European Languages and Cultures - Italian
Would you like to become an expert on the cultures, languages and politics of Europe?
One of the most remarkable characteristics of Italy is its ability to survive moments of great crisis, often by creating new ideas and conceptual frameworks that end up traveling around the world – from the Renaissance to the ‘golden age’ of Italian cinema and design in the 1960s. This interplay between crisis and innovation is an interesting angle from which to examine and better understand Italy within today’s Europe.
By studying the key linguistic, political, cultural and social topics of contemporary Europe, you will learn to understand the mutual relationship, differences and similarities among national and regional cultures. In doing so, you will learn to understand future challenges and inform advanced decision-making in cultural, political and educational institutions.
Why Italian?
If you speak Italian, a whole world of art and culture will open up to you, as well as a country that has played a guiding role in Europe in many ways, even though it has been a political nation only since 1861. Choose Italian as a specialization within ELC and you will learn to recognize the influences this country has had all around you.
All European languages bear traces of Italian culinary culture. Cappuccino, pizza and tiramisù are just a few examples of dishes that are known by their Italian names everywhere, even outside Europe. But food is of course not the only field that is strongly influenced by Italian culture. Italy is the country with the highest number of UNESCO Heritage sites worldwide, and Italian artists have had great influence in the fields of literature (from Dante to Elena Ferrante), music (from Verdi to Mahmood), painting (from Giotto to Leonardo) and architecture (from Palladio to Renzo Piano). No wonder that many artists and students in the seventeenth century spent part of their training in Italy. And in a way this is still the case: all students get the opportunity to spend a semester in their third Bachelor’s year at one of the universities with which Groningen has an Erasmus contract. Students of Italian can choose between Milano, Pisa, Siena, Verona or Trieste, beautiful cities with old, elegant university buildings and great academic traditions.
The programme has a flexible structure. From your second year onward, you will specialise in one of the profiles:
- European Language and Society
- European Culture and Literature
- European Politics and Society
- Transcript of Records – If you have not yet completed Secondary School, you must upload a transcript showing your current grades. You can find the transcript template here.
- Secondary School Leaving Certificate – If you have already completed Secondary School, you do not need to upload a separate transcript. Simply upload your Secondary School Leaving Certificate to the application.
An additional documents, Statement of Education / Course description, may be required depending on the programme you apply for at this university.
If any document is required, it will appear in the Documents section of the Kastu application form once you start your application.
Important! View the full requirements on the university’s official website. Requirements may vary depending on your nationality and the country where you completed your previous education.
You may not need to take IELTS or TOEFL. University usually allow you to prove your English proficiency in one of the following ways:
- TOEFL iBT*
- IELTS Academic
- A Cambridge English qualification
- A national English examination listed on your secondary school leaving certificate
- An English subject and grade on your secondary school leaving certificate that meet the university’s requirements
- Secondary education completed in English in a country or school qualification accepted by the university
- An International Baccalaureate (IB) or European Baccalaureate (EB) diploma
- Other
Important: Accepted methods and minimum results depend on study programme, your secondary school qualification and the country where you completed your education. Check the official requirements for your chosen study programme.
*Use the Kastu promo code LTU1000102 when registering for TOEFL iBT and receive a 5% discount.
For Italian, no previous knowledge is necessary.
Job examples
- Policy officer at a municipality, ministry or non-governmental organisation
- Communications consultant
- Lecturer at a university, university of applied sciences, senior secondary vocational education
- Journalist (newspaper, radio/TV, new media)
- Teacher in secondary education
- Manager in the national or international business world
- Staff member at an international organisation such as the European Union
- Staff member at an embassy
- Researcher at a university
- Political advisor
- Publisher or editor at a publishing house
- Translator
