History with Politics (with Integrated Foundation Year)
Goldsmiths, University of London
UCAS Code: LV22 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Goldsmiths, University of London
UCAS Code: LV22 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
UCAS Tariff
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About this course
This programme equips you with the core skills and knowledge required for success in the first year of your Undergraduate Degree and beyond.
**Why study BA History with Politics (with Integrated Foundation Year) at Goldsmiths**
- If you do not have the required qualifications for degree-level study, our BA in History with Politics (with Integrated Foundation Year) offers an alternative entry route
- The Foundation Year is closely aligned with our undergraduate history programmes, teaching you a foundational knowledge of the subject and helping you develop the necessary academic skills. You choose the undergraduate degree you wish to study at the point of application, but if your interests change as you progress through the foundation year you can apply to switch to a different degree programme
- You will develop an understanding of the post-colonial world through a historical and historiographical survey of the British Empire from the 17th to the late 20th century
- Learn about social, cultural and political themes, including industrialisation, urbanisation, politicisation, radicalism, democracy, liberalism, constitutionalism and national identity in relation to the Battle for the Ballot
- You will acquire skills in historical methodology, including innovative practices such as oral history, public history, and applied history
- Learn how to effectively communicate information, arguments, and analysis in written form. You will successfully deploy techniques such as source evaluation, critical judgment and referencing
- Develop your ability to think critically about knowledge production and communication; look beyond the words on the page, delve into the emotional meaning of images and spoken word, and dig into the truth behind the data
- Rather than focusing on chronology or strictly demarcated historical periods, combining history and politics encourages and facilitates explorations and analyses of key issues, controversies, themes, and debates.
- The study, analysis and understanding of the past is as important today as it has ever been.
- Understanding past societies fosters emotional intelligence and allows us to appreciate the diversity and adaptability of human life.
- Understanding our pasts can help us to shape our futures and, crucially, help us shape those futures intelligently, insightfully, fairly, and with compassion, contributing towards equality, diversity and social justice.
- Our innovative approaches to the study of politics, peel back the formal veneer of political parties and institutions to reveal the major ideological, economic, social, and cultural conflicts
- By exploring politics in this in-depth manner, you will gain a comprehensive understanding of our world.
- We cross boundaries between the traditional and the more radical understandings of political phenomena.
- Politics is much more than simply what happens in parliaments, it pervades the whole of society, domestically and internationally.
Modules
Developing your academic skills
Alongside direct preparation for an undergraduate degree in History, you will take two modules with our Centre for Academic Language and Literacies (CALL). These modules will help you develop the broader academic and research skills required for undergraduate study.
You will also learn how key social and political movements of the period have influenced the world we live in today through a cross-disciplinary module: Culture and Society in Post-war Britain. This module will cover topics such as 'Windrush and Migration', 'Irish Colonisation', 'Second-wave Feminism', 'Protest and Punk' and 'South-Asian Britain'.
Year 0 (Foundation Year)
Reading and Writing Your World
Building Your Research World
Culture and Society in Postwar Britain
The Battle for the Ballot
Empires, Nations and Lines on the Map: Postcolonial Perspectives on Global History
Year 1
In your first year, you'll take the following compulsory modules:
Global Connections
Reading and Writing History
Historical Controversies
Power, Emotions and Environment
Identity, Agency & Environment 1 & 2
Year 2
Your second year will give you the chance to broaden your intellectual horizons, and have more freedom over what you study.
You will take these compulsory modules:
The Goldsmiths Elective
The Goldsmiths Project
You'll also choose 60 credits from the list offered by the History department, up to 30 credits of which can be a University of London intercollegiate group II module and another 30 can be in another Goldsmiths discipline.
An additional 30 credits will be from a list provided annually by the Department of Politics and International Relations.
Year 3
In your final year, you will develop your specialist interests and knowledge.
You will take the following compulsory module:
Special subject module from a list of University of London intercollegiate Group III module
You will also complete a dissertation worth 30 credits relating to your special subject.
You will also choose 45 credits of optional modules offered by the Department of Politics and 15 credits offered by the Department of History.
Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of the modules may be available every year.
Assessment methods
You’ll be assessed by a variety of methods that broaden your academic skillset. These include coursework assignments such as essays, critical commentaries, presentations and personal reflections as well as seen examinations.
The Uni
Goldsmiths, University of London
History
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.
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)
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)
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.
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.
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.
£18k
£23k
£28k
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.
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.
£19k
£28k
£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.
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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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