At the undergraduate level the Department aims to promote knowledge and the development of skills which are useful in later life as well as to foster understanding of and respect for backgrounds different to one's own.
More specifically, therefore, the Department aims to encourage:
* an awareness of and interest in all aspects of Islamic and Middle Eastern cultures, and an appreciation of the richness and diversity of these cultures
* knowledge and understanding of the practices, intellectual achievement and perspectives of these cultures from the early times to the present day, and how these have related and continue to relate to the rest of the world;
The Department also seeks to promote the development of particular skills, as applicable to the specific degree programmes or courses in which students are working. These include:
* linguistic skills suitable to the understanding of culture through language;
* historical skills suitable to the analysis and understanding of societies and cultures;
* literary skills for the appreciation of literature and the expression of meaning;
* skills relevant to religious studies, to recognise and appreciate the role of religious experience in the lives of individuals and communities;
* skills useful for the understanding of contemporary cultural understanding.
Joint honours degree
IMES currently collaborates with a number of other subject areas in the administration of joint-honours degrees where students may study Arabic or Persian in addition to another subject. These degrees allow for breadth and innovative interdisciplinary training.
See list of all degrees
