MA History

Overview

Explore your passion for the past and evolve your historical knowledge with this MA course, which will challenge you to reposition your approach to the subject and help you acquire skills in research and public history.

Capitalising on our research expertise, the History MA combines taught and individual approaches, enabling you to focus on specific areas of interest that drive your passion for the subject. We will provide you with the academic rigour of advanced-level learning and equip you with the practical skills involved in independent research, giving you first-hand experience of conference management, presenting work and writing for publications. This course is an ideal stepping-stone to either research at PhD level or a career in teaching, publishing, research or event management.

You will contextualise, analyse and problematise the past, considering key questions in current historiography and how history has been written across time and place. By engaging with debates around how public history is constructed, contested and represented in society, you will produce your own ‘heritage’ project and also consider how the digital age has impacted on the growth of the heritage sector. Our specialist Global Leicester module will provide you with an opportunity to understand the importance of place and scale, spanning across the historical periods and blending the local with global narratives.

You will collaborate with fellow students to organise and participate in a one-day humanities conference, gaining skills in event management and presenting a paper. The course culminates in a dissertation, where you will use your independent research skills to develop an extended piece of writing in your chosen area, with supervision from one of our academic experts. This course is ideal for students who are self-motivated, with good time management and the ability to work independently, as these skills will be developed throughout.

Our teaching team produces ground-breaking work on topics such as internment in the First World War, the history of Montenegro, cultural exchanges in the Indian Ocean World and the history and heritage of the Olympic Games. Their research has featured in the media, including the BBC’s TV programme My Family, Partition and Me: India 1947, and BBC Radio 4 Extra’s Sport and the British.

Teaching and assessments

The aim of the MA History programme is to develop both generic and subject-specific skills, ensuring that each module develops skills that will contribute to the following module. The course consists of 180 credits with four 30-credit modules followed by a 60-credit dissertation, moving from taught to research-based study.

Graduate careers

The MA History programme is designed to both enhance your generic skills and knowledge to put you in a better position to enter professions such as teaching, museums and archives, project management, marketing or other professions. The subject specialisms and independent research will form the basis of progressing onto a PhD.