About us
For more than a hundred years, Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Manchester has been a major centre in Britain for the study of languages, history, religions, literatures and cultures of the Middle East.
Our undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes cover Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Turkish as the major modern languages of the Middle East,and some of the ancient ones, as well as the Modern History of the Middle East and the study of Islam and Judaism. All courses aim to provide students with a range of intellectual skills related to the chosen subject area, and key skills suitable for further study in the field as well as for the wider social and professional context.
The quality of our research activity has been recognised by the Higher Education Funding Council for England with the award of a 5 ("research quality that equates to attainable levels of international excellence in some sub-areas of activity and to attainable levels of national excellence in virtually all others") in the 1996 and 2001 Research Assessment Exercise. As a close-knit academic community, student-lecturer relations are relaxed and informal, with lecturers and professors readily and regularly available for consultation. Middle Eastern Studies is the editorial home of the Journal of Semitic Studies, a leading international periodical in the field.
The Middle East is an area of vital economic, political and strategic importance in the modern world. Through a good knowledge of the area, its peoples, cultures and history, we can make sense of current international events. Study of the Middle East also offers a variety of opportunities for employment, especially with businesses that work in the region, and in government agencies and international organisations.
The place of the Middle East in history is no less important than its place in the contemporary world. It is the birthplace of three of the world's religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - and the site of ancient civilisations. All these factors make an academic study of the Middle East rewarding.
Middle Eastern Studies offers training in both the modern languages and cultures of the Middle East and in its history and ancient and medieval cultures.
Manchester offers the ideal setting for Middle Eastern Studies with its multicultural population and Middle Eastern communities. Middle Eastern Studies attracts students from wide variety of cultural and religious backgrounds, making for a lively and stimulating working environment.