About us
French is one of the largest subject areas in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, with well in excess of 600 students, 13 permanent staff, and several very well qualified French lecteurs and Teaching Fellows. Government research grading exercises have always ranked French at the University of Edinburgh among the top institutions in the United Kingdom. With 85% of our research activity judged as being of international standard or above in the 2008 RAE exercise, the French Section has a very strong overall ranking within the discipline.
The French section can thus offer undergraduates a wide range of specialised options, from medieval studies to twenty-first century literature and from film to politics. French degree programmes all consist of a combination of language study (spoken and written) and the study of French and Francophone literature and civilisation. In this way students understand not only the language, but the culture and values of French-speakers, indispensable for true intercultural communication. Intercultural understanding is further enhanced by the fact that all students taking French in their Honours programme spend time in their third year in a French-speaking country.
Facilities
The University possesses an excellent open-access library with extremely good stocks of books and periodicals relating to French studies. Indeed, it is one of the largest University libraries in Britain.
The French section itself has a small but important collection of course-related books.
The city of Edinburgh is also home to the National Library of Scotland, which is not only a copyright library, but also has one of the best French collections in Britain.
As the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh has a French Consulate as well as the Institut Français d'Ecosse, a major centre of French culture. All students benefit from the Division's Group membership of the Institut français d'Ecosse. It has an excellent library, and organises regular exhibitions, lectures, and film screenings. Edinburgh hosts an annual French film festival in November.
All students have access to computer terminals which provide word-processing facilities in French, as well as email and internet access.
Beyond the Curriculum
The Centre de Recherches francophones belges runs a regular Film Club during the semester. There is also a French drama group, Les Escogriffes, which has an impressive record of successful performances in both the classical and modern repertoires; it has mounted productions at the Edinburgh Festival and toured widely in Europe.
This article was published on Aug 11, 2011