Duke of Newcastle 1693 - manuscript

History BA

University Park Campus, Nottingham, UK

Course overview

Expand your passion for history and develop essential skills in research, writing and debate. This degree covers historical periods from the early medieval era to the present day, focusing on diverse regions such as the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia.

Each module is informed by the latest research from our expert tutors. You will connect historical study to contemporary issues, exploring themes such as:

  • conflict
  • politics
  • the environment
  • religion
  • social attitudes
  • consumerism
  • gender and identity
  • health humanities

You’ll develop a host of transferable skills, including presentation, organisation, teamwork and leadership making history graduates highly employable.

Indicative modules

Mandatory

Year 1

Discovering History

Mandatory

Year 1

Becoming a Historian 1

Mandatory

Year 1

Becoming a Historian 2

Mandatory

Year 1

Exploring the Medieval World, c. 500-1500

Mandatory

Year 1

Exploring the Early Modern World c. 1500-1800

Mandatory

Year 1

Exploring the Modern World c. 1800-2000

Optional

Year 1

Arts Engaged in Health (Engaged Arts)

Optional

Year 1

Data, Culture and Society (Engaged Arts)

Optional

Year 1

Digital Projects: Data and Text (Engaged Arts)

Optional

Year 1

Digital Projects: Sound and Vision (Engaged Arts)

Optional

Year 1

Disease and Society (Engaged Arts)

Optional

Year 1

Exploring Digital Arts (Engaged Arts)

Optional

Year 1

Exploring Sustainability (Engaged Arts)

Optional

Year 1

Sustainability Action (Engaged Arts)

Optional

Year 1

The Critical Citizen: Modes of Thinking in Contemporary Society (Engaged Arts)

Optional

Year 1

Writing and Being: Academic, Activist, Professional, Creative and Personal (Engaged Arts)

Mandatory

Year 2

The Past in the Present 1

Mandatory

Year 2

The Past in the Present 2

Mandatory

Year 2

Interpreting History

Optional

Year 2

"Slaves of the Devil" and Other Witches - A History of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe

Optional

Year 2

The Victorians: Life, Thought and Culture

Optional

Year 2

Conquerors, Caliphs, and Converts

Optional

Year 2

Exile and Homeland: Jewish Culture, Thought and Politics in Modern Europe and Palestine, 1890-1950

Optional

Year 2

Imagining Britain: Decolonising and Repopulating the Mythology of the British Isles

Optional

Year 2

Rule and Resistance in Colonial India

Optional

Year 2

The Tokugawa World c. 1600-1868

Optional

Year 2

Environmental Humanities: Nature and People on a Changing Planet since 1850

Optional

Year 2

European Fascisms in History and Memory

Optional

Year 2

Soviet State and Society 1917-1991

Optional

Year 2

The Lived Experience of the Second World War: Went the Day Well?

Optional

Year 2

A Protestant Nation? Politics, Religion and Culture in England 1558-1640

Optional

Year 2

Afro-Futures of the Black Past

Optional

Year 2

Comparative Colonial Encounters 1600-1900

Optional

Year 2

Early Medieval England in the Age of Bede

Optional

Year 2

Health and Society in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Optional

Year 2

A ‘Holiday from History’? Ideas in Britain since 1992

Optional

Year 2

Medieval Lives

Optional

Year 2

The Heartland: Ukraine and the Russian Imperial Project 1569-1785

Optional

Year 2

The Russian Empire 1855-1917

Optional

Year 2

The Stranger Next Door: Jews and Christians in the Middle Ages

Optional

Year 2

Applying the Digital Humanities (Engaged Arts)

Optional

Year 2

Arts Work Placement Module (Engaged Arts)

Optional

Year 2

Community Engagement and Social Impact (Engaged Arts)

Optional

Year 2

Decolonisation and Justice (Engaged Arts)

Optional

Year 2

Employing the Arts (Engaged Arts)

Optional

Year 2

Issues in the Health Humanities (Engaged Arts)

Optional

Year 2

Living and Working in a Multi-Lingual World (Engaged Arts)

Optional

Year 2

Made in Nottingham (Engaged Arts)

Mandatory

Year 3

History Dissertation

Mandatory

Year 3

History Special Subject

Optional

Year 3

Crisis, Revolution and Rupture 1

Optional

Year 3

Crisis, Revolution and Rupture 2

Optional

Year 3

Empires 1

Optional

Year 3

Empires 2

Optional

Year 3

Everyday Life and Culture 1

Optional

Year 3

Everyday Life and Culture 2

Optional

Year 3

Ideas and Ideologies 1

Optional

Year 3

Ideas and Ideologies 2

Optional

Year 3

Peace and Conflict 1

Optional

Year 3

Peace and Conflict 2

Optional

Year 3

Voices from the Margins 1

Optional

Year 3

Voices from the Margins 2

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About modules

The above is a sample of the typical modules we offer, but is not intended to be construed or relied on as a definitive list of what might be available in any given year. This content was last updated on Tuesday 6 May 2025. Due to timetabling availability, there may be restrictions on some module combinations.

Teaching and learning

You will be taught via a mixture of large-group lectures and smaller, interactive seminars. You will also be taught through tutorials and supervisions. These are one-to-one meetings or discussions with an academic tutor.

Support
 
All students are assigned a personal tutor at the start of each academic year. Your personal tutor oversees your academic development and personal welfare.

In year one, your personal tutor will teach your weekly seminars on our 'Discovering History' module. In year three, your personal tutor will teach your weekly special subject seminars. As a result, our students often develop highly supportive and collaborative relationships with their personal tutor.

Peer mentoring
 
All new undergraduate students are allocated a peer mentor, to help you settle into life at Nottingham. Find out more about the support on offer.

Teaching quality
 
94% of our class of 2022 graduated with a 1st or 2:1 degree classification. Source: UoN student outcomes data, Annual Monitoring (QDS) Analyses 2022.

Tutor's contributions to high quality teaching and learning are recognised through our annual Lord Dearing Awards - view the full list of recipients.
 
Teaching methods
  • Lectures
  • Seminars
  • Tutorials
  • Workshops
  • Field trips

Your tutors will all be qualified academics with PhDs. Some of our postgraduate research students also support teaching after suitable training.

Your assessments will vary according to the topic studied. Assessments comprise coursework and exams. Forms of coursework may include:

  • essays
  • individual or team presentations
  • group projects
  • student-led seminars
  • interpretation of document sources or images
  • poster presentations
  • reviews and reflections on the process of study
  • independently-researched dissertation

Assessment methods

  • Essay
  • Examinations
  • Presentation
  • Portfolio (written/digital)
  • Dissertation
  • Reflective review

You’ll have at least the following hours of timetabled contact a week through lectures, seminars and workshops, tutorials and supervisions.

  • Year one: minimum of 11 hours
  • Year two: minimum of 9 hours
  • Final year: minimum of 7 hours

Your tutors will also be available outside these times to discuss issues and develop your understanding.

We reduce your contact hours as you work your way through the course. As you progress, we expect you to assume greater responsibility for your studies and work more independently.

Lectures on our largest module, 'Discovering History', are typically attended by up to 350 students. The corresponding seminars are typically no larger than 15. Year-two module lectures may be attended by up to 75 students, with 15 to 25 in each seminar group. Special subject seminars are limited to a maximum of 20.

As well as scheduled teaching, you’ll carry out extensive self-directed study such as:

  • reading, researching and note taking
  • analysing primary sources
  • planning and writing essays and other assessed work
  • collaborating with fellow students

As a guide, 20 credits (a typical module) is approximately 200 hours of work (combined teaching and self-directed study).

Careers

As a history graduate, you will have gained the following key transferable skills:

  • problem-solving and analysis
  • planning and researching written work
  • gaining evidence and communicating findings
  • objective thinking
  • communication, both oral and written
  • presenting ideas and information, including collaboratively

"With a history degree, it allows you to work in many different industries and collaborate with a variety of people. I liked that, as it wasn’t a specific route into a job. I’ve got friends who did history that are working in very different careers to me and it is great to see the different career paths people have all taken from studying the same subject."

- Emma Pluck, History BA graduate, now Principal at Capgemini Invent

Read our student and alumni profiles for more about the range of skills you will gain, as well as the careers our students move into.

 

Average starting salary and career progression

78.8% of undergraduates from the Faculty of Arts secured graduate level employment or further study within 15 months of graduation. The average annual starting salary for these graduates was £23,974.

HESA Graduate Outcomes (2017 to 2021 cohorts). The Graduate Outcomes % is calculated using The Guardian University Guide methodology. The average annual salary is based on graduates working full-time within the UK.

Studying for a degree at the University of Nottingham will provide you with the type of skills and experiences that will prove invaluable in any career, whichever direction you decide to take.

Throughout your time with us, our Careers and Employability Service can work with you to improve your employability skills even further; assisting with job or course applications, searching for appropriate work experience placements and hosting events to bring you closer to a wide range of prospective employers.

Have a look at our careers page for an overview of all the employability support and opportunities that we provide to current students.

The University of Nottingham is consistently named as one of the most targeted universities by Britain’s leading graduate employers (Ranked in the top ten in The Graduate Market in 2013-2020, High Fliers Research).

Undergraduate students enjoying Highfields Park and lake

I was told from the word go, ‘you’ve got to be able to present your case, present your argument’. You’ve got to be able to negotiate. Now, I am negotiating with sub-contractors over price! History gives you the confidence to do it on a piece of paper. If you can do that, you can do it verbally, so it’s a stepping-stone.

Emma Sharman

History BA 2020 graduate, currently working as a Graduate Quantity Surveyor

Course data

Open Day June 2022