Studying
The Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies (IAIS) is one of the foremost academic institutions in the UK offering research and taught degree programmes across the field of Middle East and Islamic Studies. We offer undergraduates and masters’ students the opportunity to study Arabic and other Middle Eastern languages (Persian, Turkish, Kurdish) alongside the history, politics, religion, culture and literature of the region, and our PhD students work closely with world-leading academics on their chosen topics.
Marc Valeri
Director of Education and Student Experience
1st for Middle Eastern & African Studies in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024
Al Waleed Scholarships available to undertake Arabic language courses in Arab countries
Work placements overseas to support your career development
Our programmes
Undergraduate
Programmes
Arab and Islamic Studies may also be studied under the Flexible Combined Honours scheme or within our Liberal Arts degree programme.
Our degrees offer a high level of choice, catering both for students who wish to do a degree with a significant language component and those who prefer to focus on non-language modules from across the social sciences and humanities.
We offer a broad range of modules that span several disciplines, including anthropology, archaeology, ethnography, history, modern foreign languages, politics, religious studies and sociology. You are also able to take modules (subject to availability) outside of the department, enabling you to study a variety of options beyond the Arab and Islamic world depending on your interests. The department has strong expertise on Arabic language and literature, authoritarianism, gender studies, Gulf studies, Islamic and maritime archaeology, Islamic studies, Kurdish studies, magic and the occult, medical history, Palestine studies, terrorism and security studies more broadly. At IAIS, there is something for everyone!
Language students benefit from intensive training in Arabic, with the highest level of contact hours for Arabic language study at a UK university. In your second year you will study at one our accredited Arabic language study centres. Immersed in the culture of an Arabic-speaking country, you’ll supplement your language training through practical application.
Placement and year abroad
You will spend the second year at one of our accredited Arabic language study centres. Immersed in the culture of an Arabic country, you’ll supplement your language training through practical application. Find out more.
Postgraduate Taught
1 year programmes
2 year programmes
The Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies (IAIS) is known for its world-leading research, and the department was ranked no. 2 in the UK for its research based on REF2021 (UoA25 Area Studies). At the IAIS, we pride ourselves on research-led teaching and, thus, the research excellence of the department directly benefits our students, and particularly our postgraduates. As a PGT student at IAIS, you will be taught classes based on ground-breaking new research and you will be able to ask questions and enter into dialogue with academic staff about their research – past and ongoing – as you discuss events, theories and methodological approaches in class.
We offer a range of degrees and modules that span several disciplines, including anthropology, archaeology, ethnography, history, modern foreign languages, politics, religious studies and sociology. You accordingly have a wealth of options, all of which focus on the Arab and Islamic world, including Muslims in Britain and non-Arab communities in and beyond the Middle East and North Africa. You can take modules (subject to availability) outside of the department, studying a variety of options beyond the Arab and Islamic world depending on your interests.
Postgraduate Research
The Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies is an Area Studies department grounded in multidisciplinary approaches to research and training. Within a purpose-built space, it brings together anthropologists, archaeologists, literary scholars, linguists, political scientists, historians, sociologists and scholars of religion. Researchers collaborate within the Institute, as well as within disciplinary networks at Exeter, alongside their contributions at national and international levels. We strongly believe that the presence of a variety of disciplines, along with geographic and temporal specialisms, within one building enriches the work we produce as a collective.
Staff and postgraduate research students are affiliated to one of our research centres, where they can share their research findings, participate in seminars, lectures and research projects.
As you can imagine Arabic is a small course, though we have one of the biggest programmes for it in England.
This means that the level of individual support and attention we get is incredible.
I know that all my teachers truly know how I learn and how best to support me and if I need any more support I know that I can always go to them for help. All the lecturers are very passionate and find enriching ways to teach us. One of my favourite lessons was the last day of term where our lecturer hid clues in Arabic all around our institute and we were all running around the building trying to solve it with these massive dictionaries.
Sumiah
MArabic
