MA Middle Eastern Studies and Intensive Languages
London, United Kingdom
DURATION
2 up to 4 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2025
TUITION FEES
GBP 25,320 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* for overseas student fees | home student fees: GBP 12,220 per year
Key Summary
Introduction
The MA in Middle Eastern Studies provides exceptional opportunities for studying this diverse and fascinating area at the postgraduate level through a variety of disciplinary approaches. The main emphasis of the programme is on the modern period through modules in history, geography, politics, economics and anthropology. Some exposure is provided, however, to the pre-modern culture and society of the area through modules in religious studies, Islamic art and archaeology, and history. The Intensive language program has many language modules for students to pick and choose from, including introduction, intermediate, advanced Arabic, Hebrew, Persian and Turkish. Students will also spend the summer taking an Advanced Study Abroad module, worth 45 credits, while also having a choice of studying two years full-time or four years part-time.
Why study Middle Eastern Studies and Intensive Language at SOAS
- SOAS is ranked 1st in London and 9th in the UK in the Complete University Guide 2023 for Middle Eastern and African Studies
- We are ranked 6th in the UK for employability (QS World University Rankings 2023)
- We are ranked top 10 in the UK in the Complete University Guide 2023 for African and Middle Eastern Studies
- Modern Languages and Linguistics at SOAS has been ranked 10th in the UK in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021
- We are ranked 4th for research environment - with 100% of our research ranked as 'internationally excellent' and 85% as 'world-leading' - and 8th for research outputs in the REF 2021
Gallery
Admissions
Curriculum
Structure
Students must take 315 credits in total, comprised of 255 taught credits (45 of which are taught abroad as part of a Summer School) and a 60-credit dissertation as outlined below.
In their first year, students on the two-year Intensive Language programmes take 60 credits of intensive language instruction and 60 credits in the discipline. During the summer, they participate in a Summer School abroad. In the second year, they take another 30 language credits as well as 60 credits in the discipline; they also complete their dissertation in the discipline.
Please note that on all Area Studies degrees, including Middle Eastern Studies:
- A maximum of 60 credits can be taken in any one subject area.
- A minimum of three subject areas must be covered.
Year 1 (two years full time)
Discipline Component
A major module(s) from the list below to the value of 30 credits.
Plus
A minor module(s) from the list below to the value of 30 credits.
Language Component
Students take 60 credits in the selected language.
Summer Abroad
Students participate in a Summer School abroad for the selected language.
Year 2 (two years full time)
Discipline Component
A minor module(s) from the list below to the value of 30 credits.
Plus
A module(s) from the list below to the value of 30 credits.
Or
A module(s) from Postgraduate Open Options to the value of 30 credits.
Language Component
Students take 30 credits in the selected language.
Dissertation
- Dissertation in Middle Eastern Studies
Anthropology and Sociology
Available as minors only
- Issues in the Anthropology of Gender
- Culture and Society of Middle East
Art and Archaeology
Available as majors or minors
- Art and Architecture of the Seljuks and Ottomans (12th -15th centuries)
- Arab Painting
- Art and Architecture of the Fatimids
- Islam and the West: Artistic and Cultural Contacts
Development Studies
Available as a major or minor
- Problems of Development in the Middle East and North Africa
Economics
Available as a major or minor
- Political Economy of Development and Change in the Middle East
- Topics in the Political Economy of Contemporary Middle East
Gender
Available as a minor only
- Gender in the Middle East
- Gendering Migration & Diasporas
History
Available as majors or minors
Please note that the 'Modernity and Transformation' courses can be taken together or individually,ย onlyย as majors.
- Reading Classical Arabic Historians: Themes and Trends in Islamic Historiography
- Critical Perspectives on Palestine Studies I: History and Politics
- Critical Perspectives on Palestine Studies II: Culture and Society
- Encountering the Other: the Middle East during the Crusading Period
- Israel and the Palestinians
- Jerusalem: Life in a Contested Place
- Outsiders in Medieval Middle Eastern Societies: Minorities, Social Outcasts and Foreigners
- Turkey: Continuity and Change
- Modernity and the Transformation of the Middle East I
- Iran: History, Culture, Politics
- Islam in South Asia
- Modernity and the Transformation of the Middle East II
Language
You may select modules to the value of 60 credits from the languages below.
Students are allowed to take any of the NME language courses offered in any given year
- Arabic 300 (PG)
- Arabic 400 (PG)
- Arabic 600 (PG)
- Arabic 500 (PG)
- Arabic 200 (PG)
- Intermediate Arabic/English Translation Project (PG)
- Higher Intermediate Arabic/English/Arabic Translation Project (PG)
- Advanced Arabic/English/Arabic Translation Project (PG)
- Elementary Hebrew (PG)
- Hebrew 2 (PG)
- Hebrew 4 (PG)
- Intensive Turkish Language (PG)
- Ottoman Turkish Language (PG)
- Advanced Translation (Turkish)
- Turkish 3 (PG)
- Persian 3 (PG)
- Persian for Readers of Arabic Script (PG)
- Intensive Persian Language
- Intermediate Persian Language (PG)
- Practical Translation Persian into English
- Practical Translation English into Persian
- Elementary Persian Texts (PG)
- Avestan I
- Pahlavi Language
Law
Available as majors or minors
- Islamic Law (MA/LLM)
- Law and Society in The Middle East and North Africa
- Human Rights and Islamic Law
Literature
Available as majors or minors
- Hebrew Literature from the Arab World (PG)
- Modern Palestinian Literature (PG)
- Social and Political Dimensions of Modern Arabic Literature
- Arabic Poetry and Criticism
- Reading Classical Arabic Historians: Themes and Trends in Islamic Historiography
- Medieval Arabic Thought
- Classical Persian Poetry: Texts and Traditions (PG)
Media
Available as minors only
- Communication, Culture and Politics in the Middle East: Theoretical and Analytical Approaches
- Film and Society in the Middle East
- Mediated Culture in the Middle East: Politics and Communications
- Theoretical Approaches to International Journalisms
- Theoretical and Contemporary Issues in Global Media and Post-National Communication
- Transnational Communities and Diasporic Media: Networking, Connectivity, Identity
Politics
The two 15 credit modules below together constitute the major option for Politics of the Middle East
- Political society in the Middle East
- State and transformation in the Middle East
Available as a minor only
- Comparative politics of the Middle East
- International politics of the Middle East
- The Politics of State Violence: An Interdisciplinary Perspective
Available as majors or minors
- Israel and the Palestinians
- Turkey: Continuity and Change
- State and Society in Central Asia and the Caucasus
- Geopolitics and Security in Central Asia and the Caucasus
- Critical Perspectives on Palestine Studies I: History and Politics
- Critical Perspectives on Palestine Studies II: Culture and Society
Study of Religions
Available as majors or minors
- Zoroastrianism: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives
- Christians and Muslims in Syriac Texts
- Modern Trends in Islam
- Religion, Nationhood and Ethnicity in Judaism
Translation Studies
Available as a minor only
- Practical Translation Arabic into English
- Practical Translation English into Arabic
Important notice
The information on the programme page reflects the intended programme structure against the given academic session.
Program Outcome
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge
- How to assess data and evidence critically from manuscripts and digital sources, solve problems of conflicting sources and conflicting interpretations, locate materials, use research sources (particularly research library catalogues) and other relevant traditional sources.
- Subject-specific skills are an amalgam of the skills described for each of the three options chosen by candidates from the cross-department/faculty choices available in the relevant course descriptors.
Intellectual (thinking) Skills
- Students will learn to become precise and cautious in their assessment of evidence and should also come to understand through practice what documents can and cannot tell us
- Students will learn to question interpretations, however authoritative, and reassess evidence for themselves.
Communicate effectively in writing
Subject-Based Practical Skills
- Language students will learn the chosen language at the appropriate level
- Listen and discuss ideas introduced during seminars
- Practise research techniques in a variety of specialised research libraries and institutes.
Transferrable Skills
- Writing good essays and dissertations
- Structure and communicate ideas effectively, both orally and in writing
- Study a variety of written and digital materials in libraries and research institutes of a kind they will not have used as undergraduates.
- Present (non-assessed) material orally.
Linguistic Skills (Two-year Intensive Language pathways)
- To acquire/develop skills in a language spoken in the Near and Middle East to Effective Operational Proficiency level
- To demonstrate awareness of the conceptual and communicative underpinnings of that language and through this interlinguistic and intercultural understanding
- Communicate in written and spoken medium in a relevant language
- Engage with people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and understand the role of different frames of reference.
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
Graduates of the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics leave SOAS not only with linguistic and cultural expertise, but also with skills in written and oral communication, analysis and problem solving.
Recent graduates have been hired by:
- Africa Matters
- Amnesty International
- Arab British Chamber of Commerce
- BBC World Service
- British High Commission
- Council for British Research in the Levant
- Department for International Development
- Edelman
- Embassy of Jordan
- Ernst & Young
- Foreign & Commonwealth Office
- Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies
- Middle East Eye
- Saรฏd Foundation
- TalkAbout Speech Therapy
- The Black Curriculum
- The Telegraph
- United Nations Development Programme
- UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency
- Wall Street Journal
Program Leaders
Program delivery
One-year Masters programmes consist of 180 credits. 120 credits are taught in modules of 30 credits (taught over 20 weeks) or 15 credits (taught over 10 weeks); the dissertation makes up the remaining 60 units.
Part-time studies
Part-time students divide their workload of the required modules evenly between the number of years of part-time study, with the dissertation module taken in the last year of study. It is also best practice to take the Major module in the last year of study. However, different arrangements are possible with the approval of the convenor of the Major module.