Enhanced Degree Titles

As we recognise the value of language learning for our graduates, Keele is one of the few UK universities that allows you to gain an enhanced degree title that acknowledges your achievements in language studies.

If you complete at least 4 modules (60 credits*) in your chosen language during your time at Keele and successfully complete stage 6 or above, you will be awarded an enhanced degree title with the designation "with competency in [Language]". ‘With competency’ pathways are currently available in British Sign Language (BSL), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Russian and Spanish.

For example, “BA (Hons) in History with competency in Japanese”.

If you complete at least 4 modules (60 credits*) in the chosen language during your time at Keele, and successfully complete stage 10 or above, you will be awarded an enhanced degree title with the designation "with advanced competency in [Language]". ‘With advanced competency’ pathways are currently available in French, German and Spanish.

For example, “BSc (Hons) in Psychology with advanced competency in German".

Please note that the language enhancement is available for most degrees regardless of whether language modules are taken as part or in additional to your 120 study credits. However, it is NOT offered for some professionally/externally accredited programmes such as Medicine, Nursing, or Physiotherapy. For details of exclusions please consult your programme specifications.

Prior to you completing your main degree programme, the Language Centre will notify the Student Records and Exams Team if you have passed a sufficient number of modules to meet the requirements for an enhanced degree title. If this applies to your, when you receive the email confirmation of your final degree award outcome, the relevant language competency will be shown as part of your award title. Until this time, the enhanced title will not show on communications regarding your award.

The Language Centre receives a number of queries each year from students who engage in study abroad in a non-English speaking country and wish to have their language competency recognised in their degree title, despite not fulfilling the requirements above – either having too few study credits or not being able to complete modules 6 or 10.

If this applies to you, please carefully read the following.

Credit Requirements for the Enhanced Degree Title and Study Abroad:

If you cannot achieve the required 60 credits (4 modules) at Keele due to study abroad, your language study during your time abroad can be accredited to a maximum of 15 credits as follows:

To have your language studies abroad accredited*: If you have successfully completed one or more language modules at a Keele partner institution during your study abroad, a notional credit value of 15 can be allocated for your language study if you have studied a minimum of 40 taught hours.
You must have completed a minimum of 45 credits (3 modules) in the chosen language at Keele by the time you graduate.
You need to successfully complete the required minimum module levels (6 or 10) at Keele

*To have your language studies abroad accredited, you must submit written evidence of successful completion of a language course at a partner university. Please present the original document - including number of contact hours, level of the language studied, and result achieved - to the Language Centre office by the end of October of the year you return to Keele.

It is not possible to allow more than 15 credits from study abroad counting towards the enhanced degree title, regardless of the number of hours/modules of language studied at the partner institution.

If you are on track to have studied 4 language modules at Keele and reached the above threshold levels (stages 6 or 10) by the time you graduate, you do not need to submit details of language studies during your time abroad. The above only applies to students who cannot achieve the standard 60 credits during their time at Keele.

Level of language study on your return to Keele:

If you have not yet reached the threshold levels - language stage 6 or 10 – for the ‘with competency/ with advanced competency’ enhancement and wish to continue with your language studies upon your return to Keele, you must discuss the best level of study with your language tutor at the earliest opportunity.

Students whose language competency is not deemed to exceed that of the highest language level available at Keele are required to complete the relevant Keele modules after their return from the year abroad to be awarded the relevant degree designation.

If your language level is deemed to exceed the highest level of language module available at Keele after your extended stay in the target country – and are therefore unable to enrol for language stage 6 or 12 modules - you will be offered the opportunity to undertake a formal language assessment allowing you to achieve the relevant degree enhancement (‘with competency in Chinese/Italian/Japanese/Russian’ OR ‘with advanced competency in French/German/Spanish’). This route is only open to you if you also fulfil the credit requirements set out above.

If you are enrolled in a four-year (Integrated Masters) degree programme, you must fulfil the requirements for the Enhanced Degree Title during the first three years of your programme. This is because your final year is classified as a postgraduate (MA) course and does not count towards the undergraduate Enhanced Degree Title.