Learning

How will I learn in the first year?

History and Politics students please click here: Learning: History and Politics

During your first year at Roehampton, you will cover a broad range of topics to gain a foundation in medieval, early modern, and late modern history. In 2021-22, our first-year students take the following modules:

  • The Historian’s Craft
  • Dictatorships and Democracies: Ancient and Modern
  • Diversity in Europe and Its Neighbours 1000-1700
  • Modern British and European History
  • American History from Columbus to Cold War
  • Community and Identity in Global Perspective, 1700s-2000s

You can watch introductory videos to some of the first year modules on the Meet Us page.

How will I learn in years two and three?

The first year will prepare you to pursue more specialised study in years two and three, when you will be able to pick classes that best suit your interests. You will have the opportunity to gain valuable work experience and to hone your research, analytical, and communication skills which open doors to further study and a wide range of professional careers. By the end of your undergraduate studies, you will turn into a historian in your own right. You will produce a long dissertation – an independent  piece of research on a topic of your choosing which you will develop under the supervision of one of our experts.

You will take the following modules in years two and three:

  • Historical Controversies
  • Applied Humanities: Professional Practice and Placement (this module includes a work experience component)
  • The History Dissertation

Apart from these compulsory modules, you will pick optional modules. The list below is subject to change, but it should give you a good idea of the kinds of modules we offer to our students:

Modules focusing on medieval and early modern history include:

  • Culture, Society, and the State in Early Medieval Britain and China
  • Medicine, Culture, and Society from Ancient to Modern
  • Empires and Geographies of Power in Pre-Modern Age
  • Radicalism in the English Revolution, 1640-1653

Modules focusing on modern British and European history include:

  • Gender and Sexuality in Europe
  • Treason, Loyalty, and State Power in the Twentieth Century
  • Representations of the Holocaust
  • Dictatorship in Everyday Practice
  • Social Policy in Britain from Workhouse to Welfare State
  • Childhoods: Histories, Lives, and Stories
  • Romantic and Victorian Bodies: Getting to the Bottom of the Nineteenth Century

Modules focusing on histories of the world beyond Europe include:

  • Race and Empire
  • Islam and the West
  • The Global Economic Order
  • Red Globalisation: Russia, China, and the Modern World
  • Executive Leadership in Historical Perspective

The range of topics and themes on offer is reflected in the dissertations our students choose to write. Among the dissertations our third-year students have researched and submitted recently are:

  • Piety, Violence, and the Significance of the Late Medieval Ideology of Chivalry
  • Power Struggles, the Nobility, and the Outbreak and Continuation of the Wars of the Roses
  • Between London and Jerusalem: An Analysis of the Growth of the Zionist Movement in Britain between 1880 and 1945
  • Substance Abuse, Mental Illness and the Working Class During the British Industrial Revolution: In their Own Words
  • Women of Bletchley Park: Life at the Centre of Britain’s Codebreaking Operation
  • Childhood in Norway: The Family, Education and Child Labour in the Gerhardsen Era, 1945-1965
  • To what extent can we see Gulag Culture of the Stalin Era as a Form of Resistance?
  • Brixton Uprising of 1981: Attitudes and Responses
  • The Roots of China’s Modern Economic Growth under Chairman Mao’s Leadership
  • How and Why did Legislation on Abortion Change in the United States of America between 1960 and 1974?
  • An Analysis of Violence in Zimbabwe through the Changing Perspectives of International and Human Rights Organisations between 1965 and 2008

How will a History degree prepare me for the future?

A degree in History is highly valued among many employers. This is because History graduates have the ability to research, analyse, and communicate which is key to professional success in such diverse fields of education, law, mass media, the civil service, banking, sales and marketing, and many others. Of course, History graduates also go on to further study to become professional Historians!

The key to finding and securing a job you’ll love after graduation is about taking advantage of the opportunities on offer to you at Roehampton. We can support you with your career choices, help you find opportunities, and identify and sell your skills to employers. You will take a work placement module in your second year. You will also be enrolled onto Careerlink, our fantastic online careers resource exclusively for Roehampton students and graduates, giving you access to a CV builder, interactive mock job interviews, volunteering and jobs directories, and online skills courses. You can also join our Career Mentoring Scheme, which links students with an experienced Roehampton graduate. We have mentors working in a huge range of different careers, all over the world. They’ll share their experiences with you, and help you build your professional networks: you may even get to meet someone you’ll go on to work with after you graduate.

We’ve got an onsite recruitment agency, Unitemps, to help you find part-time work while you are studying with us, and full-time placements afterwards.