English Language and Culture (BA)
Career prospects
You’ve completed your degree – you’re now a graduate of English Language and Culture. What’s next? A wide range of career paths is open to you. Many graduates go on to roles that focus on education, advising, or communication. What do you enjoy doing? Your options may be broader than you expect.
Why employers find you interesting
With this degree, you will have a strong starting position in the job market. In addition to in-depth knowledge of the English language, its varieties, and its cultural and historical contexts, you will have developed academic skills that are highly valued across many sectors.
Alumni report that they benefit most from skills such as oral and written communication, as well as working independently and problem-solving. An internship either in the Netherlands or abroad alongside your studies can further strengthen your profile.
Research among alumni shows that 71% of graduates found a job within two months of graduating, and 89% within six months. For 65%, their first job was at graduate level.
Annamika Singh
Graduated in English Language and Culture
“It was always my ambition to find a job abroad, but I didn’t expect to find one so quickly. London is so competitive; you really need something that makes you stand out from the crowd. Having worked as a student assistant at the faculty during the programme certainly helped me, along with being bilingual and, of course, my master’s degree. And that’s not something everyone in the UK can say; a university education there is a lot more expensive.”
Where can you work after graduating?
After completing your degree, you can work in a wide range of sectors, both in the Netherlands and abroad. Your knowledge of one of the most widely spoken languages in the world combined with your versatile skill set, opens doors to diverse fields, from government and semi-public organisations to education, financial services, research and journalism.
Source: Career Survey 2025 among graduates of the BA English Language and Culture. Career Service Humanities.
Many graduates continue with a master’s degree after their bachelor’s. Further study pays off: those with a master’s degree are more likely to secure higher-level positions.
Graduates at work
A glimpse of workplaces where recent graduates have started their careers:
- English teacher at various institutions
- Leiden International Film Festival
- PhD candidate at various universities
- Red Bee Media
- Tweede Kamer (Dutch House of Representatives)
- Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs