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
The International Placement Year
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.
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.
Studying abroad Accordion
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European partner institutions
Lancaster University’s current European partner institutions for languages degrees are:
- Université d'Orléans
- Université de Bordeaux
- Université Jean Moulin Lyon (Lyon)
- Université Rennes 2 (Haute-Bretagne)
- Université de Lausanne - for French and Geography students
- Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
- Universität Zürich
- Universität Siegen
- Universität Trier
- Karl-Franzens Universität Graz
- Universidad de Córdoba
- Universidad de Deusto (Bilbao)
- Universidad de Granada
- Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca (UPSA)
- Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (Barcelona)
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Institutions outside of Europe
Lancaster University also currently partners with the following institutions outside of Europe:
- Universidad Austral de Buenos Aires - Argentina
- Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla - Mexico
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Chinese
If you are studying Chinese, during your International Placement Year you will be able to study or undertake a work placement in a Chinese language environment. Current partners are:
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:
Work placements Accordion
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French work placements
- Teaching and receptionist internships work with Language Connexion in France
- Bilingual Assistant Internship Opportunity, Dorothy Danahy in Paris, France
- Language Resource Centre at Paul Sabatier University, Toulouse, France
- Brand Project Assistant, Nomen Communication Agency, France
- Business Development Intern, Maupard Fiduciaire, France
- Event Coordinator, MJC Annonay, France
- Website Coordinator and Client Liaison, Roomlala, France
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German work placements
- Social Media and Editing Internship, MMC, Munich, Germany
- Marketing Intern with Framatome (Nuclear Electric Power Generation), Erlangen, Germany
- Volkswagen AG , Wolfsburg, Germany (history archive)
- Teacher and Translator, AREVA GmbH, Erlangen, Germany
- Cyber security: FACC Operations Gmbh, Austria
- ÖSM, Austrian branch of International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES), internship providing support and guidance to Graz students, Graz, Austria
- Transport Market Internship, LKW WALTER Internationale Transportorganisation AG, Wiener Neudorf, Austria
- International Relations Office Internship, BOKU, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
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Chinese
If you are studying Chinese, during your International Placement Year you will be able to study or undertake a work placement in a Chinese language environment. Current partners are:
-
Spanish work placements
- Internship, British Chamber of Commerce in Madrid, Marbella and Barcelona, Spain
- Marketing Intelligence Internship, Underwriters Laboratories Ibérica, Barcelona, Spain
- Drama and English Classroom Assistant, SEK International Schools, Catalunya, Spain
- Culture and Language Facilitator, CII Teach Argentina, Argentina
- Internship for CAMeNA (Centro Académico para la Memoria de Nuestra América), Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de México, Mexico
- Teach English in Peru. Volunteach Peru
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Work with the British Council
Teach as an English language assistant with the British Council. This role involves supporting the teaching of English in a school or university, planning activities and producing resources to help students improve their English as well as introducing UK contemporary culture through classroom and extra-curricular activities. You may also support the running of international projects and activities.
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:
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.
The International Placement Year photo competition
Our IPY photo competition is back for 2023/24! Our current IPY students are invited to submit a picture of a WOW moment of their experience abroad for a chance to win this year's competition. All submitted photos will be shown on our website as well as on our DeLC Instagram, with the winning entry to be announced at the end of June.