History/Business & Management
History and business and management is a pairing that might seem unexpected but is in practice rich and complementary. History develops the capacity to understand change over time, to analyse complex evidence, to think critically about causation and contingency, and to construct sustained arguments about why things happened as they did. Business and management brings a different kind of analytical discipline, focused on how organisations create and sustain value, how they are led and structured, and how they respond to economic, social and competitive pressures.
Together they develop a graduate who can think both rigorously and flexibly about human institutions and their trajectories.
At the University of Glasgow this four-year full-time programme draws on a history department that covers Scottish, British, European, American and global history, with particular research strength in slavery studies, gender history, and war, intelligence and genocide studies. You will engage with this breadth of historical scholarship alongside a substantive business and management curriculum. The programme includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to study in a different national context, which can itself provide new perspectives on both historical and commercial questions.
The skills developed across the two disciplines are notably complementary. History trains you to research deeply, to evaluate sources critically and to argue with precision. Business and management develops commercial awareness, strategic thinking and practical analytical skills.
Together they produce a graduate well suited to roles that require both intellectual depth and practical judgement.
Graduates move into management, consulting, finance, the civil service, journalism, the third sector, arts management, heritage and education. Many pursue postgraduate study in history, business, management or law, and the combination of historical and commercial understanding is valued by employers across a wide range of sectors.