History

History is the study of human experience across time, and it is one of the foundational disciplines of a liberal education. It asks not just what happened, but why, and how we know, and what difference it makes. Historians work with primary sources, ranging from documents and diaries to material objects and images, using them to reconstruct the past and to understand how and why the present came to be as it is.

The discipline develops habits of mind that are genuinely distinctive: the capacity to evaluate evidence critically, to understand that context shapes meaning, to hold multiple perspectives simultaneously, and to communicate complex arguments in clear and precise prose.

At the University of East Anglia, this three-year, full-time programme benefits from a history department with particular strength in modern European, British, and world history, as well as the history of medicine, science, and culture. UEA has a well-established tradition of social and cultural history, and its teaching reflects the breadth of what historical inquiry can achieve. You will engage with primary sources in historical workshops, develop your research and analytical skills through essays and longer independent projects, and read across a wide range of periods and geographical areas.

The programme culminates in an extended dissertation that allows you to pursue an original historical question in depth.

History at UEA is taught by researchers who are active in the field, and the teaching reflects current scholarly debates rather than settled textbook knowledge.

Graduates from history programmes work in an extraordinarily wide range of careers: the civil service, law, journalism, museums and heritage, education, publishing, business, politics, and research. The analytical, research, and communication skills that history develops are valued in virtually every professional context. Many graduates also go on to postgraduate study in history, archiving, heritage management, law, or journalism.