Program Overview

BA (Hons) History with Politics

Overview

BA History with Politics is an innovative and interdisciplinary exploration into how social, cultural, and political institutions, decisions, and events have shaped societies around the world.

Why Study BA History with Politics at Goldsmiths

• Rather than focusing on chronology or strictly demarcated historical periods, combining history and politics encourages and facilitates explorations and analyses of key issues, controversies, themes, and debates.
• The study, analysis and understanding of the past is as important today as it has ever been.
• Understanding past societies fosters emotional intelligence and allows us to appreciate the diversity and adaptability of human life.
• Understanding our pasts can help us to shape our futures and, crucially, help us shape those futures intelligently, insightfully, fairly, and with compassion, contributing towards equality, diversity and social justice.
• Our innovative approaches to the study of politics, peel back the formal veneer of political parties and institutions to reveal the major ideological, economic, social, and cultural conflicts
• By exploring politics in this in-depth manner, you will gain a comprehensive understanding of our world.
• We cross boundaries between the traditional and the more radical understandings of political phenomena.
• Politics is much more than simply what happens in parliaments, it pervades the whole of society, domestically and internationally.

UCAS Code

LV21

Entry Requirements

• A-level: BBB
• BTEC: DDM
• IB: 33 points overall with three HL subjects at 655
• Access: Pass with 45 Level 3 credits including 30 Distinctions and a number of merits/passes in subject-specific modules
• Scottish qualifications: BBBBC (Higher) or BBC (Advanced Higher)
• European Baccalaureate: 75%
• Irish Leaving Certificate: H2 H2 H2 H2

Length

• 3 years full-time or 4-6 years part-time

Fees

• Home - full-time: £9535
• Home - part-time: £TBC
• International - full-time: £20650

Departments

• History
• Politics and International Relations

What You'll Study

Year 1

• Global Connections (30 credits)
• Reading and Writing History (15 credits)
• Historical Controversies (15 credits)
• Power, Emotions and Environment (30 credits)
• Identity, Agency & Environment 1 (15 credits)
• Identity, Agency & Environment 2 (15 credits)

Year 2

• The Goldsmiths Elective (15 credits)
• The Goldsmiths Project (15 credits)
• 60 credits from the list offered by the History department, up to 30 credits of which can be a University of London intercollegiate group II module and another 30 can be in another Goldsmiths discipline
• 30 credits from a list provided annually by the Department of Politics and International Relations

Year 3

• Special subject module from a list of University of London intercollegiate Group III module (30 credits)
• Dissertation worth 30 credits relating to your special subject
• 45 credits of optional modules offered by the Department of Politics and 15 credits offered by the Department of History

Teaching Style

• The programme is cumulative and progressive, with knowledge and skills building on previous years and growing year on year.
• Basic skills and competencies are delivered in the first year which sets the broad agenda for the programme as a whole.
• In the second year, the modules contain increasingly challenging and demanding material which provides the foundations for the significant independent scholarly work required and undertaken in the final year.

Assessment

• A wide and innovative variety of different methods are used to assess learning, these include essays, reviews, source analyses, blogs, videos, walks, presentations, exams, and dissertations.
• Some modules are assessed by portfolios of coursework, or by a combination of coursework and an examination.
• Others are assessed by long essays or dissertations on topics approved with the tutor.
• Assessments vary in length according to the type of assessment and/or level of module.

Careers

• A degree in history can take you to almost any place you want to go.
• From teaching to the civil service, and business to social work.
• History graduates have known expertise in understanding and navigating different organisational cultures, and adapting their knowledge, understanding, and skills to different sorts of complex problems.

Work Placement

• Students on all undergraduate History programmes at Goldsmiths can also choose to undertake History’s work placement module.
• Placement opportunities have included: St Paul's Cathedral, the Jewish Museum, the Cinema Museum, the National Maritime Museum, the London Metropolitan Archives, the Bishopsgate Institute, the Museum of London Docklands, and the Wellcome Library and Archive.

Skills

• Equipping you with the flexibility, skills and confidence needed to achieve your ambitions are central components of History degrees at Goldsmiths.
• It provides you with the knowledge and skills that employers seek.
• According to the Institute of Student Employers, 82% of employers do not specify degree subjects when recruiting graduates.
• The Hay Group found that 91% of recruiters believe that graduates with refined people skills will advance faster in their organisations.