History (BA) (Full-time evening study) - 2013/2014 entry

The programme offers a wide choice of subjects and approaches within a structured framework. It begins with a foundation module in study skills and with broad survey courses. You then select topics or problems to study in greater depth, making use of more specialised historical literature and sources. Appropriate modules will also train you for historical argument and in bibliographical techniques. To complete the degree, you will research and write a dissertation.

• Year 1: take the compulsory Study Skills module and three Group 1 modules.
• Year 2: take the compulsory Historiography module, one Group 1 module and two Group 2 modules.
• Year 3: take the compulsory Bibliography module, one Group 2 module, one Group 3 module and write a 7000-word dissertation.

Group 1 modules

• British and European History 1250–1500
• British History 1450–1750
• British History from 1750
• European History 1500–1800
• From Republic to Empire – Roman History 133 BC to AD 284
• Modern European History from 1800 to Present
• Modern History of East Asia
• The British Empire, 1780–1960
• The Greek World – Archaic and Classical Periods
• The Making of Medieval Societies c.750–1250
• The Transformation of Late Antiquity 284–800.

Group 2 and Group 3 modules

• Approaching Death in Ancient Greece and Rome
• Colonial Encounters: Race, Identity and Cultural Change in the British Empire
• Contested Nation: Germany 1871–1918
• France 1774–1794: Reform and Revolution
• Gender in the Middle Ages
• Imperialism in Modern East Asia
• Later Medieval London 1450–1560: Community, Politics and Religion
• Literature, Culture and Society in Britain, 1914–1945
• Living in the Middle Ages
• Other Peoples in Greek and Roman Thought
• People and Society: A Social History of Venice (1450–1650)
• Popular Culture in American History, 1870 to the Present
• Religion, Magic and Society in Late Antiquity
• Religious and Political Space in the Classical and Hellenistic World
• Responses to Rome from the Eighteenth Century to the Present
• Terror, War and Late Stalinism: Soviet Russia 1934–1953
• The Age of Plague: Disease, Medicine and Society in Western Europe, 1348–1665
• The Age of Science: The Transformation of European Life, 1850–1939
• The Athenian Empire
• The Cultural History of Early Modern Venice
• The English Family c.1350–1720
• The History of Civil Society: Seventeenth Century to the present
• The Making of the Modern Racial Order in South Africa
• The Ottoman Empire
• The War of Ideas in Post-Revolutionary England 1660–1740 
• Witchcraft and Society 1450–1750.

Please note: modules run on a two-year cycle and not all modules are available every year.

We offer a range of Master's degrees in history.

Graduates go on to careers as researchers, as archivists, in museums and galleries, in education, and as journalists.

Teaching

All formal teaching takes place between 6pm–9pm, Monday to Friday. Staff are available to provide tutorial and general help at other times, as they have a full-time commitment to the School of History, Classics and Archaeology.

Unlike other colleges and universities, Birkbeck teaches three equal terms of eleven weeks each, in the knowledge that mature students are often parents whose responsibilities are particularly heavy during the school holidays. Check our term dates.

All undergraduate students in the Department of History, Classics and Archaeology are assigned a personal tutor, with whom they can discuss their academic progress and any problems they encounter during the course.

Studying history and archaeology as a mature student

In the Department of History, Classics and Archaeology, we appreciate the commitment, experience and intellectual curiosity that mature students bring to their studies. But we are also well aware of the problems you might face: the constraints on your time and energy and the changing level of other commitments. You may also feel trepidation about returning to study, especially if you have had a break of several years.

To help you, we run two initiatives. The first is a compulsory study skills short course for first-year BA students. Further details will be available at the History and Archaeology Induction Evening.

The second is the provision of a personal tutor for each student. If you have any problems during your degree, you can discuss them in confidence with your tutor. Of course, you are also free to talk about any issues with any other member of staff. The Students' Union also provides confidential advice.

Other support

The History Society provides occasions for socialising. It runs parties and arranges visits to places of interest. This is the students' own society and it is what they make it. It is worth thinking about volunteering to help run the society: this will enable you to get to know people and learn more about how the department works.

The department seeks to maintain an open and friendly relationship between students and staff, as is appropriate for mature, part-time students, through participation in social occasions.

A student-staff committee, run by undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral student, meets several times a year. The committee represents the views of the wider student body to the department and pursues initiatives to improve the student experience.

The best history degree each year is awarded the Dakin Prize, established by his family in memory of Professor Douglas Dakin, Professor of History at Birkbeck from 1935–1974. Another Dakin Prize is awarded, as appropriate, for personal achievement to a finalist who has overcome particular difficulties to obtain his or her degree.

• Applications for entry will only be considered through UCAS.

• Applications from January.
• Interviews usually from March.

Welcome to Birkbeck, London's evening university: Number 1 in London for teaching and student satisfaction (National Student Survey 2012).

Birkbeck specialises in part-time, evening study. The Key Information Set has been developed for full-time, daytime courses. We are providing some additional information about our evening courses to help you make an informed choice.