Careers

Studying in Cambridge… gave me an advantage when applying to volunteer at the Churchill Archives Centre and King’s College Archive Centre. Without that opportunity I wouldn't have got into my Masters.

Daisy Murray-Smith, BA (Hons) History graduate and Records Officer with Surrey Police

On this course, you'll build up skills valued by employers, such as critical thinking and complex problem solving.

You’ll receive training in research and data analysis, learning how to gain the most from sources and communicate your research using formats from the printed page through to podcasts, webpages and exhibitions.

You’ll also gain access to museums and archives where you'll meet professionals working in the field, and take part in live briefs for partner organisations.

What can you do with a History degree?

Where have other History graduates worked?

Where have other History students found work experience?

How can ARU help with my employability and career development?

Teaching and modules

In Year 1 you’ll study early modern Britain and Europe, how history links to modern news stories, and the development of the USA.

You’ll also access Cambridge museums and archives as you start to work as a historian.

In Year 2 you’ll explore nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain, and political and social change in Britain and Europe, and choose from our range of optional modules.

Finally, you’ll complete a major piece of research on a topic of your choice, as well as considering gender and sexuality in modern Britain, and learning methods to communicate your research.

Student experience

Dr Joseph Hartley explains how the popular image of the workhouse might be inaccurate in this 60 Second Seminar.
Dr Richard Carr discusses the political implications of Charlie Chaplin's film The Great Dictator in this 60 Second Seminar.
Prof Lucy Bland discusses the impact of the 1960s on gender equality in this 60 Second Seminar.

What will I study?

Modules are subject to change and availability, and may vary by location. If you have the choice of optional modules, these are indicated with a *.

Year 1

The Growth of the USA: Race, Politics and Conflict, 1776-1900
Faiths and Fury: The Early Modern Age in Britain and the Western World
A History of Now
Writing European History
Into ARU

Year 2

Britain in the 19th century
Welfare State to European State: Britain 1906-1975
From World War to Cold War
Ruskin Module (15 credits)
The British Empire 1783-1919 *
The United States in the 20th Century *
Hanging, Prisons and Community Service: Crime and Punishment in Britain throughout the Ages *
Professional Placement *
Battles Barricades and Ideas - Historians and Europe's Age of Revolution *
Leisure and Popular Culture in Britain, 1800 to the Present *
Anglia Language Programme (15 credits) *

Year 3

Undergraduate Major Project - History
From Workhouses to Universal Credit: The Past, Present and Future of the British Welfare State
Victorian London
The Making of Modern Media
The Era of Thatcher and Blair *
From Communism to Consumerism: Russia since 1917 *
Hitler to the Hashtag: Political Communication in Peace and War *
A Global History of Government and Society, 1945-1999 *
Gender and Sexuality in Britain: 1880-2000 *
Anglia Language Programme (15 credits) *

Module details

To prepare you for university study, you can take a foundation year at the start of this course. Find out more about foundation years.

Year 1

Foundation in Humanities, English, Media, Social Sciences and Education

Module details

You can choose to take an optional placement year as part of this course. Placements typically happen in Year 3, and your course will take four years overall. Find out more about placement years.

Placement year

Work Placement - Humanities and Social Sciences

Module details

What happens on a foundation year?

What happens on a placement year?

How is History assessed?

Who teaches History at ARU?

Read profiles of teaching and research staff on this course.

Professor Rohan McWilliam
Professor
Dr Jonathan Davis
Associate Professor
Professor Lucy Bland
Professor
Dr Richard Carr
Associate Professor
Dr Joseph Harley
Senior Lecturer

Facilities

Benefit from award-winning learning facilities, including a huge range of digital resources to sustain your research.

You can also access support, should you need it, with study skills, careers advice, health and wellbeing, and more.

All our History students have the opportunity to carry out research in Cambridge’s museums and archives, go on European field trips, or study abroad for a semester with funding available to help cover the cost.

Studying in the ancient university city of Cambridge will also give you access to many more resources, libraries and institutions both in the city and beyond.

Take a guided tour and meet our students.

Entry requirements

UK students

Important additional notes

Our published entry requirements are a guide only and our decision will be based on your overall suitability for the course as well as whether you meet the minimum entry requirements.

Other equivalent qualifications may be accepted for entry to this course; please email [email protected] for further information. Applicants to undergraduate courses can also check our information about undergraduate entry qualifications.

You'll need a computer and reliable internet access to successfully engage with your course.

We don't accept AS level qualifications on their own for entry to our undergraduate degree courses. However for some degree courses a small number of tariff points from AS levels are accepted as long as they're combined with tariff points from A levels or other equivalent level 3 qualifications in other subjects.

Important additional notes

Our published entry requirements are a guide only and our decision will be based on your overall suitability for the course as well as whether you meet the minimum entry requirements.

Other equivalent qualifications may be accepted for entry to this course; please email [email protected] for further information. Applicants to undergraduate courses can also check our information about undergraduate entry qualifications.

You'll need a computer and reliable internet access to successfully engage with your course.

We don't accept AS level qualifications on their own for entry to our undergraduate degree courses. However for some degree courses a small number of tariff points from AS levels are accepted as long as they're combined with tariff points from A levels or other equivalent level 3 qualifications in other subjects.

Important additional notes

Our published entry requirements are a guide only and our decision will be based on your overall suitability for the course as well as whether you meet the minimum entry requirements.

Other equivalent qualifications may be accepted for entry to this course; please email [email protected] for further information. Applicants to undergraduate courses can also check our information about undergraduate entry qualifications.

You'll need a computer and reliable internet access to successfully engage with your course.

We don't accept AS level qualifications on their own for entry to our undergraduate degree courses. However for some degree courses a small number of tariff points from AS levels are accepted as long as they're combined with tariff points from A levels or other equivalent level 3 qualifications in other subjects.

International students

English language requirements

Making you an offer

Fees and funding

UK students

£9,535 UK students starting 2025/26 (full-time, per year)

If you're a UK student, you don't need the money to pay for university now.

If you accept an offer to study at university, you can apply for a Tuition Fee Loan to cover your course fees.

Both full-time and part-time students can apply for a Tuition Fee Loan. Part-time students should be studying more than a quarter (25% intensity) of a full-time course each year.

You'll start repaying the loan in the April after you graduate.

If you start a course on or after 1 August 2023, you won't repay anything until you earn more than £25,000. This is called repayment Plan 5. At this point, you'll repay 9% on everything you earn over £25,000. After 40 years (from the April after graduation), all remaining debt is wiped.

If you started a course on or before 31 July 2023, you won't repay anything until you earn more than £27,295. This is called repayment Plan 2. At this point, you'll repay 9% on everything you earn over £27,295. After 30 years (from the April after graduation), all remaining debt is wiped.

For example for students who are on repayment Plan 5:

If you earn £25,500, you'll repay £45 a year or £3.75 a month
That's because £25,500 is £500 above the threshold, and 9% of £500 is £45.

What you repay depends on how much you earn after university. The more you earn, the more you pay back.

For more information about student loans, see our undergraduate student finance page.

This information also applies to:

Irish nationals living in the UK or Ireland
EU, EEA and Swiss nationals benefiting from citizens’ rights under the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement.

£9,535 UK students starting 2025/26 (full-time, per year)

If you're a UK student, you don't need the money to pay for university now.

If you accept an offer to study at university, you can apply for a Tuition Fee Loan to cover your course fees.

Both full-time and part-time students can apply for a Tuition Fee Loan. Part-time students should be studying more than a quarter (25% intensity) of a full-time course each year.

You'll start repaying the loan in the April after you graduate.

If you start a course on or after 1 August 2023, you won't repay anything until you earn more than £25,000. This is called repayment Plan 5. At this point, you'll repay 9% on everything you earn over £25,000. After 40 years (from the April after graduation), all remaining debt is wiped.

If you started a course on or before 31 July 2023, you won't repay anything until you earn more than £27,295. This is called repayment Plan 2. At this point, you'll repay 9% on everything you earn over £27,295. After 30 years (from the April after graduation), all remaining debt is wiped.

For example for students who are on repayment Plan 5:

If you earn £25,500, you'll repay £45 a year or £3.75 a month
That's because £25,500 is £500 above the threshold, and 9% of £500 is £45.

What you repay depends on how much you earn after university. The more you earn, the more you pay back.

For more information about student loans, see our undergraduate student finance page.

This information also applies to:

Irish nationals living in the UK or Ireland
EU, EEA and Swiss nationals benefiting from citizens’ rights under the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement.

£9,535 UK students starting 2025/26 (full-time, per year)

If you're a UK student, you don't need the money to pay for university now.

If you accept an offer to study at university, you can apply for a Tuition Fee Loan to cover your course fees.

Both full-time and part-time students can apply for a Tuition Fee Loan. Part-time students should be studying more than a quarter (25% intensity) of a full-time course each year.

You'll start repaying the loan in the April after you graduate.

If you start a course on or after 1 August 2023, you won't repay anything until you earn more than £25,000. This is called repayment Plan 5. At this point, you'll repay 9% on everything you earn over £25,000. After 40 years (from the April after graduation), all remaining debt is wiped.

If you started a course on or before 31 July 2023, you won't repay anything until you earn more than £27,295. This is called repayment Plan 2. At this point, you'll repay 9% on everything you earn over £27,295. After 30 years (from the April after graduation), all remaining debt is wiped.

For example for students who are on repayment Plan 5:

If you earn £25,500, you'll repay £45 a year or £3.75 a month
That's because £25,500 is £500 above the threshold, and 9% of £500 is £45.

What you repay depends on how much you earn after university. The more you earn, the more you pay back.

For more information about student loans, see our undergraduate student finance page.

This information also applies to:

Irish nationals living in the UK or Ireland
EU, EEA and Swiss nationals benefiting from citizens’ rights under the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement.

£1,400 Placement year (2024-25)

International students

£16,700 International students starting 2025/26 (full-time, per year)

You can pay your fees upfront, in full or in two instalments. We will ask for a deposit of £4,000 or a sponsorship letter

Find out about paying your fees.

£16,700 International students starting 2025/26 (full-time, per year)

You can pay your fees upfront, in full or in two instalments. We will ask for a deposit of £4,000 or a sponsorship letter

Find out about paying your fees.

£16,700 International students starting 2025/26 (full-time, per year)

You can pay your fees upfront, in full or in two instalments. We will ask for a deposit of £4,000 or a sponsorship letter

Find out about paying your fees.

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01245 686868

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