Italian/Religious Studies (4 years)
UCAS Code: VR63
Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
Excluding General Studies and Critical Thinking
Extended Project
For applicants taking the EPQ qualification, an A in the EPQ can be recognised to lower the entry requirements by a single grade. For example an AAB offer would be “AAB from 3 A levels or ABB from 3 A levels and a grade A in the EPQ”. Please note that any subject specific requirements must be met.
GCSE/National 4/National 5
GCSE English Language Grade C or 4, IGCSE English First Language grade C, IGCSE English as a Second Language grade C
Achieve the IB Diploma with 655 in 3 HL subjects with 6 in HL History, Classics or Ancient History
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
in Humanities or Social Science subjects. Any other BTEC subject if combined with an A-Level excluding General Studies and Critical Thinking.
Scottish Advanced Higher
Excluding General Studies and Critical Thinking
The Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate Skills Challenge Certificate will be accepted in lieu of one A Level at the A Level grades specified, excluding any subject specific requirements.
UCAS Tariff
We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.
About this course
Many students find studying a joint honours stimulating and rewarding as they are able to observe both similarities and differences between the two subjects. By combining Religious Studies and Italian, you will gain a variety of transferable skills and knowledge beneficial to the world of employment, making you competitive and attractive in an increasingly global workforce and opening the doors to a variety of career paths.
Religion has formed part of human experience from the earliest traces of existence up to the present day. It has been the way most cultures have sought to express their understanding of the purpose of life and the foundation of personal and social behaviour. You will have the opportunity to explore your own and other peoples' religious history and culture, and some of the fundamental questions of existence, in a flourishing centre of research.
You will develop critical understanding of religious studies with relevance to the historical development of religion(s) in contemporary societies. The programme encourages you to explore religions and theologies in relation to a wide range of historical, theoretical, and social issues, and according to a range of methodological approaches (including textual hermeneutics, language study, gender theories, cultural and theoretical anthropology, conflict studies, media, and globalisation).
Since Roman times, the Italian contribution to world culture has been enormous as it is obvious to anyone who steps foot in the country, however briefly. But Italy is not just a country of singular cultural importance. It is a major political partner in the European Union, and it is a leading force in fields such as engineering and architecture. It is the home of the design and fashion industries.
Italian at Cardiff University enables you to access, analyse and evaluate current developments across the Italian speaking world as well as the cultures and values of the past. Having studied Italian, you will be ready to take advantage of the wide-ranging opportunities open to language graduates today.
We offer Italian for both advanced students and beginners. In terms of language acquisition, this course will enable you to develop your writing, oral and aural skills through a range of learning activities, and using a variety of audio-visual materials. In your first year, in addition to your language tuition, an introduction to history and culture seeks to provide a solid foundation for more specialised studies as you progress through your course.
You will develop high-level language skills with the aim of achieving near-native competency along with in-depth knowledge of aspects of the culture, history, politics and society of Italy. You will spend your third year in Italy, practising and developing your language skills.
It is important to remember that studying languages is not just about the language itself. It involves examining many aspects of a country and its culture, its social structures and institutions, politics, history, literature and cinema. Through the study of such areas you are able to gain a better understanding of Italian culture and of how it has evolved over the centuries, becoming what it is today.
On completion of this four-year programme, you will have a high level of language proficiency, as well as a critical understanding of key aspects of Italian history, culture, literature, politics and contemporary society.
Each school involved in delivering the degree offers a challenging course of modules, supported by a friendly atmosphere and excellent staff-student relationships.
Distinctive features
•core modules that guarantee a solid base for all, but then allow you, with advice from your personal tutor, to carve out a programme that will best fit your interests and career aspirations
•a pathway into this degree for beginners who do not have Italian A-level
•a year spent studying or working in Italy.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
Extra funding
Cardiff University has many scholarships on offer to our prospective students. Please see our website at http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/funding/scholarships for further information.
The Uni
Main Site - Cardiff
School of Modern Languages

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How do students rate their degree experience?
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Italian studies
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Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
Theology and religious studies
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Italian studies
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
What do graduate employment figures really tell you?This is one of the less common modern languages for students to take, but graduates from Italian courses have a lot of options available to them when they complete their degrees. About one in five graduates from 2015 got jobs overseas — often as English teachers — which is much higher than for most subjects, and higher than previous years. Nearly half of the rest went to work in London. Those who want to stay at home to work usually find jobs anywhere where good communication skills are a must — and in 2015, that included education, marketing and finance. But remember — whilst employers say they rate graduates who have more than one language, you need to have them as part of a whole package of good skills.
Theology and religious studies
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
What do graduate employment figures really tell you?Theology can actually be a very vocational subject —by far the most common move for theology graduates is to go into the clergy and at the moment we have a serious shortage of people willing to go into what is one of the oldest graduate careers. If you want to study theology but don't want to follow a religious career, then there are plenty of options available. 2015 graduates went into all sorts of jobs requiring a degree, from education and community work, to marketing, HR and financial analysis. Postgraduate study is also popular — a lot of theology graduates train as teachers, or go into Masters or even doctoral study - where philosophy and law are very popular postgraduate subjects of study.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Italian studies
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£19k
£24k
£27k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
Theology and religious studies
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£18k
£25k
£27k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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