational study across a small number of compulsory modules, but also offers a high degree of module choice at levels 2 and 3.

Whether you’re starting your language from beginners’ level, or with prior knowledge, you’ll reach a professional standard in your chosen language through intensive learning practice and year abroad. Depending on the language that you are studying, you will spend either Year 2 or Year 3 in a country where your chosen language is spoken. If you are taking your language as a beginner, you'll focus on building up quickly your language skills through your compulsory language modules. If you're an advanced learner, your compulsory language module will allow you to consolidate and broaden your language skills. You will complement your language studies by exploring the cultures and societies of the countries where your chosen language is spoken as well as other countries around the world, choosing from a range of topics, including literature, cinema, popular culture, history, and politics. You can enhance your professional language skills through modules on translation, interpreting or languages for business.

The programme will allow you to explore the human experience from the medieval period to contemporary times and to study historical events, societies, and key figures that have shaped the modern world. You will be exposed to a broad range of different fields of study within the two disciplines, innovative assessment methods (e.g. online discussion forums, wikis, student surveys, posters) and a considerable element of research-based learning culminating in a compulsory independent research project in your choice out of the two partner disciplines at level 3. Throughout the course, you will develop interpretative and analytical skills, and will become confident researchers. You will demonstrate these qualities in when you undertake a Final Year Project on a topic of your choice in either Modern Language or History.

Combining rigorous thinking with communication and professional skills, this degree prepares you for an international career in a wide range of sectors, including law, business, government, heritage, finance and teaching.

Year 1

(For students entering from September 2026 onwards)

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
View Timetable

At Level 1, students must study 120 credits. Students are required to take 40 credits in History, 60 credits in Russian as well as the cornerstone module MODL1070.

Students on Route A or H may take 20 credits as further optional modules in History, or as discovery modules.

Compulsory Modules

Students will be required to study the following compulsory modules:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester
HIST1000	Exploring History	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
MODL1070	World Histories	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
SLAV1120	What is Russia? An Introduction to Russian Studies	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Optional Modules

All students will be required to study 20 credits from the following modules. Students on Route A and H may take up to 40 credits:

Students entering with an A level/heritage knowledge in Russian or equivalent may take up to 40 credits from the following module:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester
HIST1060	Faith, Knowledge and Power, 1500-1750	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST1065	Diverse Histories of Britain	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST1310	The Medieval World in Ten Objects	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST1320	Medieval Lives: Identities, Cultures and Beliefs	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST1510	Global Empires	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST1520	Global Decolonization	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST1530	The Making of the Twentieth Century	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Students entering with A level Russian or equivalent will be required to study the following module:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
SLAV1150	Intermediate Russian	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)	PFP

Route B

Students with no prior knowledge of Russian will be required to study the following modules:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
SLAV1141	Beginners Russian (A1)	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
SLAV1145	Post-beginners Russian	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)	PFP

Route H

Students entering with heritage knowledge of Russian language will be required to study the following modules:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
SLAV1140	Russian Language for Heritage Speakers	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)	PFP

Discovery Modules

Students taking SLAV1150 or SLAV1140 may take up to 20 credits of discovery modules.

Year 2

(For students entering from September 2026 onwards)

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
View Timetable

At Level 2, students must study 120 credits. Overall, students must take at least 100 credits across their two subjects. Students are required to take a minimum of 40 credits in Russian and a minimum of 40 credits in History.

For the remaining credits, students may take additional modules in Russian and History, and may take 20 credits as discovery modules.

Compulsory Modules

Students will be required to study the following compulsory module:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
HIST2025	History in Practice	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Optional Modules

Route A/B
Students who took SLAV1101/SLAV1150 or SLAV1020/SLAV1145 in Level 1 will be required to study the following module:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
SLAV2101	Core Russian Language 2	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)	PFP

Route H

Students who took SLAV1140 in Level 1 will be required to study the following module:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
SLAV2230	Applied Russian Language for Heritage Speakers	20	Not running in 202627	PFP

Route A/B
Students taking SLAV2101 will be required to study a minimum of 20 credits and may take up to 40 credits from the following lists of optional modules (from Basket 1 AND Baskets 2-3) (Basket 2 and Basket 3 are offered in alternate years):

Route H
Students taking SLAV2230 will be required to study a minimum of 20 credits and may take up to 40 credits from the following lists of optional modules (from EITHER Basket 2 OR Basket 3) (Basket 2 and Basket 3 are offered in alternate years):

Basket 1 (Route A/B)

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
SLAV2103	Applied Russian Language 2	20	Not running in 202627

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it

Basket 2 (Route A/B/H)

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
SLAV2111	The Sounds of Russian	20	Not running in 202627
SLAV2113	The Spaces of Russophone Literature	20	Not running in 202627

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Basket 3 (Route A/B/H)

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
SLAV2114	The Others of Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Culture	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
SLAV2120	The Structures of Russian	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

All students may study up to 40 credits from the following optional modules:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester
MODL2003	Global Queer Politics and Cultures	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
MODL2006	Social Class across Cultures	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
MODL2015	Black Europe	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
MODL2070	Reception, Transmission and Translation: The Global Circulation of Literature	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
MODL2075	Global Environmental Humanities	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
MODL2090	Languages in Action: from Theory to Practice	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
MODL2250	Digital Communications Across Cultures	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Students will be required to take a minimum of 20 credits and may take up a maximum of 40 credits from the following optional modules. Students may not take more than one option from each basket. 

BASKET 1: MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN HISTORY OPTIONAL MODULES (SEMESTER 1)

Code	Title	Credits	Semester
HIST2035	Medieval Masculinities: Sex, Violence and Learning 1000-1200	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST2083	Voices of the People: Language and Speech in the Early Modern World	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST2105	Medieval Romans and the shape of Afro-Eurasia today	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST2170	Patient Voices: Medicine and Healthcare in the Middle Ages	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST2260	Digital Methods for History, Art and Literature	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

BASKET 2: MODERN HISTORY OPTIONAL MODULES (SEMESTER 1)

Code	Title	Credits	Semester
HIST2011	Mud, Blood and Poetry: The Cultural History of War in Britain	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST2309	Communist Eastern Europe, 1945-89	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST2360	Bass Culture in Modern Britain	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST2420	Nationalism, Colonialism and 'Religious Violence' in India, 1857-1947	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST2432	Lost Colonists: Failure and the Family in Southern Africa, 1880-1939	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

BASKET 3: CROSS-LISTED OPTIONAL MODULES (SEMESTER 1)

Code	Title	Credits	Semester
HIST2152	Spain, 1898-1936: Disaster, Reaction and Reform	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST2301	The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union, 1921-1993	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST2557	Thinking About History	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST2565	Histories of Black Britain	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST2658	Mao Zedong and Modern China, 1949-Present	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

BASKET 4: MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN HISTORY OPTIONAL MODULES (SEMESTER 2)

Code	Title	Credits	Semester
HIST2037	Dread and Despair? Living with Disability in the Middle Ages	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST2045	Transformations of the Roman World	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST2073	Most Christian Kings: France, 1515-1715	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST2220	The Body, Disease and Society in Europe, 1500-1750	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST2580	Slavery Studies Through Autobiography	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
MEDV2085	Medieval Narratives in the Modern World: Nationalism, Terrorism, Popular Culture	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

BASKET 5: MODERN HISTORY OPTIONAL MODULES (SEMESTER 2)

Code	Title	Credits	Semester
HIST2103	Later Victorian England: Politics, Society and Culture	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST2315	Mughals, Merchants and Mercenaries: 'Company Raj' in India 1600-1857	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST2353	America and the Sixties	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST2430	The History of Africa since 1900	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST2434	The Global Caribbean, 1641-1848	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Discovery Modules

Students may choose to take 20 credits of discovery modules.

Year 3

(For students entering from September 2026 onwards)

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
View Timetable

Compulsory Modules

Students will be required to study the following compulsory module:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
MODL9500	LCS Year Abroad	120	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)	PFP

Year 4

(For students entering from September 2026 onwards)

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
View Timetable

Students must study 120 credits. Students are required to take a minimum of 40 credits in History and a minimum of 40 credits in Russian. Overall, students must take at least 100 credits across their two subjects.

All students must take 40 credits as a Final Year Project module, which can be taken in – and count towards - either of their two subjects

Compulsory Modules

Students must study the following compulsory module:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
SLAV3101	Core Russian Language 3	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)	PFP

Optional Modules

Students will be required to study ONE of the following Final Year Project modules. 

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
HIST3075	Public History Project	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)	PFP
HIST3500	History Dissertation	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)	PFP
MODL3050	Final Year Project	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)	PFP

Students will be required to study 40 credits from the following Special Subject modules (baskets 1-6):

BASKET 1: MEDIEVAL & EARLY MODERN HISTORY

Code	Title	Credits	Semester
HIST3001	Conquest, Convivencia and Conflict: Christian and Muslim Spain, 711-1212	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3071	An Animal History of Byzantium, c. 1000-1200	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3498	Early Modern Media: Printing and the People in Europe c.1500-c.1800	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3687	The Later Elizabethan Age: Politics and Empire	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

BASKET 2: MODERN HISTORY – INTERNATIONAL

Code	Title	Credits	Semester
HIST3235	Dividing India: The Road to Democracy in South Asia, 1939-1952	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3330	Europe in an Age of Total Warfare	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3332	The Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3590	White Africans: Intimacy, Race and Power	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3695	The Korean War	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3930	The First World War: A Global Conflict	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it

BASKET 3: MODERN BRITISH HISTORY

Code	Title	Credits	Semester
HIST3076	Bodies on Display: Histories and Ethics of Human Exhibition in Britain	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3392	Eastern Subjects: British Attitudes to India, 1757-1857	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3440	The Photographic Age: Photography, Society and Culture in Britain, 1839-1945	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3685	Georgians at War	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

BASKET 4: MODERN WORLD HISTORY

Code	Title	Credits	Semester
HIST3018	Pieces of A Man: the art, politics and life of Gil Scott-Heron (1949 – 2011)	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3220	Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3240	The Harlem Renaissance	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3390	The Soviet Sixties: Politics and Society in the USSR, 1953-1968	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

BASKET 5: INTERNATIONAL HISTORY AND POLITICS: BRITAIN & EUROPE

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
HIST3747	The Iron Lady Abroad: Margaret Thatcher and UK Foreign Policy from 1979	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it

BASKET 6: INTERNATIONAL HISTORY AND POLITICS: GLOBAL

Code	Title	Credits	Semester
HIST3015	Indonesia from Revolution to Dictatorship (1945-1967)	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3026	People, Water and Sand: An Environmental History of the Middle East	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST3888	The Global Vietnam War	40	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Students taking their FYP in Russian (MODL3050) may take up to 20 credits from the following list of optional modules (baskets 7-9).

BASKET 7: HISTORY OPTIONS, SEMESTER 1

Code	Title	Credits	Semester
HIST3100	Colonial Bodies: Life and Death in British India, 1757-1900	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST3450	American History, American Historians	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST3790	Gender and Slavery in Latin America, 1580-1888	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
MEDV3411	Medieval Women Mystics: Visionaries, Saints and Heretics	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

BASKET 8: HISTORY OPTIONS, SEMESTER 2

Code	Title	Credits	Semester
HIST3074	The Slave Trade, Slavery and Britain’s Atlantic Empire	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST3530	Mapping the Middle Ages: Space and Representation from the Pacific to the Atlantic	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
MEDV3010	Medieval Origin Stories: From the Trojans to the Turks	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

BASKET 9: INTERNATIONAL HISTORY AND POLITICS

Code	Title	Credits	Semester
HIST3710	Nazism, Stalinism and the Rise of the Total State	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST3880	'Parasites' and 'Cockroaches': Genocide in the Twentieth Century	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST3920	People and Protest: Transnational Activism in the 20th Century and Beyond	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST3999	Doomed to Failure? European Great Power Politics from Bismarck to the Outbreak of World War I	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Students who take their FYP in History (HIST3075 or HIST3500) are required to take 20 credits from the following list of optional modules (from baskets 10-13). Students who take their FYP in Russian (MODL3050) may take 20 credits from the following modules (from baskets 10-13):

BASKET 10: RUSSIAN TRANSLATION MODULE

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
SLAV3114	Russian Advanced Translation	20	Not running in 202627

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

BASKET 11: RUSSIAN OPTIONAL MODULES 1 (ALTERNATE YEARS)

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
SLAV3117	The Sounds of Russian	20	Not running in 202627
SLAV3118	The Spaces of Russophone Literature	20	Not running in 202627

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

BASKET 12: RUSSIAN OPTIONAL MODULES 2 (ALTERNATE YEARS)

Code	Title	Credits	Semester	Pass for Progression
SLAV3119	The Others of Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Culture	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
SLAV3120	The Structures of Russian	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

BASKET 13: TRANSNATIONAL CULTURE AND SOCIETY OPTIONAL MODULES

Code	Title	Credits	Semester
FOAH3230	Transnational Feminism and Creative Practice	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
MODL3130	Languages in Action: from Theory to Practice	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
MODL3200	Representing the Holocaust: Transgression and the Taboo	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
MODL3410	Contemporary World Literature	20	Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
MODL3620	Decolonial Approaches	20	Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
MODL3630	Social Movements across Cultures	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
MODL3650	Minoritised Languages, Dialects and Cultures from Past to Present	20	Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Discovery Modules

Students taking their FYP in Russian (MODL3050) may choose to take 20 credits of discovery modules.

Last updated: 12/05/2026 17:14:30

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