History and Politics with Foundation Year
University of Portsmouth
UCAS Code: VL30 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
University of Portsmouth
UCAS Code: VL30 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Entry requirements
32 tariff points at A level.
Pass the Access to HE Diploma.
Cambridge Pre-U to include a Principal Subject at M3.
GCSE/National 4/National 5
GCSE English and mathematics at grade E/2 or above.
24 points from the IB Diploma.
32 points to include a Higher Level subject.
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate (first teaching from September 2016)
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
32 tariff points.
T Level
UCAS Tariff
32 tariff points at A level, or equivalent.
32 points from the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate including 1 A level, plus the Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate.
About this course
This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.
With this foundation year course, you'll gain all the credentials you need to begin your career in history and politics. It's ideal for you if you don't yet meet the entry requirements of our undergraduate degree, if you're returning to study after a break away, or you need a bit of extra support to get uni-ready.
You'll spend a year studying with us on campus, through ICP. You'll get the knowledge and academic skills needed to take on a bachelor's degree, learning how to analyse information, do research, and improve your academic writing.
The skills you'll learn will help you work in teams as well as on your own in culturally diverse workplaces. You'll develop your understanding of new workplaces and environments, and how to adapt to new environments.
After your foundation year, you'll be ready to move onto the first year of BA (Hons) History and Politics.
**A guaranteed place**
Once you’ve successfully completed your foundation year, you'll be ready to progress onto BA (Hons) History and Politics with a guaranteed place.
**Course highlights**
- ICP is based on the University of Portsmouth campus so you'll have access to all facilities, support and societies
- When you finish your foundation year successfully, you get a guaranteed place on BA (Hons) History and Politics
- Get used to how lectures, seminars and tutorials work, so you can move onto your degree ready for success
- Learn how to meet the demands of taking on a bachelor's at university
**Careers and opportunities**
When you complete this foundation year, you'll be all set to continue on to our BA (Hons) History and Politics. Studying history and politics together will give you transferable skills in critical thinking, collaboration, research, analysis and argument, all of which are highly valued by many kinds of employers. You could also continue your studies at Master's or PhD level in history, politics or a combination of the two.
**What areas can you work in with a history and politics degree?**
Graduates from our other history and politics courses have taken up roles in the following sectors:
- central and local government
- primary and secondary schools
- higher education providers
- financial services
- corporate governance
- trade unions
**Placement year (optional)**
After your second year, you'll have the chance to do an optional year-long work placement to get valuable work experience in a sector of your choice. Students from our other history and politics courses have secured placements at:
- The Ministry of Defence
- The House of Commons
- National Museum of the Royal Navy
- Freedom from Torture, a charity which supports survivors of torture who seek protection in the UK
- Shrewsbury Museums
- Law firms such as Darton Law Ltd
Modules
**Foundation year**
In your foundation year, you'll gain the knowledge you need to move on to the first year of BA (Hons) History and Politics. It will bridge the gap to uni, with the knowledge and academic skills you'll need to start.
Throughout the year, you'll learn to critically engage with information, undertake literature reviews, enhance your academic writing, and gain awareness of different types of research.
When you successfully complete this year, you'll get a guaranteed place on the first year of the BA (Hons) History and Politics.
Assessment methods
You'll be assessed in a number of ways on your foundation year, including:
- assignments
- oral presentations
- exams
- lab reports
- portfolio
- court reports
Typically, you can expect to have two assessments per module.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
The Uni
University of Portsmouth
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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.
Politics
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.
Politics
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
The numbers of people taking politics degrees fell sharply last year and we'll keep an eye on this one - it can't really be because of graduates getting poor outcomes as politics grads do about as well as graduates on average. Most politics or international relations graduates don't actually go into politics - although many do, as activists, fundraisers and researchers. Jobs in local and central government are also important. Other popular jobs include marketing and PR, youth and community work, finance roles, HR and academic research (you usually need a postgraduate degree to get into research). Because so many graduates get jobs in the civil service, a lot of graduates find themselves in London after graduating. Politics is a very popular postgraduate subject, and so about one in five politics graduates go on to take another course - usually a one-year Masters - after they finish their degrees.
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.
Politics
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.
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.
£20k
£25k
£29k
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?
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
