School of Modern Languages

Mission Statement of the School of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures 

In an increasingly interconnected world, the School of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures strives to develop students’ knowledge and appreciation of modern languages, literatures and cultures through providing a broad range of courses and programmes. These elements facilitate and enhance competence in foreign languages and foster the understanding of foreign literatures and cultures, thus encouraging students to develop genuine intercultural competence. By being active in research and publication, the School advances scholarship in the discipline, promoting the critical understanding of languages and cultures in their complexity and diversity. In these and other ways, the School actively supports the Strategic Plan of Maynooth University.
 
Specifically, the School’s mission is to:

• Provide, through research-led teaching, the best education possible to our students.
• Promote the understanding and appreciation of foreign cultures by providing basic knowledge about the literature, culture, and intellectual achievements of the communities involved.
• Expand, through research and publication, current scholarship in the fields of foreign languages and literatures, (inter)cultural studies and other cognate fields.
• Ensure that graduates of the School have sufficient knowledge of and skills in a modern foreign language to achieve fluency in that language.
• Teach students to understand and interpret cultural documents such as texts and films, thus promoting methods of critical thinking.
• Provide opportunities for studying foreign languages, literatures and cultures in the relevant countries abroad.