Entry requirements
A level
History/Ancient History/Medieval History/Classical Civilisation at grade B
Access to HE Diploma
including at least 15 level 3 credits in History or A Level in History/Ancient History/Medieval History/Classical Civilisation at grade B
Cambridge International Pre-U Certificate - Principal
Principal subjects must include History, Ancient History, Medieval History or Classical Civilisation.
Extended Project
In recognition of the excellent preparation that the Extended Project Qualification provides to students for University study, we now include achievement in the EPQ as part of a formal offer. Eligible applicants would receive two offers, our usual offer plus an alternative offer of a B in the EPQ and one grade lower in their A level subjects
GCSE/National 4/National 5
GCSE Maths C (or 4), English Language or English Literature C (or 4).
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
History/Ancient History/Medieval History/Classical Civilisation at grade 5 at Higher Level.
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
including relevant history modules or A Level in History/Ancient History/Medieval History/Classical Civilisation at grade B
Scottish Higher
History/Ancient History/Medieval History/Classical Civilisation at grade B
UCAS Tariff
We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.
About this course
Address some of the contemporary world's most pressing problems and explore their roots in the past.
Discover a thousand years of history whilst experiencing all the specialist areas on offer; our expertise covers a wide and diverse range of regions, from Europe and Africa to America, South Asia and the Middle East, and periods, from the Crusades to the 1960s, slavery in America to Tudor monarchy, and Cold War Berlin to medieval magic. Modules cover subjects such as magic, witchcraft and heresy, fascism and communism, gender and culture, and politics and colonialism. We will teach you the skills you need to study and research history through an individual project of your choice. We take an individual approach to our students' learning, which is reflected in our 90% satisfaction score for the teaching on our courses in the National Student Survey 2017.
By studying politics, you will acquire a strong grounding in the fundamental elements of the subject such as political ideas and democratic processes. You can study a wide range of modules covering topics such as British government and politics, European political integration, and political thinking. 80% of our research impact was rated world leading or internationally excellent in the latest Research Excellence Framework (2014), which feeds directly into your learning and, in 2017, we achieved a student satisfaction score of 92% for our teaching in the National Student Survey.
We teach in small interactive seminar groups, encouraging discussion and debate with staff and fellow students. We place a great deal of importance on employability skills in both sides of your degree, and some modules offer students short work placements and act as an introduction to possible career paths.
There is the option to apply to study abroad on this joint degree and we have links with universities in Turkey, theNetherlands; the USA and Australia.
Placements are highly encouraged and through our links with the Careers Centre you can source potential employers and help with CVs and letters of application. We also have close links with the University’s Institute of Education, Museum of Rural English 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 in the second year, we offer opportunities for short group placements in museums and heritage organisations and for third years, two optional modules provide placements of 10 working days in local archives and secondary schools. In politics you can undertake a two-week placement as part of a module on "British government and politics" and gain first-hand experience working with an MP, charity, pressure group, local councillor or media organisation.
**Careers**
98% of our undergraduate students in the Department of Politics and International Relations are in work or further study within six months of graduation (DLHE Survey 2015-16).
Throughout your degree you will complete career and skills related modules, encouraging you to think about what career you would like and the skills you need. If you would like a career in teaching, or in archives or records management, try 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.
As a history and politics graduate you will have a broad range of transferable skills, including the ability to think clearly and critically, to communicate with confidence and work effectively both individually and as part of a team. Recent employers have included The British Museum, The Football Association, The House of Commons, Marks and Spencer, MI5, Morgan Stanley and Siemens Financial Services.
Modules
Sample modules may include:
*Journeys through history 1 (People, power and revolution)
* Journeys through history 2 (Culture, art and ideas)
* Research skills and opportunities in history (individual project)
* Introduction to contemporary democracy
* Introduction to political ideas
Check our website for more information about the course structure.
Tuition fees
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The Uni
University of Reading
History

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See your living costsWhat 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)
Politics
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
What do graduate employment figures really tell you?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.
Politics
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
What do graduate employment figures really tell you?The numbers of people taking politics degrees fell sharply last year and we'll keep an eye on this one - it can't really be because of graduates getting poor outcomes as politics grads do about as well as graduates on average. Most politics or international relations graduates don't actually go into politics - although many do, as activists, fundraisers and researchers. Jobs in local and central government are also important. Other popular jobs include marketing and PR, youth and community work, finance roles, HR and academic research (you usually need a postgraduate degree to get into research). Because so many graduates get jobs in the civil service, a lot of graduates find themselves in London after graduating. Politics is a very popular postgraduate subject, and so about one in five politics graduates go on to take another course - usually a one-year Masters - after they finish their degrees.
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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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