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With our BA History and Economics you can understand the cultures and societies that shaped the past and explore the critical economic issues that influence the world today.
Discover a thousand years of history whilst experiencing all the specialist areas on offer at the University of Reading. The History Department's expertise covers a wide and diverse range of regions – from Europe and Africa to America, South Asia and the Middle East – and periods, with module choices ranging from the Crusades to the 1960s, slavery in America to Tudor monarchy, and Cold War Berlin to medieval magic.
In your first year, your core modules will explore people, politics, and revolution - finding out how people struggled for power in past societies - and the culture and concepts those societies developed. We will teach you the skills you need to study and research history through an individual project of your choice. This joint degree enables you to address contemporary issues and trace them back to their historical roots.
In economics, you will study practical issues and explore the relationship between economics and society. This course places less emphasis on mathematical and statistical content, and instead you will focus on the relevance of these techniques to applied problems. You will still learn necessary maths skills in your core modules, but extensive support is available should you need it. Your core modules span a number of topics including business, policy, economic history and even the economics of climate change.
You will be taught in small interactive seminar groups, encouraging discussion and debate with teaching staff and fellow students. We place a great deal of importance on employability skills in both sides of your degree, and our modules History Education, Discovering Archives and Collections, and Going Public all offer students short work placements and act as an introduction to possible career paths. In economics, students can take a year out to complete a paid placement.
You can study abroad for a term in your second year at one of the University's partner institutions, including those in Europe, the USA, and Australia. The University also offers all students the chance to learn a modern language alongside their core subjects.
Placement
Placements are a prominent feature of our degree course and are highly encouraged. Through our links with the Careers, Placement and Experience Centre, you can source potential employers and help with CVs and letters of application. Staff in the History Department also have close links with the University’s Institute of Education, Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) and Special Collections (archives), and with external organisations such as Cliveden House, English Heritage, Reading Museum, Reading Borough Library and the Berkshire Record Office.
In History we ensure that placements are incorporated into your core learning. In your second year, we offer opportunities for short group placements in museums and heritage organisations, and encourage students to reflect on what they have learned from previous employment or voluntary work experience. For third years, two optional modules offer placements of 10 working days in local archives and secondary schools.
While studying Economics, you will have the opportunity to complete a paid placement at a company or organisation such as Rolls-Royce, the Government Economic Service and the Department for Work and Pensions. Usually, you would take a year out from your course, but it's also possible to do a summer placement.
For more information, please visit the Department of History website.Overview
With our BA History and Economics you can understand the cultures and societies that shaped the past and explore the critical economic issues that influence the world today.
Discover a thousand years of history whilst experiencing all the specialist areas on offer at the University of Reading. The History Department's expertise covers a wide and diverse range of regions – from Europe and Africa to America, South Asia and the Middle East – and periods, with module choices ranging from the Crusades to the 1960s, slavery in America to Tudor monarchy, and Cold War Berlin to medieval magic.
In your first year, your core modules will explore people, politics, and revolution - finding out how people struggled for power in past societies - and the culture and concepts those societies developed. We will teach you the skills you need to study and research history through an individual project of your choice. This joint degree enables you to address contemporary issues and trace them back to their historical roots.
In economics, you will study practical issues and explore the relationship between economics and society. This course places less emphasis on mathematical and statistical content, and instead you will focus on the relevance of these techniques to applied problems. You will still learn necessary maths skills in your core modules, but extensive support is available should you need it. Your core modules span a number of topics including business, policy, economic history and even the economics of climate change.
You will be taught in small interactive seminar groups, encouraging discussion and debate with teaching staff and fellow students. We place a great deal of importance on employability skills in both sides of your degree, and our modules History Education, Discovering Archives and Collections, and Going Public all offer students short work placements and act as an introduction to possible career paths. In economics, students can take a year out to complete a paid placement.
You can study abroad for a term in your second year at one of the University's partner institutions, including those in Europe, the USA, and Australia. The University also offers all students the chance to learn a modern language alongside their core subjects.
Placement
Placements are a prominent feature of our degree course and are highly encouraged. Through our links with the Careers, Placement and Experience Centre, you can source potential employers and help with CVs and letters of application. Staff in the History Department also have close links with the University’s Institute of Education, Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) and Special Collections (archives), and with external organisations such as Cliveden House, English Heritage, Reading Museum, Reading Borough Library and the Berkshire Record Office.
In History we ensure that placements are incorporated into your core learning. In your second year, we offer opportunities for short group placements in museums and heritage organisations, and encourage students to reflect on what they have learned from previous employment or voluntary work experience. For third years, two optional modules offer placements of 10 working days in local archives and secondary schools.
While studying Economics, you will have the opportunity to complete a paid placement at a company or organisation such as Rolls-Royce, the Government Economic Service and the Department for Work and Pensions. Usually, you would take a year out from your course, but it's also possible to do a summer placement.
For more information, please visit the Department of History website.Entry requirements A Level BBB | IB 30 points overall
Select Reading as your firm choice on UCAS and we'll guarantee you a place even if you don't quite meet your offer. For details, see our firm choice scheme.
Typical offer
BBB, including grade B in A level History, Ancient History, or Classical Civilisation
International Baccalaureate
30 points overall including 5 in History at higher level
GCSE
GCSE Maths at grade B (6)
Extended Project Qualification
In recognition of the excellent preparation that the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) provides to students for University study, we can now include achievement in the EPQ as part of a formal offer.
BTEC Extended Diploma
DDM (Modules taken must be comparable to subject specific requirement)
English language requirements
IELTS 7.0, with no component below 6.0
For information on other English language qualifications, please visit our international student pages.
Alternative entry requirements for International and EU students
For country specific entry requirements look at entry requirements by country.
International Foundation Programme
If you are an international or EU student and do not meet the requirements for direct entry to your chosen degree you can join the University of Reading’s International Foundation Programme. Successful completion of this 1 year programme guarantees you a place on your chosen undergraduate degree. English language requirements start as low as IELTS 4.5 depending on progression degree and start date.
Pre-sessional English language programme
If you need to improve your English language score you can take a pre-sessional English course prior to entry onto your degree.
Structure
Compulsory modules include:
Code | Module | Convenor |
---|---|---|
EC116 | Introductory Mathematics for Economics 1 | DR Yutong Li |
EC115 | Introductory Quantitative Methods in Economics and Business 1 | DR Stefania Lovo |
EC114 | Introductory Macroeconomics | DR Mark Guzman |
EC113 | Introductory Microeconomics | PROF Marina Della Giusta |
HS1RSO | Research Skills and Opportunities in History | DR Ruth Salter |
HS1JH2 | Journeys through History 2: Culture and Concepts' | PROF Anne Lawrence |
HS1JH1 | Journeys through History 1:Power and People | DR Elizabeth Matthew |
Optional modules include:
Code | Module | Convenor |
---|---|---|
EC118 | Economy, Politics and Culture in the Roman World | PROF Ken Dark |
CL1G1 | Ancient Greek 1 | MRS Jackie Baines |
CL1L1 | Latin 1 (C) | MRS Jackie Baines |
Compulsory modules include:
Code | Module | Convenor |
---|---|---|
EC201 | Intermediate Microeconomics | DR Minyan Zhu |
EC202 | Intermediate Macroeconomics | DR Mark Guzman |
Optional modules include:
Code | Module | Convenor |
---|---|---|
PP2EA1 | Ethical Argument 1: Philosophy and How to Live | DR Luke Elson |
PP2GP1 | Global Philosophy 1 | DR Shalini Sinha |
PP2HKW1 | Hume, Kant, and Wittgenstein 1 | DR Severin Schroeder |
PP2IDR1 | Ignorance, Doubt, and Relativism 1 | DR Jumbly Grindrod |
PP2MM1 | Meaning and the Mind 1 | DR Jumbly Grindrod |
PP2OID1 | Oppression, Inequality, and the Enemies of Democracy 1 | MR George Mason |
MT2CC | The Science of Climate Change | PROF Nigel Arnell |
PO2THI | Political Thinking | DR Alice Baderin |
PO2MIR | Modern International Relations | DR Joseph O' Mahoney |
PO2PWS | Politics of the Welfare State | DR Brandon Beomseob Park |
CL2DR | Ancient Drama | PROF Barbara Goff |
CL2RO | Roman History: From Republic to Empire | PROF Annalisa Marzano |
EC207 | Empirical Methods for Economics and Social Sciences | MR Adesola Olumayowa Sunmoni |
EC209 | History of Economic Thought | PROF Marina Della Giusta |
EC208 | Business Economics | DR Nigel Wadeson |
EC238 | Economics of Social Policy | DR Carl Singleton |
EC243 | Economic History | PROF Peter Scott |
CL2CGH | Greek History: Persian Wars to Alexander | PROF Timothy Duff |
AR2F17 | Forensic Archaeology and Crime Scene Analysis | PROF Mary Lewis |
AR2M8 | Medieval Europe: power, religion and death | DR Gabor Thomas |
HS2HAD | Historical Approaches and My Dissertation | MR Dafydd Townley |
HS2GPP | Going Public: Presenting the Past, Planning the Future | PROF Kate Williams |
HS2O10 | The Colonial Experience: Africa, 1879 to 1980 | DR Heike Schmidt |
HS2O11 | Hollywood Histories: Film and the Past | PROF Patrick Major |
HS2O18 | Pirates of the Caribbean: Empire, Slavery, and Society, 1550-1750 | DR Richard Blakemore |
HS2O19 | Europe in the Twentieth Century | DR Daniel Renshaw |
HS2O20 | Sexual politics: Gender, sex, and feminism in Britain after 1918 | DR Natalie Thomlinson |
HS2O25 | From War to the New Millennium: Making Modern Britain | DR Natalie Thomlinson |
HS2O3 | People, power and revolution: political culture in seventeenth-century England | DR Eilish Gregory |
HS2O17 | Reform and Revolt in the Modern Middle East: Egypt from Ataturk to the ‘Arab Spring’ | DR Dina Rezk |
HS2O14 | Rebel Girls: The Influence of Radical Women 1792-1919 | DR Jacqui Turner |
HS2O12 | Belief and Unbelief in Europe: Religion, Science and the Supernatural c.1400-1800 | PROF Helen Parish |
HS2O13 | The Crusades, 1095-1291 | PROF Rebecca Rist |
HS2UNR | Unity, Nationalism and Regionalism in Europe | DR Athena Leoussi |
HS2O7 | Kingship and Crisis in England, c.1154–1330 | DR Elizabeth Matthew |
HS2O4 | Women and Medieval History | DR Ruth Salter |
HS2STA | Society, Thought and Art in Modern Europe | DR Veronica Heath |
LS2LAT | Introduction to English Language Teaching | MRS Suzanne Portch |
LS2LNM | Language and New Media | PROF Rodney Jones |
ML2GF | Science, perversion, and dream in global fantastic literature | DR Daniela La Penna |
MM270 | Practice of Entrepreneurship | DR Norbert Morawetz |
ML2UNR | Unity, Nationalism and Regionalism in Europe | DR Athena Leoussi |
ML2STA | Society, Thought, and Art in Modern Europe | DR Athena Leoussi |
Optional modules include:
Code | Module | Convenor |
---|---|---|
EC347 | Industrial Organisation | DR Joo Young Jeon |
EC337 | Processes of Long Term Political and Economic Change | PROF Ken Dark |
EC327 | Economics of Banking | DR Tho Pham |
EC320 | Money and Banking | DR Shixuan Wang |
EC319 | Development Economics | DR Neha Hui |
EC325 | The Economics of Sports and Games | DR Carl Singleton |
EC317 | Urban Economics | DR Vivien Burrows |
EC311 | International Economics | DR Hussein Hassan |
EC314 | Public Economics | DR Vivien Burrows |
EC348 | Business History | PROF Peter Scott |
EC349 | Financial Economics | DR Hussein Hassan |
EC3DSI | Dissertation (for Joint degrees) | PROF Ken Dark |
HS3T90 | Poor Law to Hostile Environment: Repatriation, Deportation and Exclusion from Britain 1800-2016 | DR Daniel Renshaw |
HS3T87 | Degrading a Free Society: The FBI and J. Edgar Hoover 1908 - 1976 | MR Dafydd Townley |
HS3T89 | Africa from European Settlement to Nelson Mandela | DR Heike Schmidt |
HS3T84 | Ireland in the seventeenth century: colonization, conflict and identity | DR Rachel Foxley |
HS3T98 | From Darwin to Death Camps? Evolution and eugenics in European society, 1859-1945 | PROF David Stack |
HS3T77 | Battleaxes and Benchwarmers’: Early female MPs 1919-1931 | DR Jacqui Turner |
HS3T82 | Axis at War: Life and Death in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, 1936-45 | PROF Patrick Major |
HS3T75 | The United States and the Cold War | DR Mara Oliva |
HS3T30 | Ireland and the English in the middle ages | DR Elizabeth Matthew |
HS3SLS | The Last Super Power and the New World Power: the United States and China, 1882-1989 | DR Mara Oliva |
HS3SBR | Becoming a Revolutionary: the Old Regime and the French Revolution, 1787-1794 | PROF Joël Félix |
HS3T25 | Medieval Magic and the Origins of the Witch-Craze | PROF Anne Lawrence |
HS3CCO | Crisis, Change, Opportunity: Italy from 1968 to the Present | DR Daniela La Penna |
HS3HED | History Education | DR Elizabeth Matthew |
HS3HLD | Dissertation in History | DR Heike Schmidt |
HS3SAU | Anarchy in the UK: Punk, Politics and Youth Culture in Britain, 1976-84 | PROF Matthew Worley |
HS3M68 | May ‘68 | DR Sophie Heywood |
Fees
New UK/Republic of Ireland students: £9,250* per year
New international students: £19,500 per year
*UK/Republic of Ireland fee changes
UK/Republic of Ireland undergraduate tuition fees are regulated by the UK government. These fees are subject to parliamentary approval and any decision on raising the tuition fees cap for new UK students would require the formal approval of both Houses of Parliament before it becomes law.
EU student fees
With effect from 1 August 2021, new EU students will pay international tuition fees. For exceptions, please read the UK government’s guidance for EU students.
Additional costs
Some courses will require additional payments for field trips and extra resources. You will also need to budget for your accommodation and living costs. See our information on living costs for more details.
Financial support for your studies
You may be eligible for a scholarship or bursary to help pay for your study. Students from the UK may also be eligible for a student loan to help cover these costs. See our fees and funding information for more information on what's available.
Careers
Throughout your degree you will complete career and skills related modules, encouraging you to think about what career you would like and what skills you will need. If you would like a career in teaching, or in archives or records management, you can try out our optional third-year modules, History Education and Discovering Archives and Collections. We have had a high success rate from students who have completed History Education, with many of our graduates gaining places for Initial Teacher Training. Additionally, both these modules develop a wide range of interpersonal, organisational, presentational and research skills readily transferable to other areas of employment.
As a graduate you will have a broad range of transferable skills in research, analysis, presenting and working in groups. Overall, 93% of graduates from the Department of History are in work or further study 15 months after the end of their course [1]. Recent graduates have found roles with The British Museum, The Football Association, House of Commons, Marks and Spencer, MI5, Morgan Stanley, PwC and Siemens Financial Services.
[1] Graduate Outcomes Survey 2017/18; First Degree responders from History.