Course summary
Our degree courses with Foundation year offer the opportunity to prepare you for advanced study before you progress onto a full honours degree at the University of Westminster. Whether you do not feel ready for degree-level study, don’t have the right qualifications, want to change your subject specialism or return to study after an absence from education, we aim to encourage a broad range of students to undertake our Foundation year in order to progress onto their full honours degree with us.
The Foundation year is designed to give you the opportunity to explore new ideas, opening up new perspectives on the key debates within your chosen field. Core modules accelerate your academic and professional development and you will also take modules from areas closely related to your chosen field, giving you the chance to develop a cross-disciplinary perspective on your course.
On successful completion of the Foundation year, you will be able to move on to study for the History BA Honours degree.
History remains among the most fascinating and best-loved of the arts and social science disciplines. At Westminster, our focus is on History as a subject that is relevant to everybody. We teach in a truly global framework, listening to previously marginalised voices and questioning long-standing beliefs surrounding power and identity, putting our degree at the cutting edge of the discipline.
Our course is modern history and spans from the mid-18th century at the time of the American and French Revolutions, up until the 21st century and present day. Year-long core modules take a global outlook, whilst shorter modules explore a range of British, European, American, imperial and global histories in depth.
You’ll be taught by a team of passionate academics who are regularly recognised for their teaching excellence and commitment to their students. Our staff are also active, published researchers, introducing you to the newest research. In your final year, you’ll be supervised by one of these specialists to develop your dissertation. Recent fascinating topics include 1960s fashion, Indian independence, the politics of empire in Trinidad and Tobago, female British spies in the Second World War, and transitional Palestine.
Our unique West End location puts us in the heart of historical London and close to many of the country’s leading libraries and archives. You’ll explore the streets of the capital, learn how to conduct your own archival research, and graduate as a well-trained, experienced historian, ready to enter the world of work. You’ll graduate a confident, independent thinker with the transferable and cognitive skills necessary for lifelong development. You’ll be prepared for a career in variety of engaging in fields including the law, education, the Civil Service, NGOs, the police force – or for postgraduate study.
Top reasons to study with us
- Our focus on modern and global history allows you to understand the social, political, economic, and cultural processes that have shaped today’s world
- Our focus on equality, diversity and inclusion in the study of History and our emphasis on unearthing the lives and voices of those people who have not traditionally featured in History books
- Our Regent Campus means exceptional resources are within walking distance, and London’s museums and archives offer first-class research opportunities and unparalleled options on work placement modules
- Our small group tutorials develop students academically and enhance employment potential
- Our emphasis on employability; you’ll have access to our award-winning Careers and Employability Service, the chance to develop professional mentorships, participation in the Humanities Hackathon or the option to do work placement modules
- Our study abroad and work placement opportunities, whether for a semester or a whole year
- Our inclusive, compassionate community, where we believe everyone’s heritage is important
Course structure
You’ll be exposed to a range of topics in modern history. Initially, you’ll start with core modules to help you develop a solid grounding in modern global history from 1789 to 1989, and in historical methods and approaches. As the course develops, you’ll have more opportunities to choose your own option modules according to your personal interests. By your final year, you’ll write a dissertation on a topic of your own choosing and select short modules from a wide range of rotating special subjects.
We have a wide range of assessments including essays, document and artefact analysis, oral presentations, book reviews, portfolios, blogs, reflection journals and political reports. Through these you’ll learn essential skills that enhance your employability. To help support you in your assessments and learning journey, the course also includes weekly Tutorials in the first two years. These are very small groups designed to help you develop your academic and employability skills with your own Academic Tutor. You’ll benefit from close supervision and learn to develop independent research projects, and how to develop your skills in all of your modules that year.
You’ll also have the chance to take a credit-bearing work placement module in one of London’s hundreds of archives, museums, galleries, libraries and other repositories. Previous interns have had placements in the Imperial War Museum, the House of Lords Record Office and many other London institutions. You can also study an optional module from a range of interdisciplinary topics across the University in each year, such as the study of material culture or sexual histories of London, or from our language options which include French, Spanish, Arabic or Chinese.
The following subjects are indicative of what you will study on this course.
| Foundation | Subjects of study include: - Introduction to Academic Practice
- Imagining Global Society and Politics
- Intercultural Communication
- Critical Thinking for Academic and Professional Development
- Reading Identities
- History, Memory and Belonging
There are no optional or elective modules offered at Level 3, as the focus is on the development of key academic skills through a broad understanding of social sciences and humanities. Credit Level 3 |
| Year 1 | In Year 1, you’ll attend weekly core modules to learn the foundations of the historical discipline. You learn about major historical trends, individuals, and events that shaped the modern world in the 19th century (1789-1914), including in China, Japan, Russia, North America, Europe and the Caribbean. You’ll be introduced to the various disciplines of history such as social, cultural, gender or transnational history, and explore museums and archives in London as you do so in order to see history in practice. You also have a few optional modules to choose from. This is also the year where you’ll start to build your academic and employability skills in your small-group History Tutorials. All of this has been purposely designed to prepare you for studying history from a variety of perspectives as you progress with your studies. Subjects of study include: - History Tutorial 1 (core)
- Ideas in History (core)
- The Making of the Modern World: Global Perspectives on the Long Nineteenth Century (core)
- This Imperial Island, 1760-1867 (core)
- Protests: From Bread Riots to Extinction Rebellion (option)
- Polylang (elective)
Credit Level 4 |
| Year 2 | In Year 2, you’ll continue to have a core module which focuses on global history, this time in the short 20th century (1914-1991), where topics include world wars, Russian Revolution, Spanish Civil War, the Holocaust, the Algerian War, Ukraine, everyday life in Eastern Europe, the Korean War, Student Revolution in 1968; and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Building upon what you learned in the first year, you’ll also expand your academic and employability skills set through your History Tutorials, building your own research project, engaging in employability events and consolidating your skills. Subjects of study include: - Age of Extremes, 1914-1991 (core)
- History Tutorial 2 (core)
- A Sexual History of London (core)
- For Freedom and Equality: Race, Politics, and Activism in the USA, 1850-1970 (option)
- Murder, Media and Morality in late Victorian London (option)
- New Liberals to New Labour: British Politics since 1906 (option)
- Sites of Conflict (option)
- Polylang (elective)
Credit Level 5 |
| Placement Year | Professional experience or study abroad yearBetween Years 2 and 3, you’ll have the opportunity to undertake a professional placement year in industry. Completing the placement year will lead to the final award Bachelor of Arts with Honours - History with Professional Experience. Alternatively, you can undertake a period of study abroad at one of Westminster’s partner institutions. Successful completion will lead to the final award Bachelor of Arts with Honours - History with International Experience. |
| Year 3 | In the final year, you’ll make practical and effective use of what you have learned so far, and will finally get to research and write your History Dissertation on a topic of your choosing. In addition, you’ll take our Special Subject module which includes a series of shorter, research-led modules. You’ll complete various assessments based on the topics which you decide to study in depth. There is a long list of topics to choose from. On top of this, you have additional options to study the history of the world after 1989, to take up one of two work placement modules on offer if you are looking for professional experience in a specific area, or to do other modules outside your discipline such as a language. Subjects of study include: - Dissertation for History and History and Politics (core)
- Special Subjects in History (core)
- Archives and Museums Internship (option)
- The End of History? Crisis and Conflict since the Cold War (option)
- Work Placement for Humanities (option)
- Polylang (elective)
Credit Level 6 |
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