- UCAS course code
- RR74
- UCAS institution code
- M20
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
BA Russian and Spanish
Gain specialist language and culture skills with a focus on Russia, Spain and Latin America.
Duration: 4 years
Year of entry: 2025
UCAS course code: RR74 / Institution code: M20
- Key features:
Study abroad
Study with a language
- Typical A-level offer: ABB including specific subjects
- Typical contextual A-level offer: BBC including specific subjects
- Refugee/care-experienced offer: BBC including specific subjects
- Typical International Baccalaureate offer: 34 points overall with 6,5,5 at HL including specific subjects
Fees and funding
Fees
Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2025 will be £9,535 per annum (subject to Parliamentary approval). Tuition fees for international students will be £26,500 per annum. For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.
Policy on additional costs
All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).
Scholarships/sponsorships
Residence abroad support
We offer dedicated financial support packages of up to £2,000 for residence abroad students, based on household income.
You will be automatically assessed for this, based on your Student Finance financial assessment - you just need to make sure you apply for a financial assessment in the academic year in which your residence abroad will take place.
Course unit details:
100 Years of Revolution: from Lenin's Soviet Union to Putin's Russia
| Unit code | RUSS10242 |
|---|---|
| Credit rating | 20 |
| Unit level | Level 1 |
| Teaching period(s) | Semester 2 |
| Available as a free choice unit? | Yes |
Overview
This course unit explores the creation, evolution and subsequent disintegration of the Soviet Union, as well as the emergence of a new Russia from the wreckage of the world’s first socialist state. Emphasis is placed on key political, social and cultural developments, seen within the context of Soviet, post-Soviet and, more broadly, European history.
Aims
- To help students develop a solid understanding of Soviet and post-Soviet Russian history;
- to provide students with the necessary analytical skills to achieve this understanding;
- to develop students’ skills at analysing and understanding primary sources;
- to develop students’ skills at presenting cogent arguments, both in writing and orally.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this course students will be able to:
- critically evaluate different approaches to and interpretations of events in Soviet and post-Soviet Russian history;
- make effective use of relevant resources;
- present their written work in a coherent, well-structured and well-articulated form;
- present and defend their views orally;
- manage their time effectively.
Syllabus
- Week 1: The Russian Empire on the Eve of Revolution
- Week 2: The Bolshevik Revolution and the Civil War
- Week 3: The New Economic Policy and the rise of Stalin
- Week 4: Stalin’s ‘second Revolution’
- Week 5: The ‘Great Patriotic War’ and its aftermath
- Week 6: The Khrushchev ‘Thaw’ and the dilemmas of de-Stalinisation
- Week 7: ‘Re-Stalinisation’ and the Reassertion of Control
- Week 8: The ‘Era of stagnation’ and its legacy
- Week 9: Gorbachev and perestroika
- Week 10: The collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of post-Soviet Russia
- Week 11: The Putin era
Teaching and learning methods
One 2-hour lecture and one 1-hour seminar per week.
The Blackboard site will contain an extensive range of materials including the course syllabus; lecture handouts and slides; seminar assignments; supplementary readings and audio-visual materials; and coursework assignments and guidance on how to complete them.
Knowledge and understanding
By the end of this course students will be able to:
- understand the historical development of Soviet and post-Soviet Russia;
- have a clear knowledge of the different periods of Soviet and post-Soviet Russian history;
- understand the reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union;
- understand the form of political and societal systems which emergedin post- Soviet Russia.
Intellectual skills
By the end of this course students will be able to:
• explore a variety of texts on Soviet and post-Soviet history;
• differentiate between varying interpretations of historical events;
• understand the Marxist ideas that underpinned Soviet social and political attitudes and approaches;
• understand the concept of ideology and how it differs from one society to the next.
Practical skills
By the end of this course students will be able to:
• analyse and understand primary and secondary sources of various types;
• make effective use of primary and secondary sources to develop cogent arguments, both in writing and orally;
• present their written work in a coherent, well-structured and well-articulated form;
• work successfully in groups with others.
Transferable skills and personal qualities
• the ability to gather, synthesise and organise material from a variety of sources and to critically evaluate their significance;
• the ability to construct and defend arguments, both in writing and orally;
• the ability to work in a team, recognising different opinions and approaches and using them to best advantage;
• the ability to work to deadlines.
Employability skills
- Other
- The development of the skills outlined above can all be translated into in-demand employability skills.
Assessment methods
| Assessment task | Formative or Summative | Weighting within unit (if summative) |
| Primary Source Analysis (Semester 2, Week 7) | Summative | 40% |
| Essay (Semester 2, Week 12) | Summative | 60% |
Resit Assessment:
Essay
Feedback methods
| Feedback method | |
| Individual written feedback on the Primary Source Analysis | |
Individual written feedback on the Essay | |
| Additional one-to-one feedback (during consultation hour or by making an appointment), on the understanding that this de-anonymises marking |
Recommended reading
- Peter Kenez, A History of the Soviet Union from the Beginning to its Legacy, 3rd edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016)
- Robert Service, The Penguin History of Modern Russia: From Tsarism to the Twenty First Century (London: Penguin, 2015)
- Ronald Grigor Suny, ed. The Cambridge History of Russia, Volume 3: The Twentieth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008)
- Seventeen Moments in Soviet History: An on-line archive of primary sources (2015) http://soviethistory.msu.edu
Study hours
| Scheduled activity hours | |
|---|---|
| Lectures | 22 |
| Seminars | 11 |
| Independent study hours | |
|---|---|
| Independent study | 167 |
Teaching staff
| Staff member | Role |
|---|---|
| Rachel Platonov | Unit coordinator |
Additional notes