History and International Relations
Entry requirements
A level
History/Ancient History/Classical Civilisation at grade B
Access to HE Diploma
including at least 12 level 3 credits in History or A Level in History/Ancient History/Classical Civilisation at grade B
Cambridge International Pre-U Certificate - Principal
Principal subjects must include History.
Extended Project
In recognition of the excellent preparation that the Extended Project Qualification provides to students for University study, we now include achievement in the EPQ as part of a formal offer. Eligible applicants would receive two offers, our usual offer plus an alternative offer of a B in the EPQ and one grade lower in their A level subjects
GCSE/National 4/National 5
GCSE Maths C (or 4), English Language or English Literature C (or 4).
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
History at grade 5 at Higher Level.
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
including relevant history modules or A Level in History/Ancient History/Classical Civilisation at grade B
Scottish Higher
History/Ancient History/Classical Civilisation at grade B
UCAS Tariff
We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.
About this course
Our joint honours BA History and International Relations course enables you to address today's key issues and investigate their roots in the past. Explore both history and international relations and gain an understanding of how they influence one another.
Discover a thousand years of history whilst experiencing all the specialist areas on offer at the University of Reading. The History Department's expertise covers a wide and diverse range of regions, from Europe and Africa to America, South Asia and the Middle East. Module choices cover diverse periods and topics, from the Crusades to the 1960s, slavery in America to Tudor monarchy, and Cold War Berlin to medieval magic.
In your first year, your core modules will explore people, politics and revolution – finding out how people struggled for power in past societies – and the culture and concepts those societies developed. We will teach you the skills you need to study and research history through an individual project of your choice.
You will be taught in small interactive seminar groups, encouraging discussion and debate with teaching staff and fellow students. We place a great deal of importance on employability skills in both sides of your degree, and our modules History Education, Discovering Archives and Collections, and Going Public all offer students short work placements and act as an introduction to possible career paths.
By studying international relations, you will acquire a strong grounding in the fundamental elements of the subject such as political ideas and international relations theory. Your teaching staff have direct professional experience and act as policy advisers to the government as well as international bodies such as the EU and UN. You will have the opportunity to gain a broad overview of the subject through a wide range of specialist core and optional modules, which cover topical issues such as European political integration, international terrorism and the Middle East crisis.
You will have access to a number of unique resources. The University has three museums and several special collections for you to explore. In International Relations, we run model United Nations and Middle East simulations, get a feel of the political process and apply your knowledge and skills to a scenario that mimics real life.
You may study abroad for a term in your second year at a wide range of universities from Hong Kong to Melbourne, and broaden your knowledge and experiences. The University also offers all students the chance learn a modern language alongside their core subjects.
**Careers**
Throughout your degree you will complete career and skills related modules, encouraging you to think about what career you would like and what skills you will need. If you would like a career in teaching, or in archives or records management, try our optional third-year modules, History Education and Discovering Archives and Collections. We have had a high success rate from students who have completed History Education, with many of our graduates gaining places for Initial Teacher Training. Additionally, both these modules develop a wide range of interpersonal, organisational, presentational and research skills readily transferable to other areas of employment.
As a graduate of this joint degree you will have a broad range of transferable skills, including the ability to think clearly and critically, to communicate with confidence and work effectively both individually and as part of a team. Previous employers have included The British Museum, The Football Association, House of Commons, Marks and Spencer, MI5, Morgan Stanley and Siemens Financial Services.
Past students have put their political analysis skills to direct use in the UK and European civil services, the armed forces, think tanks, non-governmental organisations and journalism. Others have gone into advertising, PR, media and banking.
Modules
Sample modules may include:
* Journeys through History 1 (People, Power and Revolution)
* Journeys through History 2 (Culture, Art and Ideas)
* Introduction to Contemporary Democracy
* Introduction to Political Ideas
* Politics: International Relations and Strategic Studies
Check our website for more information on the course structure.
Tuition fees
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The Uni
University of Reading
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.
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
£27k
£30k
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 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.
£19k
£22k
£24k
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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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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