The opportunities for enhancing one’s understanding of literature written in English through foreign study are almost boundless: seeing Shakespeare performed in the rebuilt London Globe, visiting the Lake District where Wordsworth and Coleridge wrote their finest poetry, reading Joyce’s Ulysses in Dublin, discussing American literary texts with British, Australian, or Indian students, or experiencing Cotzee’s South Africa. English majors who study abroad come to understand that cultural context is crucial for interpreting literary texts, that knowledge is constructed differently in other political and social milieu. Or through immersion in a foreign-language university, they may gain fluency in another language and acquire a sense of its literature while at the same time studying English literature. English majors find that a term, or better, a year in a foreign university not only enhances their critical and writing skills, but that the experience of adapting to another academic and cultural world expands their self-understanding and gives them a keen sense of the political and social differences in today’s world. The personal and intellectual growth of study abroad provides further advantages when it comes to the challenges of graduate and professional study.

Freshmen: It’s best to begin planning as early as possible for study abroad. If you want to begin or continue the study of a foreign language through the short-term language and culture programs, you can apply in your freshman year to go abroad as a sophomore.

Sophomores & Juniors: You can also apply sophomore year to do a language and culture program in your junior year. But if you want to complete a few major courses abroad, you should apply in fall of your sophomore year to do your junior year abroad (see below, “Where can I study abroad?”). Also, students who have completed their lower-division language studies may elect to expand their knowledge of that language through classes in a foreign language university during their junior or senior year.

Seniors: If you want to go abroad in your senior year, you should complete all your major requirements or plan to take courses meeting your remaining requirements while abroad. It is possible to graduate while abroad, but close consultation with an advisor is essential.

If you want to complete a substantial part of your English major abroad, you have a wide variety of options.

Fourteen universities within the United Kingdom offer the possibility of study during the semester or year in English departments in England and Scotland. In the Republic of Ireland another four universities are available. Similar possibilities for study in your major can be found in eight of the universities that make up BSA’s exchanges in Australia and six universities in New Zealand, where the academic system follows the British model of small, seminar-sized tutorials. Summer programs at Cambridge and Sussex Universities also offer literature & writing courses.

If you have a strong interest in post-colonial literature, you should consider study in Barbados, Ghana, South Africa, or India, all of which have university systems modeled on Britain’s. At University of British Columbia you can study English on the familiar North American model, but with the possibility of studying Canadian literature as well.

If you want to enhance your language skills, consider BSA programs in Western Europe: France, Germany, Italy, or Spain, where you can study their literatures and at the same time take courses in English and American literature. Japanese universities also offer the possibility of melding language study with courses in English literature. Study in English is offered in Europe  Denmark, Italy, France, Netherlands and Sweden, and in Asia  Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam and in many other universities around the world.

The UC London Bloomsbury Center Fall Program offers an opportunity for sophomores, juniors, or seniors to do courses focused on London and British culture and politics.

English Majors abroad should look for courses similar to their courses here at UCB in terms of subject matter, class time, workload, and rigor. Courses on British, American, and Anglophone literature are most easily used towards the major, but literature courses in translation or in a foreign language may also be considered.

If you want to study abroad, you should complete the lower-division preparation for the major and at least some of the upper-division requirements before you go. You should also complete all, or most, of your general education requirements.  This way you’ll have maximum flexibility in the coursesyou do abroad. But it’s possible to substitute classes from many BSA universities for English department electives.

Credit for major courses is determined by the English major advisors upon the student’s return. Two literature courses in a foreign language are routinely counted towards the major. The student should bring back course syllabi, descriptions, and work in order to get courses taken abroad approved.

No, we don’t at this time. 

Please consult with the Undergraduate Major Adviser. We do not have any pre-approved courses. Courses are evaluated after you return and are not guaranteed because of this process.

Our basic guideline is 1 summer course, 1-2 courses for a semester, and 2-4 courses for a year. Rarely, if ever will more than 4 courses be approved.

No, all courses must be individually reviewed and there is no list of pre-approved courses. They are evaluated after you return and are not guaranteed because of this process.

No, but we are happy to work with students on their own plans. 

A Faculty Undergraduate Adviser determines credit toward the major for coursework completed abroad on a case-by-case basis. Students must meet with the Undergraduate Major Adviser once they return and provide documentation (e.g., course syllabi, completed exams, papers, and other written work) to demonstrate that the education abroad course is comparable in coverage, rigor, and substance to a UCB upper-division course. Students are welcome to meet with an Adviser prior to departure to receive advising and guidance on potential courses. 

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

N/A

Yes, the Undergraduate Major Adviser.

No.

Since we do not pre-approve courses, students spending their final year/semester abroad should try to finish their major requirements before they go abroad.

No.

No.

A Faculty Undergraduate Adviser determines credit toward the major for coursework completed through independent study abroad programs on a case-by-case basis. Students must meet with Faculty Undergraduate Adviser once they return to UCB and provide documentation (e.g., course descriptions, syllabi, completed exams, papers, and other written work) to demonstrate that the education abroad course is comparable in coverage, rigor, and substance to a UCB upper-division course. Although the Faculty Major Adviser determines the number of courses approved for use towards the major, the College of Letters and Science makes the final determination on the transferability of any courses taken on an independent study abroad program.