University of Chester
UCAS Code: VV14 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
The Department requires one of the following subjects: A level History or a suitable alternative such as Classical Civilisation, English, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Government and Politics, Sociology or Law
Access to HE Diploma, to include 45 credits at level 3, 30 of which must be at Merit (including 15 in History)
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
including 5 in HL History or an alternative such as English, Philosophy or Social and Cultural Anthropology
Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)
including H3 in History or an alternative such as English, Politics & Society or Religious Education
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
The Department also requires one of the following GCE A Level subjects: History or a suitable alternative such as Classical Civilisation, English, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Government and Politics, Sociology or Law
Scottish Higher
including History, or an alternative such as English or Religious Studies
UCAS Tariff
About this course
Archaeology and History is the perfect course combination if you find yourself fascinated by the human past and all its intrinsic diversity. On this degree course you will study the richness of our past and of our heritage, from the hunter-gatherers of Ice Age Europe right through to the inhabitants of early modern cities. The study of Archaeology and History is important because it helps us understand how past events and societies have shaped the world that we live in today. By learning about the struggles, innovations, and cultures of people from different times, you will gain a deeper perspective on current issues such as politics, identity, and justice, whilst uncovering physical traces of the past that will connect you to human stories that might otherwise be forgotten.
Studying Archaeology and History at Chester offers you a unique combination of hands-on experience and academic depth, delivered within a close-knit and highly supportive learning community. Whether you're analysing human remains and environmental samples in our on-site lab, recording artefacts in the Anna Sutton Annex, rooting through Cheshire archives, immersing yourself in state-of-the-art digital technology, handling objects at the Grosvenor Museum or getting your hands dirty during a dig, you will constantly find yourself bringing your studies to life.
From day one, you will discover what life was like for past societies and learn the techniques and approaches that we use to study them. You will study over a thousand years of local, national and international history, covering themes such as race, ethnicity, leisure, the landscape, war, conflict and social change. By challenging existing narratives about the past, you will think critically about how and why things have developed, and you will build exceptional employability skills. Through exploring the past, you will open the gateway to your future.
Modules
For the latest example of curriculum availability on this degree programme please refer to the University of Chester's Website.
Assessment methods
We see assessment as serving a dual role, acting both to assess the students learning and to help them develop their capacity to think creatively and critically, and develop qualitative and quantitative skills. For this reason, we use a wide range of assessment methods, including essays, review articles, technical reports, podcasts, audio-visual presentations, and museum displays. Many of our assessment methods replicate the sorts of tasks that a student would encounter in a professional environment, helping to prepare the student for graduate level employment.
Tuition fees
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What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction 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)
Archaeology
Sorry, no information to show
This is usually because there were too few respondents in the data we receive to be able to provide results about the subject at this university.
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.
Archaeology
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
Want to do a job in the arts - with lots of the great outdoors? Try archaeology! There don't tend to be many archaeology undergraduates out there (just under 700 graduated in 2015) - but it's quite a popular subject at postgraduate level. In fact, over a quarter of archaeology graduates take some kind of further study when they graduate - usually more study of archaeology. When you look at the stats, be aware that junior jobs in archaeology are not always well paid at the start of your career, and that temporary contracts are not uncommon. Thankfully, though, unpaid work, whilst not completely gone, is less common than it used to be. The archaeology graduates of 2015 found jobs in archaeology, of course, but also management and heritage and environment work, as well as more conventional graduate jobs in marketing and the finance industry.
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.
£17k
£20k
£21k
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.
Archaeology
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£17k
£20k
£21k
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):
We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the 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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