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BA History and International Relations

  • UCAS code
    VLC2
  • Typical offer
    BBB
  • Year of entry
    2024/25 See 2023/24 entry
  • Course duration
    Full Time:  3 Years
  • Year of entry
    2024/25 See 2023/24 entry
  • Course duration
    Full Time:  3 Years

Immerse yourself in contemporary issues and untangle their historical roots with our BA History and International Relations degree.

At the University of Reading, our three-year joint course is offered by the Department of History and the Department of Politics and International Relations.

The Department of History’s expertise covers a wide range of regions, from Europe and Africa to America, South Asia and the Middle East. Module choices cover diverse periods and topics, such as:

  • medieval magic
  • history of the Atlantic world
  • punk politics
  • the making of modern South Asia.

The Department of Politics and International Relations offers expertise across applied political theory, comparative politics, public policy analysis, conflict, security, strategy, and international relations. You will have the opportunity to gain a broad overview of the subject through a wide range of specialist core and optional modules, which cover topical issues, such as:

  • feminism and political theory
  • international terrorism
  • politics of nuclear weapons.

Combining history and international relations will deepen your understanding of both: concepts from politics and international relations will help you to analyse historical events and processes, while your historical studies will give you an essential background to contemporary politics.

Your learning environment

The University of Reading is ranked in the top 200 in the world for History (QS World Rankings 2023, by Subject).

The University of Reading is 6th highest in the UK for research outputs, and you will benefit from a learning environment driven by 'world-leading' and 'internationally excellent' research. (Times Higher Education analysis of the latest REF 2021 – Politics and International Studies, when scoring by GPA Output.)

Our teaching staff in the Department of Politics and International Relations have direct professional experience and act as policy advisers to the government and international bodies such as the EU and UN.

You will learn in small, interactive seminar groups, encouraging discussion and debate with your lecturers and fellow students.

Bring your studies to life

In your first year, your history core modules will explore people, politics, and revolution in past, while you will acquire a firm grounding in the fundamental elements of international relations, such as political ideas and international relations theory.

As your degree progresses and your interests develop, your module choices will become more specialised and you will engage in learning experiences with real-world applications, such as:

  • producing a weekly political radio show
  • participating in a crisis simulation in the Model United Nations module
  • working with external partners on a public-history project.

We will also teach you the skills you need to study and research history through an individual project of your choice, and you will experience new areas of history on field trips, which will take you across the UK and abroad. Past examples include the National Trust in Winchester and Westminster and further afield in Paris and Berlin.

Study Abroad

You may also choose to spend a term in your second year at one of our partner universities in Europe, the USA, Canada or Australia. Here, you will develop independence, knowledge of different cultures, international communication skills, and adaptability.

Placements

Placements offer opportunities to demonstrate how to apply your skills and knowledge in real-world settings. You can, therefore, boost your undergraduate by taking an integrated year in industry, a summer placement, or a two-week work experience, supported by our dedicated placement team in the Department of Politics and International Relations. You can also engage in placements during History's second-year module, Going Public: Presenting the Past, Planning the Future. Here, you can work with external partners in museums, heritage, and media organisations.

In your final year, you may also choose optional modules in history that offer placements of 10 working days in local archives and secondary schools.

Overview

Immerse yourself in contemporary issues and untangle their historical roots with our BA History and International Relations degree.

At the University of Reading, our three-year joint course is offered by the Department of History and the Department of Politics and International Relations.

The Department of History’s expertise covers a wide range of regions, from Europe and Africa to America, South Asia and the Middle East. Module choices cover diverse periods and topics, such as:

  • medieval magic
  • history of the Atlantic world
  • punk politics
  • the making of modern South Asia.

The Department of Politics and International Relations offers expertise across applied political theory, comparative politics, public policy analysis, conflict, security, strategy, and international relations. You will have the opportunity to gain a broad overview of the subject through a wide range of specialist core and optional modules, which cover topical issues, such as:

  • feminism and political theory
  • international terrorism
  • politics of nuclear weapons.

Combining history and international relations will deepen your understanding of both: concepts from politics and international relations will help you to analyse historical events and processes, while your historical studies will give you an essential background to contemporary politics.

Learning

Your learning environment

The University of Reading is ranked in the top 200 in the world for History (QS World Rankings 2023, by Subject).

The University of Reading is 6th highest in the UK for research outputs, and you will benefit from a learning environment driven by 'world-leading' and 'internationally excellent' research. (Times Higher Education analysis of the latest REF 2021 – Politics and International Studies, when scoring by GPA Output.)

Our teaching staff in the Department of Politics and International Relations have direct professional experience and act as policy advisers to the government and international bodies such as the EU and UN.

You will learn in small, interactive seminar groups, encouraging discussion and debate with your lecturers and fellow students.

Bring your studies to life

In your first year, your history core modules will explore people, politics, and revolution in past, while you will acquire a firm grounding in the fundamental elements of international relations, such as political ideas and international relations theory.

As your degree progresses and your interests develop, your module choices will become more specialised and you will engage in learning experiences with real-world applications, such as:

  • producing a weekly political radio show
  • participating in a crisis simulation in the Model United Nations module
  • working with external partners on a public-history project.

We will also teach you the skills you need to study and research history through an individual project of your choice, and you will experience new areas of history on field trips, which will take you across the UK and abroad. Past examples include the National Trust in Winchester and Westminster and further afield in Paris and Berlin.

Study Abroad

You may also choose to spend a term in your second year at one of our partner universities in Europe, the USA, Canada or Australia. Here, you will develop independence, knowledge of different cultures, international communication skills, and adaptability.

Placements

Placements offer opportunities to demonstrate how to apply your skills and knowledge in real-world settings. You can, therefore, boost your undergraduate by taking an integrated year in industry, a summer placement, or a two-week work experience, supported by our dedicated placement team in the Department of Politics and International Relations. You can also engage in placements during History's second-year module, Going Public: Presenting the Past, Planning the Future. Here, you can work with external partners in museums, heritage, and media organisations.

In your final year, you may also choose optional modules in history that offer placements of 10 working days in local archives and secondary schools.

Entry requirements A Level BBB

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 History or a humanities-based essay subject

Humanities-based essay subjects include: Classical Civilisation, English Language, English Literature, Geography, Philosophy, Politics, Religious Studies.

International Baccalaureate

30 points overall including 5 in History or a humanities-based essay subject at higher level.

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.

  • Learn more about our International Foundation programme

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.

  • Find out the English language requirements for our courses and our pre-sessional English programme

Structure

  • Year 1
  • Year 2
  • Year 3

The following modules have been approved in principle for delivery in 2024/25. Please note that as part of our current curriculum improvement process, all modules require final University approval and may be subject to change.

Compulsory modules:

  • Perspectives in History 
  • Making History 
  • Politics of Climate Change 
  • International Relations
  • War and Warfare 

Optional modules:

  • Arriving in Britain: A History of Immigration, 1685–2004 
  • Anti-Semitism: Medieval Christian-Jewish Relations and the Concept of ‘Anti-Semitism’ 
  • Doomsday Dystopias: Nuclear Disaster in the Cold war Imagination 
  • Rape in the United States: From Colonisation to Civil Rights 
  • Warfare in Early Modern Europe 
  • War, White Heat, and the Winds of Change: Britain’s Twentieth Century 
  • Hunger and Famines in History 
  • Merlin the Magician 
  • Western Imaginaries of the Middle East 
  • Radicalism and Protest in Britain: From the Levellers to Occupy 
  • Everyday Life in a Medieval Town: Reading, 1100-1500 
  • The Rwanda Genocide of 1994 

The University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them. Further information about the content of final approved modules will be available between May and July 2023. We suggest that you regularly revisit this webpage during this time to ensure you have the most up-to-date information regarding the modules offered on this programme.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.

The following modules have been approved in principle for delivery in 2024/25. Please note that as part of our current curriculum improvement process, all modules require final University approval and may be subject to change.

Compulsory modules:

  • Study of Politics 
  • Global Order 

Optional modules:

  • People, Power and Revolution: political culture in seventeenth-century England 
  • Kingship and Crisis in England, c.1154–1330 
  • ‘The brightest jewel in the British crown’: The Making of Modern South Asia, 1757-1947 
  • Europe in the Twentieth Century 
  • Revolutionary Cities 
  • American Century: United States history since 1898 
  • Black Britain: Race and Migration in Post-war Britain 
  • Women and Medieval History 
  • The Colonial Experience: Africa, 1879 to 1980 
  • Hollywood Histories: Film and Past 
  • Rebel Girls: The Influence of Radical Women 1792-1919 
  • Reform and Revolt in the Modern Middle East: Egypt from Ataturk to the ‘Arab Spring’  
  • Encountering the Atlantic World, 1450-1850 
  • The American Civil War 
  • Representations of the People: Democracy and Society in Britain 1838-1928 
  • Politics Classics 
  • Contemporary Strategy 
  • Global Politics & History 
  • The Media and Politics 
  • British Government and Politics 

The University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them. Further information about the content of final approved modules will be available between May and July 2023. We suggest that you regularly revisit this webpage during this time to ensure you have the most up-to-date information regarding the modules offered on this programme.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.

The following modules have been approved in principle for delivery in 2024/25. Please note that as part of our current curriculum improvement process, all modules require final University approval and may be subject to change.

Compulsory modules:

  • Dissertation in either History or International Relations. 

Optional modules:

  • Anarchy in the UK: Punk, Politics and Youth Culture in Britain, 1976-84  
  • Becoming a Revolutionary: the Old Regime and the French Revolution, 1787-1794  
  • Eugenics from 1865 to the Present Day 
  • Heretics and Popes: Heresy and Persecution in the Medieval World  
  • Slavery in America  
  • History Education 
  • Discovering Archives 
  • Medieval Magic and the Origins of the Witch-Craze 
  • Battleaxes and Benchwarmers': Early female MPs 1919-1931 
  • Axis at War: Life and Death in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, 1936-45 
  • Politics and Popular Culture: Post-Arab Spring Egypt 
  • From Darwin to Death Camps? Evolution and eugenics in European society, 1859-1945 
  • Ireland and the English in the middle ages 
  • The United States and the Cold War 
  • Modern Science and the Imperial World, 1750-2000 
  • The Romantic Revolution: Culture, Environment and Society in England, c.1790-c.1900 
  • Sexual Politics: Gender, Sex, and Feminism in Britain after 1918 
  • Dynamics of Civil Wars 
  • International Terrorism 
  • British Foreign and Defence Policy since 1945 
  • Populism 
  • War, Peace and International Ethics 
  • Introduction to Critical Security Studies 
  • US Foreign & Defence Policy since 1950 
  • Politics & International Relations of the Middle East 
  • Nuclear Weapons 
  • International Political Economy 
  • International Organizations in Global Politics 

The University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them. Further information about the content of final approved modules will be available between May and July 2023. We suggest that you regularly revisit this webpage during this time to ensure you have the most up-to-date information regarding the modules offered on this programme.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.

Fees

New UK/Republic of Ireland students: £9,250

New international students: £22,350

*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

During your BA in History and International Relations, you will develop transferrable skills, such as critical thinking, teamwork, and confident communication. These essential skills will aid you in your future employment.

94% of our History graduates and 89% of our Politics and International Relations graduates are in work or further study within 15 months of graduation [1].

Previous employers include:

  • the BBC
  • DeVere Group
  • the Department for Education
  • JP Morgan

[1] Based on our analysis of HESA data (c) HESA 2023, Graduate Outcomes Survey 2020/21 includes all History responders and all Politics and International Relations responders.

Sophia discusses the course

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