BA
History BA (Hons)
Why study history? Our answer to that is simple: because we are human, and we need to understand ourselves, and one another. History helps us to see other ways of thinking and living – and it offers us alternative perspectives on the present.
How to apply Apply via UCAS
Course details
Start date
Degree Type
BA
UCAS Code
V100
Course length
3 years full-time
Typical offer
A*AA
Tuition Fees
- Home (Full-time): £9,535 per year
- Overseas (Full-time): £27,500 per year
Overview
The History programme at Durham is designed to give you a sense of the diversity of human experience – geographically and chronologically. We offer an unusually broad range of options that will take you to very different places and times. You can also explore diverse themes and approaches, such as environmental and scientific history, visual cultures, and gender and sexuality. The course will equip you with critical and presentational skills that are valuable in many careers. Throughout your degree, you will be encouraged to attend an extensive programme of activities, including research seminars and public lectures from high-profile guest speakers.
Course details
Start date
Degree Type
BA
UCAS Code
V100
Course length
3 years full-time
Typical offer
A*AA
Tuition Fees
- Home (Full-time): £9,535 per year
- Overseas (Full-time): £27,500 per year
What you'll study
Year 1 offers you an induction into advanced historical study, engaging with different periods and approaches to the study of the past. Year 2 raises new questions about the human past, setting these in specific periods and parts of the world. It develops your understanding of historiography - the history of history-writing – and gives you experience of writing an extended historical argument. You can also apply to add a placement year or a year abroad to your degree, increasing the course from three years to four. In Year 3 the focus is on intensive study and independent learning. The special subject guides you through the primary and secondary material on a specific period or phenomenon; the dissertation allows you to choose your own topic, and devise your own question, for an extended piece of writing. The dissertation is an opportunity to focus on a topic that fascinates you – and brings together the skills you have developed through your time at Durham.
Core modules
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Making History
We have one core module in Year 1: Making History. But our students do not all study the same thing on this module: we teach it through multiple strands. You will choose a ‘strand’, focussed on a particular topic. With the other students on that strand you will meet regularly in a seminar group, following a course of reading and discussion that gives you a grounding in the key skills you will need at later stages of the course to interpret and explain historical information.
Optional modules
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In recent years, optional modules have included: Decline and Crisis? Europe 1300–1500 Transformations in the Late Antique Mediterranean, c.300–c.700 CE Connected Histories: Early Modern Europe, c.1450–1750 The Atlantic Archipelago, c.1500–c.1750 Modern Times: A Cultural History of Europe, c.1860–1960 Power in Africa Imagining East Asia in the Modern World
Core modules
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Conversations in History
As in year 1, this is actually taught through multiple strands in seminar groups – so students do not all study the same thing. But whatever the focus of your strand, the core module will encourage you think about how history is written, and to identify and define your own questions. You will develop effective strategies for handling contrasting approaches as you plan and write an in-depth, independent project, and you will discuss and explain your ideas in a small-group context.
Optional modules
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Some examples of our current optional modules are The Book of Hours in Medieval Life and Art Medieval Islamic World Inventing France, 1300–1500: Kings and Communities of the Realm Law and Order in the Barbarian Kingdoms c.500–800 AD The Court: Art and Power in Early Modern Europe A ‘Pure’ Land? Gender, Caste and Community in South Asia, c.1750–1950 The “Vast” Early Modern Americas Early Modern Hospitality in Global Comparative Perspective Hard Times: British Society, 1815–1902
Core modules
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Dissertation
In your final year, you will choose your own dissertation topic, through consultation with a supervisor. The potential range of topics is very wide – in recent years, varying from representation of bandits in twentieth-century Hollywood films to ceremonial in medieval France. Guided by your supervisor, you will undertake independent research – and you will write your dissertation.
Optional modules
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Third year historians all take a 'special subject' - an intensive, seminar-taught triple module that counts for half of the final year. There are a range of these. Some examples running this year are: Developing AfricaFamily, Lineage and Dynasty in The Late Medieval CityFlavours and Foodways in The Early Modern British Americas and AtlanticSexual Revolutions: The Politics of Gender and Sexuality in Britain and Beyond, 1920s to 1970sBritish Politics and the Great War
Learning
You will learn through a combination of lectures, seminars, and tutorials. Lectures are a big part of the programme in year 1 and year 2 – we use them to introduce broad historical questions and offer context and critical commentary. Seminars are small group sessions – 10-12 students, or 15 students for the special subject - in which we guide you in a critical discussion of readings and evidence. Tutorials are individual or very small group sessions where we offer you detailed advice or feedback on a specific piece of work. Through the programme, you will progress from more general topics to specialised studies as you gain confidence and experience and develop as an independent, self-motivated learner. In each year you will be allocated an academic advisor to discuss module choices in line with your interests and aimsAssessment
The Durham degree involves coursework and examinations. In each year of the programme, you will have to do some of both – though coursework is the larger part of the assessment. There is also an assessed spoken presentation in the second year, because we think it is important that we develop and test your skills in talking to an audience.Entry requirements
Fees & Funding
Choose which fees you want to see:
Home / Island students
£9,535 per year
International / EU Students
£27,500 per year
Home / Island students
Part Time - £ per year
International / EU Students
Part Time - £ per year
The tuition fees shown are for one complete academic year of study, are set according to the academic year of entry, and remain the same throughout the duration of the programme for that cohort (unless otherwise stated).
Find out moreDepartment Information
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The History programme at Durham is designed to give you a sense of the diversity of human experience – geographically and chronologically. We offer an unusually broad range of options that will take you to very different places and times. You can also explore diverse themes and approaches, such as environmental and scientific history, visual cultures, and gender and sexuality. The course will equip you with critical and presentational skills that are valuable in many careers. Year 1 offers you an induction into advanced historical study, engaging with different periods and approaches to the study of the past. Year 2 raises new questions about the human past, setting these in specific periods and parts of the world. It develops your understanding of historiography - the history of history-writing – and gives you experience of writing an extended historical argument. You can also apply to add a placement year or a year abroad to your degree, increasing the course from three years to four. In Year 3 the focus is on intensive study and independent learning. The special subject guides you through the primary and secondary material on a specific period or phenomenon; the dissertation allows you to choose your own topic, and devise your own question, for an extended piece of writing. The dissertation is an opportunity to focus on a topic that fascinates you – and brings together the skills you have developed through your time at Durham. Throughout your degree, you will be encouraged to attend an extensive programme of activities, including research seminars and public lectures from high-profile guest speakers. For more information see our department pages.
Read moreFacilities
The Department of History occupies the heart of Durham World Heritage Site. Our location is within easy reach of all University colleges, lecture halls and libraries. Our work incorporates everything from manuscripts to photography, printed sources to museum collections. You will work with staff on a rich array of primary sources, which range from medieval manuscripts in the cathedral archive, through the ceramics, prints and textiles held by the Oriental Museum, to the documents of the Sudan Archive, and more. Durham holds historical resources of international significance.
Find out more -
Career Opportunities
Of those students who graduated in 2021-22
87%
HESA Graduate Outcomes Survey. The survey asks leavers from higher education what they are doing 15 months after graduation. Further information about the Graduate Outcomes survey can be found here www.graduateoutcomes.ac.uk
Employability
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