History (Joint Honours)

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

Joint Honours History

If you are passionate about History but are open-minded in wanting to study another subject with it you will find experience and confidence in this type of course in the Joint Honours programme at The University of Northampton. If you enjoy History but are also concerned to keep other career options open when you graduate we enable you to do both. We will also stretch your intelligence through the study of History and are proud of the independent-minded individuals - young people and mature people - who graduate from our programme.

There is a wide choice of subjects to put with History in the Joint Honours programme. It goes particularly well with American Studies, Philosophy, Law, Education Studies, Psychology, Politics, Drama, Sociology and English. 

Why study with us?

History is a small department where you will be known and treated individually. We offer a wide range of History stretching from the early modern to the contemporary period, taught by an enthusiastic tutor team who are all engaged in History research and want to share it with you. 

Evaluations of History at The University of Northampton are consistently good - Grade 4 in the Research Assessment Exercise of 2001, and a report from the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) in 2003 picked out History teaching and the development of skills for confidence in employment for praise. 

The QAA expressed confidence in the academic standards set and achieved and in the quality of the learning opportunities that support students. The report also praised the History course team and the attention given to student employability: "The best students are comparable in attainment to the best anywhere. They make use of up-to-date research in historical journals and develop bibliographical and research skills, in line with aims and learning outcomes. Students are articulate and orally confident. The acquisition of transferable skills is clearly applicable to subsequent employment and lifelong learning".

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.

A mix of coursework and examination assessment: stage one is approximately 45% examination; stage two has 65% coursework; stage three is entirely assessed by coursework with no examinations. Assessed coursework includes essays, shorter written reports, book reviews, information search exercises, document analyses, seminar contributions and presentations. In the final year there is also the opportunity to complete a 10,000 word dissertation - a personal research project.

History is taught by a mixture of lectures, seminars, tutor groups, document groups, workshops, film analysis, visiting speakers and field trips and visits.

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 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.