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Study major works of English and Anglophone literature in a London context. Learn from Columbia faculty whose work engages the city's literary culture. View London as your classroom through regular outings to urban sites. Experience British university life and pursue your academic interests at the prestigious Queen Mary University of London!

Program Overview

The Columbia University in London Program, under the direction of Columbia's Department of English and Comparative Literature, is in partnership with Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). The program is offered in the fall term and is open to Columbia and Barnard undergraduates from all disciplines.

One faculty member from Columbia's English and Comparative Literature department leads the program. That faculty member crafts and teaches a version of the program's Global Seminar, London as Literature, that draws upon their areas of expertise. The Global Seminar gives you the opportunity to study and contextualize literary texts in their immediate geographical and cultural settings. This allows you not only to deepen your understanding of the works, but also the city itself.

In addition to the Columbia-taught Global Seminar, you enroll in three QMUL courses. QMUL offers coursework across a broad range of disciplines, including physical and natural sciences, engineering, humanities, and social sciences.

Eligibility and Application

  • Must be a currently enrolled undergraduate student in good academic and disciplinary standing at Columbia University or Barnard College
  • Must have a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA. Students must also maintain a 3.0 GPA during the semester before going abroad.
  • All qualified students are welcome to apply for the program. Students do not need to major in English and Comparative Literature, but they should demonstrate the motivation to study the topic taught in the global seminar.

HOW TO APPLY

Want to apply? Click the “Apply Now” button above. If the button doesn't appear above, the program is not yet accepting applications. You will be asked to set up a short profile, which will allow us to send you relevant information about your application. Once you’ve created a profile, you will see a checklist of items that you will need to submit. These generally include:

  • Application questionnaire(s)
  • Personal Statement
  • Letter of recommendation from someone who has taught you at the university level who can attest to your academic skills
  • Official transcript(s)

Academics

A full course load for the Columbia University in London Program is 16 points, which is equal to approximately four courses. All students are required to enroll in the Columbia Global Seminar (4 CU points) and complete the remaining 12 points at Queen Mary. To complete your academic program, you select courses from Queen Mary University of London's (QMUL) expansive course offerings. You will take a total of 45 credits at Queen Mary, which usually means enrolling in 3 QMUL courses as most are worth 15 QMUL credits each. Fifteen QMUL credits are the equivalent of four CU points.

Please see more about the Columbia Global Seminar and QMUL course offerings in the drop-down sections below.

The University reserves the right to withdraw or modify the courses of instruction or to change the instructors as may become necessary.

FALL 2025 GLOBAL SEMINAR

The Global Seminar topic changes each year based on the research and teaching interests of the Columbia faculty member who will be teaching in a given semester.

The Fall 2025 Global Seminar will be: Postcolonial London. 4 points.

Instructor: Joseph Slaughter, Department of English and Comparative Literature

In this Columbia seminar taught at Queen Mary University of London, we will consider London as a postcolonial metropolis, former seat of empire, and an important site in the transatlantic slave trade. Primary course texts will include novels, plays, films, and poetry by writers who migrated (or were born to migrants) from the West Indies, Africa, and South Asia, who reside(d) in London and made it the setting of their work.

Taking London as a focus for postcolonial literature allows us to consider the mid-twentieth century history of decolonization from the vantage point of the former imperial center. Some of the writers we'll read arrived in London between 1948 and 1981—that is, between two iterations of the British Nationality Act, the first of which opened British citizenship to colonial subjects, and the second of which established restrictions on immigration from the former colonies that had been imposed in the 1960s and 70s. “Postcolonial London” has thus been shaped by the history of empire and decolonization, these waves of migration, and resistance to them. We'll consider the importance of the “Windrush generation”—writers from the West Indies who began to arrive in 1948 to rebuild postwar Britain—to the tradition of "Black British" writing, as well as the work of later arrivals and second-generation writers.

In addition to written literature, we will also study select films and nonfiction accounts of London written during London's long imperial heyday, by Olaudah Equiano and Ignatius Sancho in the late 18th century, C.L.R. James in the early 1930s, and more recent reflections on postcolonial London. These accounts by colonized and postcolonial subjects will complement our in situ consideration of London as both imperial center and postcolonial metropolis, through site visits and attendance at theatrical performances.

Pending approval by the Committee on Instruction

FALL 2024 GLOBAL SEMINAR

The Global Seminar topic changes each year based on the research and teaching interests of the Columbia faculty member who will be teaching in a given semester.

The Fall 2024 Global Seminar will be: UnLondon: Writing (and Re-Writing) Urban Space. 4 points.

Instructor: Matt Hart, Department of English

In this Columbia seminar taught at Queen Mary University of London, we’ll study how 20th- and 21st-century writers have imagined (and re-imagined) England’s capital city.

Cities are made out of wood, stone, steel, plastic, and earth; they encompass human and animal, vegetation and construction, rivers and lakes, desert and pasture, hill and valley. But cities are also spaces of representation; our experience of urban space is shaped by symbols, codes, images, and narratives. By reading literature written in and about London, we’ll study how writers from Britain and other nations have imagined and re-imagined London’s past, present, and future. Beyond centuries of tradition and the trappings of empire, what revolutionary narratives and possibilities does London contain?

Together we will read novels and stories by famous authors such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Zadie Smith, and Virginia Woolf, as well as less-familiar texts by Samuel Selvon, J. G. Ballard, China Miéville, and Isabel Waidner. Our readings will introduce us to an old and intransigent city of walls, laws, and hierarchies—and to a living metropolis endlessly made and remade by human labor and the human imagination. They reveal a city that, to borrow from one of Miéville’s book titles, is London and UnLondon.

In addition to a weekly seminar meeting, students will be required to attend regular field trips, cultural outings, and social gatherings. Several of these trips will be tied to our class readings but others will introduce you more generally to London’s cultural life and history. The exact itinerary of visits will be determined closer to fall 2024, but will include visits to theatres, art events, and historic sites, as well as institutions such as the Museum of London, Scotland Yard, and the Greenwich Observatory.

Previous GLOBAL seminars

Previous seminars have included:

  • Fall 2023: London as Literature: The Early Modern City with Professor Alan Stewart
  • Fall 2022: London: Fictional and Real with Professor Edward Mendelson
  • Fall 2019: Creating Shakespeare with Professor James Shapiro
  • Fall 2018: London in Postcolonial Fiction with Professor Jennifer Wenzel
  • Fall 2017: London Theater from 1590 to 2017 with Professor Jean Howard
  • Fall 2016: Reading London: English Literature and Its Archive with Professor Molly Murray

Queen Mary University of London Course offerings

A unique feature of this innovative program is the opportunity to experience the British university system. While at Queen Mary University of London, you will study alongside matriculated QMUL students.

To explore QMUL's module offerings (i.e. course offerings), please visit the QMUL Directory of Modules. You should filter by Associate Modules, which are those which are open to visiting students. This page of the QMUL website will help you understand more about taking coursework at QMUL as a visiting student.

With respect to your QMUL coursework, you take a total of 45 QMUL credits. This usually means you will enroll in three QMUL courses as most are worth 15 QMUL credits. Fifteen QMUL credits are the equivalent of four Columbia points.

QMUL offers coursework in the following subject areas:

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Biological and Chemical Sciences (Chemistry, Environment, psychology, genetics, biochemistry)
  • Computer Science (database systems and applications, graphics, multimedia)
  • Economics (finance, management, statistics and mathematics)
  • Electronic Engineering
  • Engineering and Materials (Aerospace, Mechanical, Medical, Sustainable Energy, Materials, Design and Innovation)
  • English
  • Drama (text and performance based modules)
  • Film and Communications (includes scriptwriting and production)
  • Geography (Environment and human geography)
  • History (includes Art and Architectural History)
  • International Relations
  • Languages Learning Unit (includes French, German, Japanese, Italian)
  • Linguistics
  • Mathematics
  • Modern Languages (French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Hispanic Studies, Art and Architectural History, European Literature and Cultural Studies, Latin American Literature and Cultural studies, Linguistics)
  • Physics (includes Astronomy and Astrophysics)
  • Politics (includes international relations and globalization)
  • Psychology

Note: Columbia cannot provide credit for any courses taken at professional schools.

Academic Schedule

The Columbia Global Seminar is held once a week, with accompanying course excursions. Timetables for local university courses are scheduled by Queen Mary University of London, and the schedule for your Seminar will be shared by the Columbia Professor before your departure.

GRADES AND TRANSCRIPTS

Click here for the Columbia semester program grading policies.

Columbia students: Grades appear on SSOL and your transcript any semester grades from courses taken at Columbia. For more information, please see the section on Academic Credit in Steps to Study Abroad.

Barnard students: Grades appear on eBear and your transcript as any semester grades from courses taken at Barnard. For more information, please see the section on Credit and Transcripts for Barnard Students on our Barnard student pages.

Life in London

Housing

Students live in on-campus Queen Mary University of London housing located on campus with other full degree or international students. Accommodations are self-catered apartments, or flats, suited for 4-10 students. Students have single bedrooms with a shared kitchen and dining-area. Please visit QMUL's website on housing for more information. Please note that student are required to live in QMUL accommodations.

Meals

Students are responsible for their own meals. You can purchase food at nearby grocery stores and cook for yourself. You can also eat in the many local restaurants and cafes, some of which are on Queen Mary University of London’s (QMUL) campus. QMUL offers a meal plan option during semester week days.

Activities

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Ticket for Macbeth performance with the Globe Theater in the background

Ticket for Macbeth at The Globe Theater

Kirby Eckels, BC'18

The Columbia Global Seminar includes guided field trips designed to provide a deeper understanding of the readings and classroom discussions. The QMUL Global Opportunities Office organizes events and activities throughout the semester. Past events included walking tours, football (soccer) matches, and visits to museums and galleries.

You are encouraged to explore and participate in the more than 60 clubs, societies, and volunteer opportunities offered through the QMUL Student Union. Joining a club is a great way to meet local students and discover all London has to offer!

Daily Living and Schedule

The daily schedule will vary person to person, depending on the classes you take. The Columbia Global Seminar usually meets on Tuesdays, with course excursions occur on Wednesday afternoon/evening or other evenings as scheduled.

The U.K. university system differs from the U.S. university system in that modules (e.g. classes) may meet fewer times a week and/or for fewer hours. However, you are expected to supplement your learning with independent reading and research in your free time.

Location

Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) is located in the Mile End neighborhood of East London, a vibrant and desirable location for the city's growing and diverse population of young professionals and students. The campus, situated in the heart of London, is close to local landmarks such as Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Tower Bridge, and Brick Lane. The Barbican Center, West End, Parliament, Royal Parks and Palaces, and London's incredible wealth of other cultural and historical attractions, are short journeys away by bike, bus, or Tube. When you’re in need of greenery, the campus’ location along the Regent Canal between Victoria and Mile End parks provides the perfect setting.

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Canal alongside Queen Mary University of London

Queen Mary University of London has a long and robust history as an institution of higher learning. It was founded in 1887 as the People’s Palace, a philanthropic center providing educational opportunities to east Londoners. A rising star among the UK’s Russell Group of research-centered universities, QMUL compares well with Columbia in its curricular structure and in its identity as an international university in an historic global city. Fully 20% of QMUL’s students come from 125 countries outside the UK. QMUL awards degrees at the undergraduate, master, and doctoral levels.

People

Joseph R. Slaughter (Fall 2025 Faculty Director, Postcolonial London.)

Joseph Slaughter is a professor of postcolonial literature and theory, cultural studies, human rights, and literary approaches to international law in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. He is currently the Director of the Institute for the Study of Human Rights and a member of the Committee on Global Thought. Slaughter has published numerous articles on African and Latin American literatures, human rights, and intellectual property. His book Human Rights, Inc: The World Novel, Narrative Form, and International Law, won the 2008 René Wellek Prize for Comparative Literature and Cultural Theory. He was a founding co-editor of the interdisciplinary journal Humanity, and co-editor of a volume of essays on Latin American, Caribbean, and African literatures and culture entitled The Global South Atlantic. He is currently completing a book At the Edges of Legality: A Critique of Human Rights Reason (and Humanitarian Sentiment), to be published by Verso Press, and finishing another, New Word Orders, on intellectual/cultural property and world literature.

Matthew Hart (Fall 2024 Faculty Director, UnLondon: Writing (and Re-Writing) Urban Space).

Matt Hart teaches twentieth and twenty-first century English literatures, with an emphasis on modernism, poetry, contemporary writing, and literary theory. He is also interested in connections between literature and the visual arts, and between cultural history and political history. He regularly teaches Literature Humanities and Contemporary Civilization. Recent classes in English and Comparative Literature include “What is Art For?,” “‘Sally Rooney’: Authorship in the 21st Century,” “The Problem of Late Modernism,” and “Contemporary Literature and the Contemporary Critic.” Professor Hart’s most recent book is Extraterritorial: A Political Geography of Contemporary Fiction (Columbia UP, 2020).

Financial Considerations

Many students use a combination of federal student aid and home school grants to fund their undergraduate studies. Many, if not most, of these funds are applicable to studying abroad for a semester or academic year. The costs of studying abroad during the semester or academic year are frequently comparable to those of staying on campus.

All students should work with their home school financial aid office to determine what aid is available for studying abroad.

Please see below for the cost breakdowns for detailed information on all program-related expenses:

Program Costs Fall 2024:

Financing Your Studies in London

For more information and resources on financing your time abroad, please see the pages below:

WITHDRAWAL & REFUND POLICY

If you decide to withdraw from the program after confirming your participation, please be aware of the financial consequences and the office policies by reviewing the Withdrawal and Refund Policy here.

Find Out More

Speak to an Adviser: Want to learn more? Make an appointment to talk with Hannah, the adviser for this program! You can also email her with any questions, or to arrange a meeting if you are unable to make the listed times.

Resources for Accepted Students