Modern History and Russian

Modern history and Russian is a degree that equips you with the analytical tools to understand the past five hundred years of human experience and the linguistic and cultural keys to one of the world's most significant, and in many ways most complex, nations. Modern history develops your ability to reconstruct and interpret events, movements, and transformations from the early modern period to the recent past, working with a wide range of sources, perspectives, and geographical contexts. Russian gives you access to a language spoken by hundreds of millions of people and a culture whose contributions to literature, music, science, and political thought are without parallel.

At the University of St Andrews, this four-year, full-time MA programme develops your historical analysis alongside your Russian language proficiency to a high level, choosing from a broad range of optional courses with chronological, geographical, and thematic breadth in the history component. A year abroad is central to the programme, giving you the direct immersion in a Russian-speaking environment that transforms language competence from a classroom skill into genuine fluency. A typical entry tariff of 200 points reflects the high academic standard of this programme at one of Scotland's most prestigious universities.

Graduates of modern history and Russian are very well placed for careers in diplomacy and the foreign office, journalism and broadcasting, intelligence and security analysis, international business, think tanks and research institutions, NGOs with interests in Eastern Europe or Central Asia, publishing, and academia. The combination of rigorous historical thinking with Russian language competence is rare and genuinely valued in organisations that need to understand and engage with Russia and the post-Soviet world. Postgraduate study in Russian studies, modern history, international relations, or an area specialism is a natural further step.