Modern and Contemporary History
Aberystwyth University
UCAS Code: V191 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Aberystwyth University
UCAS Code: V191 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
The University welcomes undergraduate applications from students studying the Access to Higher Education Diploma, provided that relevant subject content and learning outcomes are met. We are not able to accept Access to Higher Education Diplomas as a general qualification for every undergraduate degree course.
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
UCAS Tariff
Accepted in lieu of one A-Level, excluding any specified subjects.
About this course
The Modern and Contemporary History degree at Aberystwyth University covers the period from the French Revolution to the present day. It explores an era marked by mass participation, whether in politics, war or culture. It illuminates the contradictions of modernity - characterized by utopian experiments and their often nightmarish outcomes, by the proclamation of human rights, genocide and ethnic cleansing, and by the promise of reason, science and technology.
By choosing to study this degree scheme, you will benefit from the broad range of expertise of our modern Historians whose work spans the globe. Learn about the impact of the two world wars, about imperialism and decolonisation, Asia’s journey through the modern age and the great changes to life and society that have occurred in our recent past.
Why study Modern and Contemporary History at Aberystwyth University?
- History has been taught in Aberystwyth since 1872, making our department the most established in Wales and one of the foremost in Britain.
- Our teaching is innovative, research-based and designed to develop students’ transferable skills in areas such as analysis, interpretation and communication, which prepares them for a wide range of careers.
- You will be taught by experts who specialise in a wide range of modern and contemporary topics, from Asian migration in the modern world and Media and Society in twentieth century Britain, to Weimar Germany and the Third Reich.
- As an Aberystwyth History student, you will have full use of the National Library of Wales, one of the five Copyright Libraries of the UK and Wales’s leading archive repository.
- As part of your degree, you will have the opportunity to study abroad at a partner university, to undertake Heritage sector work placements and to plan for your future career.
Our modules are designed to provide you with a broad range of political, social, economic and cultural history themes from many eras and several continents. With an emphasis on cultivating a supportive learning environment, that includes one-to-one tutorials and small group teaching, we will help you realise your passion for the past. Through varied assessment that includes both written and oral work, we will also provide you with the personal skills to communicate that passion effectively. All our lecturers are active researchers who publish their work regularly, and we ensure all students feel part of that research community.
In addition to a fine University library, as a History student at Aberystwyth you will have access to the National Library of Wales. One of only five copyright libraries in the United Kingdom, with over six million books, maps, prints and manuscripts, it is situated within a five-minute walk of the Department. You will find this especially valuable when studying your special subject and writing your dissertation in your final year.
**What are our graduates doing now?**
Our graduates have been successful in securing a profession in many different fields, including:
+ education
+ law
+ archiving
+ publishing
+ politics
+ the Civil Service
+ media
+ the armed forces.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
Extra funding
Aberystwyth University offers a valuable package of scholarships and bursaries to support students. Our long-established Entrance Examination competition means you could get up to £2,000 a year towards your living and study costs. You can combine that with any or all of our other awards, to make your financial package more valuable. Our awards include Sport and Music Scholarships, Bursaries for Care Leavers/Young Carers/Estranged Students and a range of department specific awards. Please visit our website for full details.
The Uni
Main Site (Aberystwyth)
Department of History and Welsh History
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if the overall teaching satisfaction score here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
History
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
History
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
History is a very popular subject (although numbers have fallen of late) — in 2015, over 10,000 UK students graduated in a history-related course. Obviously, there aren't 11,000 jobs as historians available every year, but history is a good, flexible degree that allows graduates to go into a wide range of different jobs, and consequently history graduates have an unemployment rate comparable to the national graduate average. Many — probably most — jobs for graduates don't ask for a particular degree to go into them and history graduates are well set to take advantage. That's why so many go into jobs in the finance industry, human resources, marketing, PR and events management, as well as the more obvious roles in education, welfare and the arts. Around one in five history graduates went into further study last year. History and teaching were the most popular further study subjects for history graduates, but law, journalism, and politics were also popular postgraduate courses.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
History
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£16k
£20k
£25k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):
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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).
This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.
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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.
You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.
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Post-six month graduation stats:
This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.
It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
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Graduate field commentary:
The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show
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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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