Undergraduate courses

At Bristol, we don't just teach students history, we turn them into historians, capable of exploring the past as independent scholars.

Our success is most apparent from the brilliant dissertations our final-year students produce, the best of which are are published each year on this website. Their ability to produce such advanced work has much to do with the ambitious nature of our BA degree, which involves our students in genuine research projects, frequently based on unpublished manuscript material, from first year onwards.

All of our staff regularly publish and since our teaching focuses heavily on research, our interests are reflected in the exceptionally wide range of course units we offer in all years. We also strive to ensure that students get to take the units they are interested in so that, as our students develop and mature as historians, they are able to specialise in the areas that interest them most.

Single Honours Courses

 Joint Honours Courses

Part-time courses

Those interested in undertaking part-time study in the History Department, as a possible prelude to full-time study, may also be interested in our Ways into History short course.

Liberal Arts

The department also contributes to the following multidisciplinary courses:

Unit descriptions

For more detail of the breadth and range of the course units, please see our course structure.

In addition to these units, students can also take units from the History of Art degree, which has the same basic structure and ethos of the History degree.

Studying History at Bristol has provided me with an internationally prestigious degree, which has enabled me to secure positions that might otherwise have required PGCEs or Masters qualifications. Facing a saturated British job market, the experience of working in such a different and challenging environment will certainly benefit me in my future career.

Chris Benson (BA History - now teaching in Hong Kong)

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