September 2024

History BA (Hons)

Honours Degree, Undergraduate, September 2024

Key Details

  • V100 Course Code
  • 3 Years
  • 112 Typical UCAS Tariff
History lecture looking at artifacts

History at Newman covers content from the ancient to the modern periods, with a global perspective. You can explore topics from gender and sexuality in the ancient world to modern totalitarian regimes. Our modules take a case study approach, encouraging you to make social, political and cultural comparisons over time.

Our degree is built around our students. Students select options to study and can negotiate the content and shape of their assignments. Our ‘Understanding’ organisations modules show students how to reflect on their history degree and pave a career pathway after graduation.

 

 

  • Modules covering global history from the ancient to the modern world
  • Consistently ranked as one of the best History degrees in the UK for student satisfaction
  • A range of assessment, including the opportunity to design some assessments with your tutors
  • Employability modules prepare you to succeed in the workplace

History graduates go into a wide range of careers because their research skills and ability to articulate their opinion makes them stand out from other candidates in the job market.

Our graduates have gone onto a broad and impressive range of professional careers including primary and secondary teaching, law, psychology, heritage and archives, the civil service and the police force. Many have continued to further postgraduate study.

Newman University is located in Britain’s second city – Birmingham. With one of the youngest city populations in Europe, it is a vibrant and dynamic place to study.

Studying at Newman University, you have the advantage of being near to the city, but living in, or commuting to peaceful and comfortable surroundings on campus.

Dining out

Birmingham has lots of wonderful places to dine out with a range of different cuisines. Places where you can dine out include; Brindley Place, Mailbox and Hagley Road (just 10 minutes’ from Newman).

Entertainment

Whether you like to go to; the theatre, gigs or clubs, or enjoy: sports, shopping visiting art galleries or exhibitions – Birmingham will not disappoint and you will be spoilt for choice!

Location

Getting around Birmingham is easy via train, bus or by car. Birmingham has excellent transport links to the rest of Britain, making it easy for those weekend getaways!

Why not explore the city for yourself by visiting one of our Open Days?

Want to find out more about Birmingham? Then take a look at some Birmingham City Secrets.

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Entry Requirements

You must achieve at least 96 UCAS points including a minimum of CC at A level or equivalent (e.g.MM at BTEC Diploma; MPP at BTEC Extended Diploma) towards the total tariff.

Access Students can achieve the requirements with the following combination of Distinction, Merit and/ or Pass grades at level 3 achieved from a completed Access course. 96 UCAS Points: D21-M3-P21; D18-M9-P18; D15-M15-P15; D12-M21-P12; D9-M27-P9; D6-M33-P6; D3-M39-P3; D0-M45-P0.

The University accepts appropriate T Levels as part of its usual entry requirements.

For applicants who are unsure that they will achieve the above UCAS tariff, Newman University offers History (with Foundation Year) which enables such applicants to access a university degree via a four year route. Upon successful completion of their foundation year, students will progress to Year 1 of a named degree. Whilst not a condition of entry onto the Foundation Year, students wishing to follow particular named routes with additional entry requirements, will need to meet these requirements before they make the transition from their foundation year to year 1.

International Students
The University is not licenced by the UK Government to sponsor migrant students under the Student route and is therefore unable to accept applications from international students at present.

Applying Direct Option

You can apply direct to Newman University for this course if you have not previously applied to Newman University through UCAS and you are not applying to any other universities.

Simply click on this Direct Application link to do this.

N.B. will need to enter ‘New User’ account details when first accessing this portal.

Course Fees

The full-time course fee for September 2024 is £9,250.

The University will review tuition fees and increase fees in line with any inflationary uplift as determined by the UK Government, if permitted by law or government policy, in subsequent years of your course. It is anticipated that such increases would be linked to RPI (the Retail Price Index excluding mortgage interest payments).

Additional Costs

Domestic field trips are free of charge to our students. We occasionally run an optional overseas field trip that, while subsidised, does require some financial input from students. For our most recent overseas field trip students were asked to pay £420, and were also expected to cover expenses during their visit (food, drink and tickets for entry to sites).

Students are not expected to purchase any books for this course. All essential reading is available to students digitally through our Moodle portal (either in scanned format, as a link to an article or as an ebook). Other reading for the course is available through the University Library.

Modules

Please be aware that, as with any course, there may be changes to the modules delivered, for information view our Changes to Programmes of Module Changes page.

Timetables: find out when information is available to students

The content of some modules is revised and refreshed annually. This allows the course to be responsive to the world in which we live today.

  1. Beginning each year with a theme (chosen and developed by research active academics), this module will systematically deconstruct our global story. Themes could include warfare (‘the history of the world in ten battles’), economy and trade (‘from the silk roads to the dark web’), movement of ideas and people (‘Confucius to capitalism via Christ’), or disease (‘five pandemics that changed the world’). The content of this module will challenge a limited and exclusive vision of human progress. It will equip you with an overview of world history and allow you to identify and explore the common patterns which emerge across chronology and cultures.
  2. The content of this module will allow you to explore the study of history in connection to active and informed citizenship. It will equip you with the critical skills to contribute to current debates about the direction of our society, the operations of liberal democracy and the organisation of our communities. Not only will you learn how the past has been used to explain and rationalise the present, but, throughout this module, you are encouraged to become an informed and active participant in shaping our future.
  3. Built around several categories of analysis (which will change each year depending on academic and student interest) this module will provide the space for historians – academics and students – to consider the nature of the human condition. It will allow you to explore questions fundamental to the discipline, considering human nature, human experience and how people have effected change. The module may explore categories of identity (for example, religion, race and ethnicity, class and gender) or consider specific aspects of the human experience (emotions, memory, the body and mind or communication). It may also be constructed around collective experiences (activism, remembrance and ritual, public and private spaces). The content of this module will challenge a limited and exclusive vision of humankind. It will equip you with the intellectual confidence to identify and critically assess how individuals and collectives are constructed (forged, formed and faked) from the ancient to the modern world.
  4. This module will explore the ways in which the past has been used as a weapon in a variety of political, social and cultural settings. Topics may vary annually and will be drawn from across the entire span of human history. Students will be encouraged to view history as a contested space.

  1. Beginning each year with a theme (chosen and developed by research active academics), this module will systematically deconstruct our global story. Themes could include warfare (‘the history of the world in ten battles’), economy and trade (‘from the silk roads to the dark web’), movement of ideas and people (‘Confucius to capitalism via Christ’), or disease (‘five pandemics that changed the world’). The content of this module will challenge a limited and exclusive vision of human progress. It will equip you with an overview of world history and allow you to identify and explore the common patterns which emerge across chronology and cultures.
  2. This module aims to equip students with the knowledge, resilience and self-management skills to make informed choices when preparing for their placement. It will also act as an introduction to the multiple pathways available to graduates as they plan their transition to employment or further professional training.
  3. Built around several categories of analysis (which will change each year depending on academic and student interest) this module will provide the space for historians – academics and students – to consider the nature of the human condition. It will allow you to explore questions fundamental to the discipline, considering human nature, human experience and how people have effected change. The module may explore categories of identity (for example, religion, race and ethnicity, class and gender) or consider specific aspects of the human experience (emotions, memory, the body and mind or communication). It may also be constructed around collective experiences (activism, remembrance and ritual, public and private spaces). The content of this module will challenge a limited and exclusive vision of humankind. It will equip you with the intellectual confidence to identify and critically assess how individuals and collectives are constructed (forged, formed and faked) from the ancient to the modern world.
  4. In this module the student will be introduced to the History Dissertation. We will discuss methods and theories of studying the past, and hold small group discussions exploring historiography. This module will prepare students for the dissertation. Students will choose their dissertation topic and have discussions with their proposed supervisor.
  1. This is a 40-credit module taken completed over both semesters. Students will work closely with a supervisor to research, plan and construct a piece of historical writing on a chosen topic or theme.
  2. This module will introduce you to the study of myth and religion in the ancient world. Students will examine theoretical approaches to myth and religion in ancient Greece and Rome, including theories on the nature of myth and aspects of ancient religious practice.
  3. In c.1120 William of Malmesbury lamented that ‘England had become a dwelling-place of foreigners and a playground for lords of alien blood… new faces everywhere enjoy England’s riches and gnaw her vitals, nor is there any hope of ending this miserable affair. This sentiment is repeated throughout the history of English nationalism right up to the present day with the rise of populist political rhetoric. This module will explore the relationship between historians and ethnocentric nationalism. You will explore several myths of `English’ identity and consider the ways in which these have been reworked to fit different incarnations. We will also engage with our own assumptions about national identity and its long-term survival.
  4. This module will assess revolution and counterrevolution from c.1917 until the present, covering communism, fascism and nazism and populism as social movements and regimes. The geographical reach will be global, include examples drawn from across Europe, Asia (China), Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and the USA. The theoretical approaches deployed will allow students to engage with explanations of radicalism in movements and regimes, such as the ‘classic’ model of totalitarianism and political religion, as well as comparative approaches.