Undergraduate study | Celtic and Scottish Studies

Offering a wide range of degree combinations, we are the longest-established Celtic department in Scotland and the only institution in the world to offer an undergraduate degree in Scottish Ethnology, providing a fascinating insight into the traditional and popular culture of Scotland.

Celtic civilisations produced the earliest vernacular literature in Europe after Latin and Greek, and today Celtic languages and cultures continue to flourish in writing, song, theatre, the media and more, with a broad international reach and a steady stream of enthusiastic new speakers and audiences.

Based in a city with a long-established Gaelic community, we are at the heart of a lively contemporary cultural scene and lead the way for future language planning and maintenance, particularly for Scottish Gaelic. We work at the cutting edge of linguistic and sociolinguistic research in the Celtic languages.

Our award-winning department is small, friendly and innovative, with access to an unrivalled range of sound, video, film and photographic resources in the School of Scottish Studies Archives, strong links with Bòrd na Gàidhlig, the National Library of Scotland and National Museum of Scotland, and a great relationship with student societies, including An Comunn Ceilteach (The Highland Society), organisers of the city’s largest annual cèilidh.

Your learning at a glance

You can take Celtic, Scottish Ethnology, and Scottish Studies as single honours subjects, or - in the case of the first two - jointly with one of a range of other subjects.
We also support Moray House School of Education and Sport in its delivery of two degree programmes in Primary Education with Gaelic: one for fluent speakers; and one for learners.
You’ll complete a four-year MA degree, with the opportunity to study abroad in your third year.
You’ll engage with a broad range of subjects in your first two years, and specialise thereafter. At all levels, we have an extensive range of courses to choose from.

Undergraduate study | Celtic

Uncover Celtic's rich languages, literatures, histories and cultures as part of a single or joint honours degree.

Undergraduate study | Scottish Ethnology

Develop practical and comparative skills at the only institution in the world to offer undergraduate degrees in Scottish Ethnology.

Undergraduate study | Scottish Studies

Office windows in the Scottish Parliament building

Explore our modern European nation, with its rich and fascinating heritage, from a variety of perspectives in a highly flexible, interdisciplinary degree.

Undergraduate study | Gaelic & Primary Education

Choose between two innovative MA Hons degrees delivered by Moray House School of Education and Sport.

Get to know us better

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Talk to a current student

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QS World Rankings by Subject 2024

QS World Rankings graphic on orange background, text says #3 in the UK, World Top 10

The University of Edinburgh is ranked 3rd in the UK for Modern Languages.

We are ranked 4th in the UK in the broad subject area of Arts & Humanities.

Globally, we’re in the World Top 10 for Modern Languages (10).

The Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings are based on research citations and the results of major global surveys of employers and academics.

They are International Ranking Expert Group (IREG) approved.

This article was published on 19 Apr, 2024