The international placement year

Wiktoria photograph from travels in China

Spending a year abroad is an integral and assessed part of our language degrees. It gives you the opportunity to improve your language proficiency, broaden your cultural knowledge and gain transferable skills that are much valued by employers.

The International Placement Year is compulsory for students taking Chinese, French, German or Spanish at major level. Please note that there is no placement year for Italian.

During the International Placement Year students have the opportunity to develop various skills:

Improve your language proficiency
Broaden your cultural knowledge
Enhance your personal development
Gain transferable skills that are much valued by employers

What are your options?

Spending a year abroad is an integral and assessed part of our language degrees. We offer flexibility to split your time abroad between different activities.

Bordeaux — Study at a partner university

You can choose to study courses taught in your target language at one of our partner universities. If you are studying Chinese, you will be able to study or undertake a work placement in a Chinese language environment.

Work placements

You may wish to spend your International Placement Year on a work placement for a company or as a Language Assistant for the British Council. This adds invaluable work experience to your academic skills.

Study at a partner university

You can choose to study courses taught in your target language at one of our partner universities.

Only some of the universities listed are available to MLang students. International Placement Year tutors will advise.

Work placements

You may wish to spend your International Placement Year on a work placement for a company or as a Language Assistant for the British Council. This adds invaluable work experience to your academic skills.

We will support you in identifying opportunities and securing internships as part of the second year ‘Preparation for International Placement Year’ module.

For students studying two languages, we do not have set rules about your choice of destinations. Students taking three languages are required to spend their International Placement Year in at least two language-specific environments. Beginners level students will normally spend some or all of their year in the country of their beginners level language.

Here are some examples of where our students have undertaken placements previously:

Student Travel Journals

The international placement year is an immersive experience that is integral to language and culture degrees at Lancaster University. Find out what our students gained from the experience in their travel journals:

View at a historical fortress lit-up at night time.

My International Perspective: Studying in Granada

Flo Osborne-Jones (Spanish Studies BA) shares her thoughts on her IPY experience in Spain, where she studied at the University of Granada.

A person standing in front a lake at sunset with a fountain in the background.

My International Perspective: Studying in Geneva

Lizzie Coveney (French Studies and Linguistics BA) shares her thoughts on her IPY experience in Switzerland, where she studied at the University of Geneva.

My International Perspective: Studying in Barcelona

Sophia Pollitt-Walmsley (Spanish Studies and Linguistics BA) shares her thoughts on her IPY experience in Spain, where she studied at the UIC Barcelona.

View from the water onto a row of colourful houses with a basilica in the background.

My International Perspective: Studying in Lyon

Lara McNaughton (French Studies and Linguistics BA) shares her thoughts on her IPY experience in France, where she studied at the Jean Moulin University in Lyon.

My International Perspective: Studying in Taiwan

Harvey Hulse (Chinese Studies and German Studies BA) shares his thoughts on his IPY experience in Taiwan.

How do we support our students?

We aim to offer a range of support, for example:

Regular preparation meetings from first week of second year and a dedicated preparation course running throughout the second year
All aspects covered: organisational, social and cultural, health and safety
Dedicated International Placement Year tutors providing individual personalised advice

We take your health and safety seriously and make sure that you feel fully prepared for any issues that may arise during your placement. We do this by integrating health and safety into the briefings and courses you will attend before you travel, and through contact and support during your placement.