History with Year Abroad

History is the discipline that takes the past seriously as an object of rigorous inquiry, examining how human societies have changed over time, how events and decisions were understood by those who lived through them and how we construct meaning from the evidence that survives. It trains you to read sources with critical care, to assess competing interpretations and to construct arguments about the past that are grounded in evidence rather than assumption. The range of topics a history degree can encompass is vast, from ancient worlds to the very recent past, from political and military history to social, cultural, economic and intellectual history.

At the University of Southampton this four-year programme with a year abroad extends the scope of your historical education both intellectually and geographically. You will explore the development of historical debate across a wide chronological range, encountering ancient history at one end and twentieth-century events at the other. The third year, spent studying history at a partner university abroad, gives you the opportunity to engage with different historiographical traditions and to understand how the writing of history is shaped by the national and intellectual contexts in which it is produced.

This comparative experience is one of the most valuable aspects of the programme, challenging assumptions that can too easily harden when study takes place entirely within one tradition.

History graduates are among the most employable in the arts and humanities, precisely because the skills the degree develops, including the ability to work with complex and incomplete information, to evaluate evidence critically and to produce clear and persuasive written argument, are demanded across many professional fields. The civil service, law, journalism, publishing, education, think tanks, the heritage sector, archives and museums are among the most common destinations. Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in history, law, education or related fields, and the year abroad experience tends to distinguish graduates in an increasingly international job market.