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What makes History at Worcester special?

Study for a History degree at Worcester and you can learn history as it's being written. Your lecturers will be the authors of some of the books you're using - and you'll even get the chance to contribute to their research. And, as well as benefiting from the latest thinking, you can learn through a work placement - perhaps in archives, museums, local community groups, schools, or a National Trust property. So you understand the relevance of history to our culture and working life.

Throughout your History degree, you'll learn in small, informal groups. You'll get a lot of individual support in a very friendly atmosphere.

Overview

Overview

Key features

  • Guest lectures, from experts such as the historical consultant for the BBC's Peaky Blinders, Producer of Radio 4's Home Front and opportunities to attend Women's History Network Conferences
  • Writing retreats to help you write your dissertation, with support from staff and other students
  • Excellent resources, including the County Archives, based in our library, the Hive, and the Cathedral libraries in Worcester and Hereford
  • Trips to various local, regional and national sites of historical interest, including the Infirmary Museum, Imperial War Museum and Slavery Museum

Register your interest

Enter your details below and we will keep you up to date with useful information about studying at the University of Worcester.


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Join us this September

It's not too late to apply for a September 2021 start. We have places available through clearing on a range of courses.

Find out more

"Great lecturers who care and want to help as much as they can to help me achieve the best possible grades. Interesting new modules which I would not have considered taking prior to my undergraduate degree."

BA History student

Entry requirements

What qualifications will you need?

112
UCAS tariff points

Entry requirements

112 UCAS tariff points (single honours) - for example, BBC at A Level
104 UCAS tariff points (joint honours) - for example, BCC at A Level

Other information

If you have any questions about entry requirements, please contact the Admissions Office on 01905 855111 or email admissions@worc.ac.uk for advice.

Further information about the UCAS Tariff can be obtained from the UCAS website.

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Course content

What will you study?

Our courses are informed by research and current developments in the discipline and feedback from students, external examiners and employers. Modules do therefore change periodically in the interests of keeping the course relevant and reflecting best practice. The most up-to-date information will be available to you once you have accepted a place and registered for the course. If there are insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, this might not be offered, but we will advise you as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative. 

Year 1

Mandatory

  • Britain from the Age of Faith to the Rise of Class
  • Studying and Reconstructing the Past
  • Ideology and Conflict in Europe, 1789-2000

Optional

Year 2

Mandatory

  • Historical Research

Optional

  • The American Century 1917-2001
  • Conflict, Stability and Change: Twentieth-Century Britain
  • The German Empire, 1862-1918
  • History Work Experience Module
  • Japan's World, 1854-1951
  • Politics, Religion and Society in Ireland, 1690-1848
  • Displaying the Past: Museums, Artefacts and Collections
  • Visions of England: History, Heritage and Identity
  • Heritage Tourism and Place Promotion
  • Optional language modules 

Year 3

Mandatory

  • Dissertation

 

Optional

  • The Atlantic Slave Trade
  • The Good War: The USA and World War Two
  • Nazi Germany
  • Jack the Ripper: History, Literature and Myth
  • Witchcraft and the Devil
  • Research Experience Module
  • British Imperialism c. 1784-1972
  • Heritage Tourism and Place Promotion

The course is well taught, by knowledgeable lecturers, who give appropriate help where needed. The modules on the course are engaging, and there is a good choice of modules to take each year!

BA History student

History and the City of Worcester

The city of Worcester resounds with history and provides an ideal environment to study for a History degree.

It is best known perhaps for its central role in the English Civil War. Worcester was the scene of its final battle when Oliver Cromwell defeated a Scottish army led by Charles II.

The city also boasts one of the finest cathedrals in the country. King John, famous for agreeing to the Magna Carta, is buried there. During your time at the University you will be able to visit the cathedral library with its priceless collection of rare books and manuscripts, including letters signed by Charles I.

The city contains beautiful historic streets and many buildings dating from the seventeenth century.

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Study History as part of a joint honours degree

As well as a single honours degree, History is also available as part of a number of joint honours combinations, allowing you to combine it with another subject to match your interests and career aspirations:

Creative Writing and History BA (Hons)

English Literature and History BA (Hons)

History and Journalism BA (Hons)

History and Sociology BA (Hons)

History with Politics BA (Hons)

Teaching and assessment

How will you be taught?

The University places emphasis on enabling students to develop the independent learning capabilities that will equip you for lifelong learning and future employment, as well as academic achievement. A mixture of independent study, teaching and academic support through the personal academic tutoring system enables you to reflect on progress and build up a profile of skills, achievements and experiences that will enable you to flourish and be successful.

Teaching

You are taught through a combination of lectures, seminars, tutorials and directed study. Lectures are designed to introduce you to the historiography of the subject under consideration and to direct you to appropriate reading. Seminars are designed to encourage you to discuss your views on topics introduced in previous lectures based on research that you have undertaken in preparation for the seminar.

You will be able to locate relevant, reliable information from the huge range of print and electronic sources available. You will have the opportunity to evaluate and synthesise complex historical arguments and relate them to the wider historiographical literature. You will develop the ability to communicate well informed personal interpretations in a confident, concise and coherent fashion.

In addition, meetings with personal academic tutors are scheduled on at least 4 occasions in the first year and three occasions in each of the other years of a course.

You have an opportunity to book one-to-one tutorials with the lecturers on all modules (to discuss approaches to forthcoming assignments, for example).

Contact time

In a typical week you will have around 9-12 contact hours of teaching. The precise contact hours will depend on the optional modules selected and in the final year you will normally have slightly less contact time in order to work on your independent study (dissertation).

Typically class contact time will be structured around:

  • Lectures
  • Seminars/Group work 

Independent self-study

In addition to the contact time, you are expected to undertake around 24 hours of personal self-study per week. Typically, this will involve directed reading in preparation for the following week's seminars and independent researching and writing upcoming assessments.

Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, including the Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources (E-Books, E-Journals, historical databases, etc.).

Assessment

The course provides opportunities to test understanding and learning informally through the completion of practice or 'formative' assignments. Each module has one or more formal or 'summative' assessments which are graded and count towards the overall module grade.

Assessment methods include essays, document analyses, oral presentations, examinations, dissertation, literature reviews, learning journals.

The precise assessment requirements for an individual student in an academic year will vary according to the mandatory and optional modules taken, but a typical formal summative assessment pattern for each year of the course is:

Year 1
Coursework (eg. essays, document analyses, etc.) 85%
Examinations 15%

Year 2
Coursework (eg. essays, document analyses, etc.) 80%
Examinations 20%

Year 3
Coursework (eg. essays, document analyses, dissertation, etc.) 90%
Examinations 10%

Feedback

You will receive feedback on practice assessments and on formal assessments undertaken by coursework. You will also receive feedback on draft chapters of your dissertation. Feedback on examination performance is available upon request from the module leader. Feedback is intended to support learning and you are encouraged to discuss it with personal academic tutors and module tutors as appropriate.

We aim to provide you with feedback on formal course work assessments within 20 working days of hand-in.

Programme specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest programme specification document.

Meet the team

You will be taught by a highly qualified and experienced teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. Most teaching is directly related to the research and publications of the lecturers and 66 per cent of course lecturers have a higher education teaching qualification or are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy.

professor-darren-oldridge

Professor Darren Oldridge

Darren Oldridge is a specialist in sixteenth and seventeenth-century religious history. His interests include witchcraft and the Devil, the supernatural, and the religious context of the English Civil Wars. A recurring theme of his work is the rationality underpinning apparently strange beliefs: this is reflected, most recently, in the new edition of Strange Histories (Routledge: 2017). More broadly, he is interested in the relationship between poetry and film and the past.

At Worcester Darren teaches modules that reflect these interests, including The Early Modern World and Witchcraft and the Devil. At present he is editing the third edition of The Witchcraft Reader, to be published by Routledge in 2018.

prof-suzanne-schwarz

Prof Suzanne Schwarz

Suzanne Schwarz’s teaching at the University of Worcester focuses on the transatlantic slave trade and West Africa in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. She also focuses on developing historical research skills for students through the study of regional and local history. She was the recipient of two student-led teaching awards in 2013 and 2014.

Dr Neil Fleming

Neil Fleming is an historian of Britain, Ireland and empire since the nineteenth century. He has published widely and is currently engaged on a number of projects which include a study of metropolitan imperialism and government policy.

Dr Wendy Toon

Wendy Toon is an historian of the United States of America, specialising in the twentieth century. She is currently writing Images of the Enemy: American Constructions of the Germans and Japanese in World War Two (Routledge, forthcoming 2020).

Wendy joined the University of Worcester in September 2002. She previously held positions at Staffordshire University and Keele University, and was a Royal Historical Society Fellow (Peter Marshall Fellowship) at the Institute of Historical Research.  

Dr Paddy McNally


Paddy McNally's teaching and research interests are focused on Irish history from 1690 until 1848, German history from 1870 to 1945, and the history of political thought. He is author of the book, Parties, Patriots and Undertakers. Parliamentary politics in early Hanoverian Ireland and numerous articles on eighteenth-century Irish history. He is currently writing From the Boyne to the Famine. A thematic history of Ireland, 1690-1848, to be published by Routledge. He teaches specialist modules on Irish history 1690-1848, German history 1870-1945, and Nationalism. He has successfully supervised PhD and MPhil students to completion and welcomes expressions of interest from prospective postgraduate researchers in most aspects of British and Irish history from the late seventeenth to the early nineteenth centuries.

Careers

Where could it take you?

Volunteering/Work Experience
During your time at Worcester you will have the opportunity to take part in subject-related work experience and volunteering activities. In Year 2 you can choose to take a History work experience module, and volunteering opportunities with local and regional historical organisations are regularly publicised to all History students.

Career Opportunities
The study of History equips you with a wide range of 'transferable skills' which will serve you well in subsequent paid employment.

The course prepares you successfully to undertake further training or postgraduate research and to work in a range of areas including:

  • Law and policing
  • Accountancy and financial services
  • Media and marketing
  • Historical research and heritage industries
  • Hospitality and retail management
  • Public service and administration
  • Teaching and social work.

Thus, History remains an attractive and personally satisfying degree to study, with a strong track record of supporting graduate employability in a range of professional, managerial, administrative and media-related careers.

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Rachel Masterman

Rachel Masterman

Rachel Masterman achieved a First Class Honours in History BA (Hons).

“To be able to say I completed university with a First-Class Honours in History makes me immensely proud,” said Rachel. “I cannot thank the staff at the University of Worcester, my family, and my friends enough, who supported my journey and made this achievement possible.”

“The University of Worcester has not only helped me achieve academically, but it has also allowed me the opportunity to take part in various activities, such as achieving the Silver Worcester Award and voluntary work in the local community, becoming Chair of the History Society and being a Student Ambassador."

Rachel is now studying for a Master’s in Conflict, Governance and Development at the University of York and seeking volunteer work in the local area.  “In the long-term, my hope is to find a career in the charity sector, specifically working with individuals effected by conflicts,” she said.

Costs

How much will it cost?

Full-time tuition fees

UK and EU students

The standard tuition fee for full-time UK and EU students registering in the academic year 2021/22 is £9,250 per year.

For more details, please visit our course fees page.

International students

The standard tuition fee for full-time international students registering in the academic year 2021/22 is £13,100 per year.

For more details, please visit our course fees page.

Part-time tuition fees

UK and EU students

The standard tuition fees for part-time UK and EU students registering on this course in the academic year 2021/22 are £1,156 per 15-credit module, £1,542 per 20 credit module, £2,313 per 30-credit module, £3,083 per 40-credit module, £3,469 per 45-credit module and £4,625 per 60 credit module.

For more details, please visit our course fees page.

Additional costs

Every course has day-to-day costs for basic books, stationery, printing and photocopying. The amounts vary between courses.

If your course offers a placement opportunity, you may need to pay for a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.

Accommodation

Finding the right accommodation is paramount to your university experience. Our halls of residence are home to friendly student communities, making them great places to live and study.

We have over 1,000 rooms across our range of student halls. With rooms to suit every budget and need, from our 'Traditional Hall' at £108 per week to 'En-suite Extra' at £184 per week (2021/22 prices).

For full details visit our accommodation page.
How to apply

How do you apply?

Applying through UCAS

Single Honours:
History BA - V100

Joint Honours:
Please visit the individual joint honours course pages for UCAS links:
Creative Writing and History BA (Hons) - WV81
English Literature and History BA (Hons) - QV31
History and Journalism BA (Hons) - 4Q23
History and Sociology BA (Hons) - VL13

UCAS is the central organisation through which applications are processed for entry onto full-time undergraduate courses in Higher Education in the UK.

Read our How to apply pages for more information on applying and to find out what happens to your application.

UCAS Code

V100

Apply Via UCAS

Get in touch

If you have any questions, please get in touch. We're here to help you every step of the way.
Find us on twitter: @uniworchistory

Admissions office

admissions@worc.ac.uk
01905 855111

Dr Neil Fleming

Admissions tutor
n.fleming@worc.ac.uk

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