French is a world language, spoken not just in metropolitan France but also in Africa, Canada, the Caribbean, Asia, and North America. The French courses at the University of Durham produce graduates with a high level of competence in spoken and written French, and a good understanding of contemporary French and Francophone culture and society. In addition, they inculcate transferable skills which are highly valued by graduate employers, such as team work, the ability to think clearly and critically and to present ideas in an ordered and convincing fashion.

The Department of French at Durham is one of the most prestigious in the UK, as our high position in the national league tables confirms, with high-quality teaching and an international reputation for excellence in research. We are strongly committed to carrying out research in all periods, from the medieval to the contemporary, and recent appointments have recently taken the department in new directions, especially in the realm of visual and cultural studies. We are situated at the cutting edge of our discipline, with research and teaching expertise in cinema, comedy, ecocriticism, ethnicity, gender, journalism, lesbian/ gay/ bisexual/ transsexual studies, literature, photography, psychoanalysis, queer theory, song, surrealism, theory, and urban change.

At postgraduate level, we offer an MA by Research, and supervision of PhD topics in all of the areas mentioned above and more, depending on the research interests of the individual student. French and francophone topics can also be studied as part of the School's taught MAs in the Photographic Image, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Culture and Difference, Translation Studies and Seventeenth Century Studies.

The Department of French at Durham University participated in RAE08 and received detailed feedback in January 2009. 90% of all of the research submitted by Durham University staff was assessed as being at least of International Quality (2* and above) in terms of originality, significance and rigour. Of the research assessed from French, 50% is recognised as Internationally Excellent or World Leading (3* and 4*).

Students wishing to take French as an elective or subsidiary subject, rather than as part of a named degree programme, should contact the CFLS