Get degree ideas using our A level explorer tool

History and Archaeology

Entry requirements


We welcome applications from students who are completing an Access to Higher Education Diploma. We normally look for applicants to have studied a course that is in a similar subject and offers are usually made in line with our published tariff point range.

GCSE/National 4/National 5

GCSE in English Language at grade 4 or C, or higher.

T Level

P

UCAS Tariff

96-112

About this course


Course option

3years

Full-time | 2024

Subjects

Archaeology

History

- Survey a wide range of periods and cultures from the earliest humans to the industrial and post-industrial age

- Learn from expert tutors and their cutting-edge research

- Join a student-led history society on trips to sites of historical interest and talks by major historians

- Study in a beautiful city and explore the rich archaeological history of Winchester and Wessex

- Archaeology achieved 100% overall satisfaction as rated by final-year undergraduate students in the 2017 National Student Survey

Do you want to dig deeper into the past to gain new groundbreaking insights? On this fascinating hands-on degree you combine the study of both historical documents and archaeological remains in a quest for missing pieces of the historical canvas.

Our committed team of historians and archaeologists are passionate about their subjects, which cover a broad range of cultures, wars and traditions. They will help you to mine the past seeking answers to pressing questions from the prehistoric to the modern period in Britain, mainland Europe, the Caribbean, USA and Japan.

This dynamic, multi-disciplinary course encourages you to critically evaluate historical sources and archaeological information and assess their value to our understanding of the past.

In Year 1, you examine the theory and practice of archaeology, including an introduction to fieldwork. You study the archaeology of the historic and prehistoric periods; the methods and nature of history as a discipline in small groups, and choose from a range of optional modules to gain an insight into a variety of historical periods and cultures.

Building on a firm foundation laid in the first year, in Year 2, you may choose to focus your studies on a range of historical themes or societies, while also studying the archaeology of one or more European archaeological periods. You develop an understanding of research skills and knowledge in preparation for Year 3.

In Year 3, you cover topics more intensively and carry out an independent piece of research on a subject of your choice in either archaeology or history.

As part of the course, there are opportunities for you to visit archaeological sites and get involved in departmental research, which allows you to work in new laboratories and use a range of specialist surveying equipment.

You are required to attend a two-week period of archaeological fieldwork during the first summer vacation, which can be on any of the department’s projects. In recent years these have included projects in Hampshire and the South West, as well as international research projects in Barbados, Georgia, Belgium, Germany and Greece.

It is the complementary, yet different, nature of these disciplines that makes this degree so challenging and exciting. It gives you excellent research, analysis and creative presentation skills and demonstrates that you can work collaboratively.

Our graduates enter a wide variety of careers in field archaeology, teaching, archival work, and government and heritage organisations. Others find work in the arts, retail, marketing and media.

Modules

Please see the single honours course pages for modular structure. Usually combined honours study two modules from each subject to make up the four modules per semester (2 semesters) (8 modules per year.) These two modules are usually comprised of the core modules in 1st year and then core and optional modules in 2nd and 3rd year. You will find course specific leaflets as a PDF on our website, these give further details of modular structure for combined and single honours. It is normally possible to transfer to a single honours programme at the end of Year 1.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
EU
£16,700
per year
International
£16,700
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course location:

University of Winchester

Department:

Department of Archaeology, Anthropology and Geography

Read full university profile

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.

86%
Archaeology
86%
History

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

79%
Staff make the subject interesting
92%
Staff are good at explaining things
88%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
82%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

64%
Library resources
92%
IT resources
86%
Course specific equipment and facilities
81%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

93%
UK students
7%
International students
54%
Male students
46%
Female students
62%
2:1 or above
12%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
C
C

History

Teaching and learning

90%
Staff make the subject interesting
96%
Staff are good at explaining things
87%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
77%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

71%
Library resources
85%
IT resources
82%
Course specific equipment and facilities
74%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

99%
UK students
1%
International students
50%
Male students
50%
Female students
61%
2:1 or above
18%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
C
C

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.

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.

£19,000
med
Average annual salary
91%
med
Employed or in further education
32%
low
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

23%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
14%
Natural and social science professionals
12%
Other elementary services occupations

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.

£19,500
med
Average annual salary
93%
low
Employed or in further education
38%
low
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

18%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
10%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals
9%
Other elementary services occupations

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.

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.

£18k

£18k

£21k

£21k

£23k

£23k

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.

£18k

£18k

£21k

£21k

£23k

£23k

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.

Share this page

This is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Course location and department:

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

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.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

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.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

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.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

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.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

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

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

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