University home > Unit and programme catalogues in 2023/24 > Programme catalogue > Faculty of Arts > Department of History (Historical Studies) > History with Study Abroad (BA) > Specification
Programme code | 1HIST006U |
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Programme type | Single Honours |
Programme director(s) |
Sam Hitchmough
|
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
School/department | Department of History (Historical Studies) |
Teaching institution | University of Bristol |
Awarding institution | University of Bristol |
Relevant QAA subject benchmark groups | History (2022) (benchmark statement) |
Mode of study | Full Time |
Programme length | 4 years (full time) |
This section sets out why studying this programme is important, both in terms of inspiring you as an individual and in considering the challenges we face. It describes how this degree programme contributes to:
•To inspire and enable students to develop a broadly based and deepening understanding of the past as an issue of importance in its own right
•To provide students with an appreciation of the complexity and diversity of past conditions, events and mentalities across a range of cultures, and a familiarity with the range of approaches adopted by historians
•To enable students to develop their capabilities as historians to the highest potential levels in an active, challenging and internationally recognised research environment which facilitates the development of high-order critical, analytical and presentational skills, and provides the optimum context for a research training
•To attract students of the highest academic potential from a widening range of educational, social, and ethnic backgrounds
•To enable students, through the study of history, to achieve personal fulfilment through their own intellectual growth and acquire the life-long learning skills more fully to understand themselves and the world around them and thus contribute positively to society.
•To enable students to reflect on the nature of history as a discipline and appreciate its current relevance
The learning outcome statements shown below for your programme have been developed with reference to relevant national subject benchmarks (where they exist), national qualification descriptors (see the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications) and professional body requirements.
Teaching, learning and assessment strategies are listed to show how you will be able to achieve and demonstrate the learning outcomes.
This programme provides opportunities for you to develop and demonstrate knowledge and understanding, qualities, skills and other attributes in the following areas:
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning/teaching methods and strategies |
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Acquisition of historical knowledge and skills through lectures, seminars, tutorials, specially constructed historical skills units, directed reading and individual formative feedback. Independent research is fostered through supervised Projects connected to the Specials at each level of the programme and a Dissertation at level H. (B25, B26) |
Methods of assessment (formative and summative) | |
Range of essay writing skills (long and short). (B31) 10,000-word dissertation (B33) Student presentations Examinations (2hr unseen and 24hr seen) (B31) |
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning/teaching methods and strategies |
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|
Skills are acquired, practised and refined through participation in lectures and, in particular, engagement in seminars, written work of various lengths, and individual written and oral feedback from tutors. |
Methods of assessment (formative and summative) | |
All units are assessed by written coursework which requires the demonstration of a combination of these skills. Student presentations. 2 hour unseen and 24 hour unseen examinations. |
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning/teaching methods and strategies |
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|
Written communication skills are acquired, refined and practiced through the production of essays/Projects/Dissertation, and individual written and oral feedback from tutors. Seminars and tutorials are used to develop oral communication by requiring students to engage in class discussions and to make oral presentations. Specially devised skills units at levels C and I. |
Methods of assessment (formative and summative) | |
Some units require oral class presentations to a satisfactory standard to gain CPs. The ability to locate and access sources is required in all written work. |
Embedded within the curriculum |
The curriculum includes a range of support for students to enhance their employability through embedded learning. Employability skills are embedded across all degree programmes, allowing students to graduate with an impressive range of transferable and analytical skills. For example, independent research projects will develop a student’s ability to research, whilst regular in-class discussions challenge students to think critically and creatively through dialogue with their peers. Further assessment and activities will equip students with further transferable skiklls, including digital, problem-solving, analysis, organisation, presentation and communication skills. |
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Co-curricular opportunities |
Students have the opportunity to access a wide range of careers guidance and support alongside their studies. The Careers Service deliver career workshops, talks, webinars, and one-to-one appointments are available throughout the academic year. Through our online careers portal, mycareer, students can find part-time and vacation work, internships and graduate jobs and access hundreds of careers resources, including CV builders and virtual mock interview practise. The Careers Service works with a range of external partners to facilitate a range of employability initiatives, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to provide internships in smaller companies. |
This section describes what is expected from you at each level of your programme. This illustrates increasing intellectual standards as you progress through the programme. These levels are mapped against the national level descriptors published by the Quality Assurance Agency.
Level C/4 - Certificate |
Students are expected to acquire the foundations on which to develop appropriate expertise in line with the aims and objectives of the programme. They will acquire familiarity with the main themes and concepts of historical study in three main fields (drawn from medieval, early modern, modern British & European and world history). Through the skills unit (Approaching the Past) students will be introduced to the methodology of historical enquiry and through the Special Topic, will be introduced to key issues in historical research. Students will be introduced to the defining features, terminology and conventions of historical scholarship and, in their Project will take the first steps towards independent research. Here the expectation is that their work may require substantial direction and guidance on the development of study skills from tutors. |
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Level I/5 - Intermediate |
In Year 2 students are expected to expand the range and depth of their knowledge in core areas of the discipline, develop their capacity to evaluate material using a variety of critical perspectives, and develop their written and oral communication skills. Students will have the opportunity to consolidate what they have learned in year one and to use their knowledge, understanding and skills to evaluate critically and formulate evidence-based arguments. Students will extend their analytical skills and their ability to structure their work and present it fluently. They are expected to develop their capacity for self-directed learning (for example, through the researching and writing of essays and coursework assignments). Through Rethinking History students will be familiarised with the diversity and richness of historical writing today, become able to deal with historiographical issues, and be introduced to a variety of sub-disciplines (e.g., cultural history) that underpins the range of current and past historical study. The unit will equip students with the conceptual tools they need to develop further their understanding of particular topics and to strengthen their capacity to make connections between the different areas of their studies. The Lecture Response units will be interactive and students will be expected to develop the ability to contribute in a variety of ways, in their Special Field students will develop their research skills through a focus on primary sources, and in their projects they will further develop their independent research abilities. |
Level H/6 - Honours |
At level H students are expected to broaden and deepen their knowledge, and to apply relevant conceptual and methodological approaches to more complex historical issues. Students will be encouraged to develop greater independence both as learners and in their own critical judgements and to reflect both on the nature of history as a discipline and their own progress as historians. At the same time, work is more research orientated and requires more independent study based on primary source materials. Working with staff on areas closely linked with their research students will be expected to develop further their ability to gather, assimilate and synthesise information from diverse sources, and to engage in sophisticated critical evaluation of historical texts. Building on the preparatory work in levels C and I students will undertake an extended independently conceived and researched Dissertation based on primary sources. Students will be expected to present work which meets the highest standards of historical scholarship. |
For information on the admissions requirements for this programme please see details in the undergraduate prospectus at http://www.bristol.ac.uk/prospectus/undergraduate/ or contact the relevant academic department.
Undergraduate Students
Success as an undergraduate student depends on you being able to make the transition to self-motivated, independent learning. Programmes are designed to assist you in this development, in many cases by starting with units in which timetabled teaching, such as lectures and practical classes, provides the foundations of knowledge and skills in a subject, moving on to individual research-based work. Over time you will be expected to take increasing responsibility for your own learning, guided by the feedback on your work that you will receive.
Postgraduate Students
Taught postgraduate students are generally studying for one academic year. This is a longer year than for undergraduates, normally culminating in a research project. In a one-year full-time programme your workload will be distributed as evenly as possible, but this will depend on the precise arrangements for your programme. You will be expected to take responsibility for your own learning, guided by the feedback on your work that you will receive.
All students
At the heart of your studies at every level there must be regular and disciplined individual reading, reflection and writing and it is this skill of independent studies, above all others, that will serve you best when you leave the University.
Most programmes use credits and a 20-credit unit broadly equates to about 200 hours of student input. This includes all activities related to the teaching, learning and assessment of taught units.
A component of this is the time that you spend in class, in contact with the teaching staff, which includes activities such as lectures, laboratories, tutorials, problem-solving classes and fieldwork. Some of this activity may be online and could consist of activity that is synchronous (using real-time environments such as Blackboard Collaborate) or asynchronous (using tools such as tutor moderated discussion forums, blogs or wikis).
In some programmes there are field courses and/or placements that will take place in concentrated periods of time.
Outside scheduled activities you are expected to pursue your own independent learning to build your knowledge and understanding of the subjects you are studying. Such independent activities include, reviewing lecture material, reading textbooks, working on examples sheets, completing coursework, writing up laboratory notes, preparing for in-class progress tests and revising for examinations.
We recognise that many students undertake paid employment. To achieve a sensible balance between work and study, you are advised to undertake paid work for no more than 15 hours per week in term-time.
UG Professional Programmes in the Faculty of Health Sciences
For these professional programmes, full time attendance is compulsory unless absence is formally approved. Academic activities are timetabled throughout the 5-day week and student workload is around 40 hours per week on average. Where possible, students in the early years are permitted Wednesday afternoons for sport and extra-curricula activities. This is usually not available in later years of professional programmes as when a student progresses through their curriculum there is an increasing exposure to clinical and professional activities. Students in clinic or on placements may need to stay later than core times of 08.00 – 18.00 or even overnight to observe out-of-hours activities. There may also be an occasional need to work or travel to clinical placements at the weekend. This increasing exposure to clinical activities means that students on these professional programmes often have longer term dates than the University standard. Individual years within programmes are likely to vary in length (for example because of the timings of placements) and further information on this will be found in individual programme information. Another important point to note is that many of the assessments sit outside the standard University examination timetable and are likely to be more frequent, meaning that students will need to engage in revision activities and self-directed learning (including when on clinical placements).
Health Sciences Assessment Statement
Please select the following link for a statement about assessment in the Faculty of Health Sciences. This is University of Bristol access only.
https://www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/sites/health-sciences/chse/documents/FHS%20Assessment%20and%20Feedback%20statement%202021.pdf
Students on the History with Study Abroad programme will study abroad for one full year (two teaching blocks) during their third year. Current destinations for study abroad include France (Toulouse), the Netherlands (Leiden), North America (Richmond; Maryland; Rutgers), Japan (Kyoto; Sophia), Hong Kong (Hong Kong) and Australia (Adelaide; Macquarie; U of Western Australia).
Students take a single 120 credit Study Abroad unit (code TBC) that replaces all units in Year 3.
This programme is only available to single hons students.
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | ||
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List A - Choose 20 CP from this list | |||||
The Early Modern World: The British Isles | HIST10063 | 20 | Optional | A | TB-1 |
The Early Modern World: Europe and the Wider World | HIST10065 | 20 | Optional | A | TB-1 |
LIST B - Choose 20 CP from this list | |||||
Modern Revolutions | HIST10067 | 20 | Optional | B | TB-1 |
The American Century | HIST10044 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
War and Society | HIST10045 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
List C: | |||||
Approaching the Past | HIST13015 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
List D - Choose 20 CP from this list | |||||
The Medieval World: The British Isles | HIST10064 | 20 | Optional | D | TB-2 |
The Medieval World: Europe and the Wider World | HIST10066 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
List E - Choose 20 CP from this list | |||||
Slavery | HIST10046 | 20 | Optional | E | TB-2 |
'Fight the Power': Democracy and Protest | HIST10068 | 20 | Optional | E | TB-2 |
Gender in the Modern World | HIST10069 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
List F - Choose 20 CP from this list | |||||
Take 20 CP From Bristol Futures, UWLP or Faculty Wide Units | OPEN | 20 | Optional | ||
Approaches to Poetry | ENGL10026 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Living Religions East | THRS10065 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Select from: | |||||
Certificate of Higher Education | 120 |
Students may substitute History of Art units from the parallel options lists. Details will be provided by the School.
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | ||
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List A | |||||
Rethinking History | HIST23101 | 20 | Mandatory | A | TB-1 |
List B: Global History Optional Panel: Choose 20CP from this list | |||||
Select from: | |||||
Africa in Global Perspective | HIST20141 | 20 | Optional | B | TB-1 |
The Americas in Global Context | HIST20142 | 20 | Optional | B | TB-1 |
Asia in Global Perspective | HIST20143 | 20 | Optional | B | TB-1 |
List C1: Medieval and Early Modern History Optional Panel: Choose 20 CP from this list | |||||
Fear and Loathing | HIST20117 | 20 | Optional | C | TB-1 |
Outlaws | HIST20120 | 20 | Optional | C | TB-1 |
The Tudor World | HIST20119 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Crusading Cultures | HIST20133 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
List D: History in Public Optional Panel: Choose 20CP from this list | |||||
Select from: | |||||
The Politics of the Past | HIST20144 | 20 | Optional | D | TB-2 |
The Public Role of the Historian | HIST20145 | 20 | Optional | D | TB-2 |
List E: Special Fields: Choose 20 CP from this list | |||||
Brief Encounters: Love, Labour, and Loneliness in Modern London | HIST20099 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Everyday Life in Tudor and Stuart England | HIST20100 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Remembering Transatlantic Enslavement | HIST20122 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
The Smugglers' City (Level I Special Field) | HIST26010 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
The Norman Conquest | HIST20127 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Under the Covers: Sex and Modern British Print Culture | HIST20138 | 20 | Optional | E | TB-2 |
Health and Medicine in African History: Actors, Institutions, Ideas | HIST20147 | 20 | Optional | E | TB-2 |
Travel and Trade in the Global Middle Ages | HIST20132 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
The F Word: Understanding Italian Fascism Then and Now | HIST20140 | 20 | Optional | E | TB-2 |
Speaking with Authority: Women and Power in the Middle Ages (Level I Special Field) | HIST26024 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Rebels, Runaways, and Revolts: Agency, Resistance, and Slavery in the United States | HIST20129 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
The Age of Revolutions 1776-1848 in Global Perspective | HIST20128 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Mental Health in Modern Britain, 1959-present | HIST20148 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Political Culture and Communication in Britain, 1867-1939 (Level I Special Field) | HIST26015 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
List C2: Modern History Optional Panel: Choose 20 CP from this list or list F | |||||
Decolonisation | HIST20116 | 20 | Optional | C | TB-2 |
The Making of Contemporary Britain (1918-2008) | HIST20114 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Disease, Deviance and Disability in Modern Medicine | HIST20134 | 20 | Optional | C | TB-2 |
List F - Choose 20 CP from this list or list C2 | |||||
Take 20 CP From Bristol Futures, UWLP or Faculty Wide Units | OPEN | 20 | Optional | ||
Diploma of Higher Education | 120 |
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | ||
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Study Abroad 1 year | HUMS20007 | 120 | Mandatory | E | TB-4 |
120 |
Please note: This specification provides a concise summary of the main features of the programme and the learning outcomes that a typical student might reasonably be expected to achieve and demonstrate if he/she takes full advantage of the learning opportunities that are provided.
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