Russian Studies and History
Entry requirements
A level
Required subjects: A Levels: no specific A Level subjects required. GCSEs: a language other than English at B or 6 and English at C or 4.
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
36 points with 665 at HL - 34 points with 655 at HL. Required subjects: HL: no specific subjects required. SL: a language other than English at 5 and English at 5.
Scottish Higher
ABBB by end of S5 or AABB/ABBBB by end of S6. BBB must be achieved in one year of S4-S6. Required subjects: Highers: no specific Higher subjects required. National 5s: a language other than English at B and English at C.
UCAS Tariff
We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.
About this course
Studying Russian and History helps you understand the contemporary world, as well as shedding light on the past. Today, around 150 million people in the world speak Russian, and it is widely used in global cultural and political contexts.
Russian is the official language of four countries and is understood throughout Eastern Europe. The last thirty years have seen transnational mobility on an unprecedented scale. For example, there are large communities of Russian-speakers in China, Central Asia, the United States, and Western Europe.
**Russian**
On this joint honours programme, you will have the opportunity to develop advanced speaking, writing, reading, listening and translating skills in Russian.
Our Year 1 Russian courses are streamed according to how much of the language you already know, so it does not matter if you are a complete beginner.
Over the course of your four years, you will explore Russian literature and culture, past and present. You will also develop an awareness of Russia's international political and historical contexts.
**History**
In History, you will study the human past more broadly, interacting with evidence in primary form, and through critical reading of a wide body of historical writing.
The Edinburgh experience is distinctive for its range of historical themes, chronological periods and geographical areas. You can choose from courses covering:
* the early Middle Ages to the most recent past
* Britain and Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas
Further, our courses offer a rich variety of approaches to the past, including:
* political history
* cultural history
* social history
* economic history
* intellectual history
* gender history
* global and transnational history
**Why Edinburgh?**
As a world-leading festival and capital city, Edinburgh is a fantastic place to study a language in its cultural context.
From the winding streets of the medieval Old Town to the Georgian squares and terraces of the New Town, it is also a history lover's paradise.
The structure of our four-year degree gives you choice and flexibility. In Years 1 and 2, you can opt to choose courses from a broad list of disciplines in addition to Russian Studies and History.
You will then specialise in the topics that interest you most as you move through honours study. When you graduate, you will have the combination of broad cultural education and specialist knowledge valued by employers worldwide.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
The Uni
Central area campus
School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
History
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
Slavic studies
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
History
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
History is a very popular subject (although numbers have fallen of late) — in 2015, over 10,000 UK students graduated in a history-related course. Obviously, there aren't 11,000 jobs as historians available every year, but history is a good, flexible degree that allows graduates to go into a wide range of different jobs, and consequently history graduates have an unemployment rate comparable to the national graduate average. Many — probably most — jobs for graduates don't ask for a particular degree to go into them and history graduates are well set to take advantage. That's why so many go into jobs in the finance industry, human resources, marketing, PR and events management, as well as the more obvious roles in education, welfare and the arts. Around one in five history graduates went into further study last year. History and teaching were the most popular further study subjects for history graduates, but law, journalism, and politics were also popular postgraduate courses.
Slavic studies
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
Most graduates studying a Russian and East European course studied Russian, and with Russia playing an important part in world business and politics, graduates are in demand. This is an elite group — 200 UK graduates got degrees in this subject in 2015, and they usually have amongst the best average starting salaries of all language graduates. London was by far the most likely place for Russian graduates to work in the UK and naturally, a reasonable proportion - about a fifth - went overseas to work. Postgraduate study (usually in law or languages) is also quite common — this is a growing area for the UK.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
History
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£22k
£27k
£30k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
Slavic studies
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£21k
£29k
£33k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):
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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).
This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.
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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.
You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.
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Post-six month graduation stats:
This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.
It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
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Graduate field commentary:
The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show
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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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