I
am currently studying for a single honours BA in Scandinavian
Studies at University College London
It is a four year course, with the second year being spent
abroad.
* Subjects * Links * Contact Information *
This page
is under construction
Please be
patient - I'm working on it!
Comments and Suggestions or Recommendations
for good links are most welcome!
* first year *
* Swedish * History * Literature * Essential Skills *
* Introduction to Contemporary
Scandinavia * Linguistics * Old Norse *
* Second Year *
The course is really designed for students with no prior knowledge of the language they will major in, in my case, Swedish. I had previously studied the Swedish language for eight years and gained grade A at A level. Some provision is made for students with prior knowledge: I was allowed to join the third year Swedish group (and was advised that I would be allowed to skip the year abroad, but since that is the most attractive part of the whole course, I declined the offer!), but I found that the level of the third year students was actually so poor that it was more profitable to join the smaller "intermediate" group of first-year students with a prior knowledge of Swedish.
* Beginners * Intermediate * A Level *
Third Year & First Year Intermediate Group:-
We also read the following "literature":
For comparison, the following books were studied for A-Level:
Introduction to Scandinavian History
This course covered Scandinavia from * to *. We were given a booklist three pages long, with different sections for books which went more in-depth into the various eras, but the following was the best book I found which covers the entire history of Scandinavia:-
As part of the course, we were required to choose two different time-periods and write an essay on the first and do a presentation on the second, in order to qualify to take the end of year exam.
Introduction to the Study of Literature
This was a really basic introduction to the study of literature in general (as opposed to Scandinavian Literature in particular) and covered some of the major methods of criticism, such as:-
Our textbooks were:-
This subject, which used up half a unit, covered all the things that the Department obviously considered that students coming into university "these days" are lacking!
(um...)
"Introduction to contemporary Scandinavia"
This was just about the most disappointing course of all: everybody had expected it to be an introduction to the culture, music, economic situations & politics of the Scandinavian countries etc. What was this actually about?! We touched on the geography of Scandinavia (very basic!)
In contrast, this was probably the best course of all: an introduction to linguistics in general and then more particularly, an introduction to the structure of Scandinavian Languages, as well as a history of the development of Scandinavian Languages
Text books:-
This was actually a very interesting course and probably the most challenging. We studied basic Old Norse (the Scandinavian language up to around *) and we also read a portion of an Old Norse Saga: Boðvarr Bjarki and were expected to be able to parse any given section of the story for the exam.
Our text-book was:-
The second year is spent abroad in Scandinavia (in the country of the language you have chosen to study). Students usually attend an approved course of study at a university or "folk high school". Since my major subject is Swedish, I went to Sweden and chose Stockholm University as my base since I had friends in Stockholm and knew it quite well. I also managed to get some part-time work as a Nursery Nurse through the GunillaPoolen Employment Agency.
The course of study was (surprise, surprise) Basic Swedish, in order to pass the new version of the Rikstest, which you are allegedly required to have passed before you are allowed to study anything else at university level in Sweden (however, students from UCL that went to other universtities in Sweden were not required to pass the Rikstest, but were nevertheless allowed to study other courses, so it is wise to make enquiries before you decide upon which university to attend on your year abroad!)
The books we studied were:-
We also studied the following literature:-
and we were given a free choice of reading further books. I chose the following:-
In order to pass the new version of the Rikstest, (which you have to pass before you are allowed to study anything else at university level in Sweden) we were also required to pass exams in the following:-
The text book was:- Samhällskunskap
(I have yet to complete my third and fourth years)
Contents
* Cities * Universities * Media * Arts *
For more Links to Swedish Sites Go to My Sweden Interest Page
The following are Scandinavian Studies Departments at other universities:
* In Sweden * In England * In America * Elsewhere *
In Sweden:-
In England:-
In America:-
Elsewhere:-
This is by no
means an exhaustive list! A more comprehensive listing is
available at *
If you would like your Department to be listed here, please e-mail me
If you are interested in studying Scandinavian Studies at UCL, please contact the Department:-
Postal
Address: Scandinavian Studies Department, University
College London, 16-18 Gordon Square,
London, England
E-mail address s.rust@ucl.ac.uk Web address http://www.ucl.ac.uk/scandinavian-studies/index.htm
The UCL Homepage: http://www.ucl.ac.uk and for London University: http://www.lon.ac.uk
Office phone 0171 380 7176 FAX number 0171380 7750
See my Sweden Interest Page
This page
is under construction
Please be
patient - I'm working on it!
Comments and Suggestions or Recommendations
for good links are most welcome!
©
Sharon Mortemore
Last revised: April 08, 1999.