Archaeology and History
University of Nottingham
UCAS Code: VV14 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
Including A in History. General Studies and Critical Thinking are not accepted.
Pass Access to HE Diploma with 60 Credits overall; 45 of which must be at Level 3. Of the Level 3 credits, at least 21 should be passed at Merit or above and this must include 9 credits of History with Distinction. Considered on an individual basis. Please contact the school for further information. GCSE English at grade C or above is also required.
Cambridge International Pre-U Certificate - Principal
Including D3 in History.
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
with a minimum of 6 points in History at Higher level.
Applications assessed on an individual basis, please contact the University.
Scottish Advanced Higher
including Scottish Highers AAABB.
Scottish Higher
This qualification is only acceptable when combined with Advanced Higher grades AA including History.
Welsh Baccalaureate - Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate (first teaching September 2015)
plus grades BB at A level including A in History.
UCAS Tariff
We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.
About this course
Explore the broadest range of periods through complementary disciplines. By combining the scientific study of material remains with historical research, writing and debate, you will cover the key ways we study the past. You will also deepen your knowledge of history through theory and practice, covering a range of periods from the Palaeolithic to the recent past.
Our geographic reach is from Britain to the Far East and North America. You can investigate race, rights and propaganda and discover heroes and villains from the Middle Ages. Your studies can range from learning about evolution, culture and society through the study of bones, to the private lives of historical figures through letters. You will gain practical experience of fieldwork and through archaeological research in the UK and abroad.
As a joint honours student, you will benefit from skills development and assessment methods from both subjects. Each subject is taught separately, but you can choose a uniting theme for your final year dissertation.
No previous experience of archaeology is needed.
Modules
You will take 120 credits of modules each year. In year one, you will take 20 credits of core history modules, focusing on the nature of history as a discipline and developing the skills required for the researching, writing and debating. You will also take 60 credits of core archaeology modules which will lay the foundation for your study of archaeological principles and methods, and the archaeology of Britain from prehistory to the Industrial Revolution.
The remainder of your year one credits will come from optional history modules spanning the Middles Ages to the contemporary world
There is a requirement for you to complete 10 days of archaeological fieldwork or other professional experience, with funding available to support this. This is normally taken in the summer vacation.
In year two your core archaeology module will cover more advanced themes in archaeological research. You will also choose from a range of archaeology and history modules, one of which may come from American and Canadian Studies.
In year three you choose to specialise in either history or archaeology, while maintaining a mix of both disciplines.
If you choose to specialise in history you either take a 40-credit History Special Subject and a 40-credit History dissertation with 40 credits of optional Archaeology modules. If you choose to specialise in archaeology you take a 40-credit Archaeology dissertation, 20-credit archaeology option, and a 40-credit History Special Subject, plus 20-credit history or American and Canadian studies option
Placement and volunteering opportunities are available in the School of Humanities, home to both the Departments of History and Classics and Archaeology,as well as via the Nottingham Advantage Award.
You can also spend time overseas through the University of Nottingham Study Abroad programme.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
The Uni
University Park Campus
School of History
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.
Archaeology
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)
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 and 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.
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 and 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.
£20k
£26k
£31k
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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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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