MA History

The MA comprises six taught units and a dissertation. Teaching includes independent study tasks, seminars, and one-on-one supervision. Across the course, the focus develops from broader units, through more specialised ones, to your choice of dissertation topic.

Students normally take two core units: Approaches to History, and Researching and Writing History. These develop essential skills that underlie later assessments. The remainder of the taught element of your programme is made up of four optional units, from our diverse offering:

• In the first term, thematic units introduce key debates and methods from sub-fields. You can substitute one of these thematics with a Personal Option Unit (POU). This allows you to follow a third-year undergraduate unit and widens the topics available to study.
• In the second term, specialist option units invite you to work closely with primary source materials to enhance your knowledge of a particular subject. If you are keen to pursue your own research interests, there is also the option to work one-on-one with a subject expert on a Supervised Individual Study (SIS).

In the third term, you will either write a research dissertation of up to 12,000 words, or submit a practice-based dissertation, combining a practical project with a written report. Both dissertation routes are supervised by an academic in the department. Students identify the subject for their dissertation in the spring, but conduct most of the research over the summer.

Visit our programme catalogue for full details of the structure and unit content for our MA in History.

You will typically need an upper second-class honours degree or an international equivalent in Humanities, Arts, or Social Sciences, and a minimum mark of 60% in your final-year dissertation. In cases where an undergraduate transcript does not contain a research element such as a dissertation, we may ask applicants to provide an example of their academic writing that demonstrates capacity for independent research.

If you are currently completing a degree, we understand that your final grade may be higher than the interim grades or module/unit grades you have achieved during your studies to date.

We will consider your application if your interim grades are currently slightly lower than the programme's entry requirements and may make you an aspirational offer. This offer would be at the standard level, so you would need to achieve the standard entry requirements by the end of your degree. Specific module requirements would still apply.

We will also consider your application if your final overall achieved grade is slightly lower than the programme's entry requirement. If you have at least one of the following, please include your CV (curriculum vitae / résumé) when you apply, showing details of your relevant qualifications:

• evidence of significant, relevant work experience in Creative industries; Journalism, Teaching, Curating, Museum work, Professional careers (eg Law, Accounting, private business, Medicine);
• a relevant postgraduate qualification.

See international equivalent qualifications on the International Office website.