History

Three years full-time or flexible part-time.

Our students and graduates have consistently rated History as demanding, well-organised, supportive and intellectually satisfying. In the National Student Survey of 2008, students rated History as the best performing subject at The University of Northampton and among the highest rated History departments in the wider region. The course aims to develop your ability to understand and analyse the past, to organise information, to study through advanced teaching and learning methods, and to achieve independence of thought.

History students study a wide range of topics and can tailor their course to suit their own individual interests. A research practice module sharpens students' skills in the second stage while the final stage allows students to take specialist modules, in which they work with tutors on the tutors' own specialist research areas.

Stage one

There are two compulsory modules: Kings and Confessions in Europe 1500-1700 and Conflict and Diplomacy in the 20th Century. Optional modules include The Holocaust and its Histories, Introduction to Women's History, Black History and History of British Heritage.

Stage two

The modules are Research Skills in History (compulsory module), Victorian Britain, British Society 1680-1820, Religion and Society in England 1400- 1600, Empires Through History, Total War and Crime, Policing and Punishment. There is the opportunity to do a short placement in a heritage context or a history archive. There are also other activities to give you a view of careers and professions and of how studying History prepares you for these.

Stage three

The compulsory 10,000 word dissertation engages you with a historical issue or subject, bringing evidence and analysis together. The taught options include The Holocaust, Witchcraft Trials, The Home Front in the Second World War, Fascism, German History, Europe in World War One, Crime in the Late Victorian Period, and Citizenship and Gender.

• Provides an opportunity to study within a small department where you will be known and treated individually
• A wide range of history is available from the early modern to the contemporary period
• Enthusiastic team who are all engaged in history research and want to share it with you
• The department is currently rated as conducting research of national and international importance. Students benefit from knowing that cutting-edge research will be fed into their learning experience

• 18th Century History
• British History
• History of Empire
• Black History
• Early Modern History
• European History
• History of British Heritage
• Modern History
• The History of Crime
• The History of Gender
• The History of War

The Division of History at The University of Northampton offers innovative and research-driven courses on British, European, American and colonial history, covering all periods from the 15th century through to the 21st century. You will be taught by practising historians, all of whom are enthusiastic about their work and, as experts, publish regularly in their field. Your studying will take place in an environment that is supportive and responsive, but above all friendly.

Teaching and research quality

The Division of History has been highly rated in all external assessments of its work. In the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise, History was awarded Grade 4, for undertaking work of national and international importance. The division was also praised for being 'imaginative and stimulating' in the 2003 Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) Developmental Engagement. The QAA's report also noted that 'student evaluations of teaching are consistently positive'.

There are also excellent verdicts from the final year students of 2004-05 in the National Student Survey that placed History at The University of Northampton close to the top among its regional and neighbour universities. Teaching, academic support, and personal development in History were rated very highly by our graduates of 2005, with marks of 4.2, 4.0 and 4.3 being given in these categories (the top mark is 5.0).

Innovative and exciting courses

History at The University of Northampton offers a large number of courses covering different periods, countries, themes and types of history. You can study early modern, Victorian and modern history. You can explore the histories of Britain, Europe, America and the colonial world. There are courses on the history of crime, warfare, diplomacy, medicine, gender, politics, culture and society. We also offer courses on those areas that we research ourselves. These currently include Witchcraft Trials, The Holocaust, The Home Front in the Second World War, Modern Medical History, Crime, Punishment and Policing, the French Wars of Religion, Citizenship in Eighteenth-Century Britain and Germany in the Era of the First World War.

The student experience

The History Division at The University of Northampton is big enough to offer a large number of different courses, but small enough to provide an intimate learning environment. History students know their tutors and see them regularly. They can always find someone to assist them in their studies and/or offer academic support. Personal tutorials, in which one-to-one guidance is provided, are an integral part of the student experience, but there are also strong informal support structures provided by module and course tutors.

Varied skills-based assessment

History courses at The University of Northampton are assessed in a variety of different ways, allowing you to play to your existing strengths and to develop new strengths. In the first two years this means that you can do essays and examinations, but also work on reports, document analyses and presentations. All History courses in the final year are assessed by coursework, allowing you to show both your breadth and depth of knowledge and understanding. In all years, the emphasis is placed on those transferable skills - such as communication, team work and problem-solving - that employers regularly and consistently state that they value.

History students attend a variety of different types of classes. There are lectures on the traditional pattern, workshops at which the students analyse and discuss document extracts, seminars at which key issues and texts are debated and individual and small-group tutorials for going over ideas and problems.

Careers for historians are those open to arts and humanities graduates generally, such as the heritage sector, public employment, social work, teaching, law and business. An increasing number of those who have included History in their degrees progress to postgraduate study and research for its own sake or as part of a career progression. The PITAR project website, www.pitar.co.uk, gives information on the progression and careers of graduates who studied History at The University of Northampton and shows their positive view of the skills they got through studying History for their lives later on.