English and History

English and history is a pairing that rewards students who are drawn to both the careful study of texts and the rigorous analysis of the past. The two disciplines share a commitment to reading evidence closely and arguing from it carefully, but they do so from different angles: English focuses on how language and literary form construct meaning, while history asks how we can reconstruct and interpret the past from the sources that survive it. Studied together, they produce a graduate with an unusually rich set of analytical and communicative skills.

At Leeds Beckett University, this programme is designed for innovative thinkers who thrive on the stimulating combination of English literature and history. The programme runs for three years full time and includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to experience both disciplines in an international academic context. The year abroad broadens your engagement with literary and historical traditions beyond those you encounter at home and develops the adaptability and independence that employers across many sectors value.

The typical entry tariff is 104 points.

You will read fiction, poetry and drama across periods and genres, developing close reading skills and the ability to write analytically about how texts work. Alongside this, you will study history across different periods and geographies, engaging with primary sources, historiographical debates and the methods that historians use to interpret the past. The combination develops your capacity to think across disciplines and to bring literary sensibility to the reading of historical evidence, and vice versa.

Graduates from English and history programmes work in education, journalism, publishing, the civil service, heritage and archive work, arts administration, marketing, communications, law and a wide range of other professions where reading, writing and thinking carefully are essential. The skills developed are genuinely transferable, and many graduates move between sectors across their careers. Further study at postgraduate level in English, history or a related discipline is a natural option for those who wish to pursue research or academic careers.