History and International Relations BA at Kings College London

Overview

BA History and International Relations is an interdepartmental and interdisciplinary programme designed to develop your critical thinking and independence of thought about the past, and about the value of history for thinking about the key political and governmental challenges facing today’s world. The strength of the two world-leading King’s departments offering this course - History and War Studies - ensures that you have access to a wide range of modules.

Key benefits:

• The degree is jointly offered by the History Department, ranked 5th in Europe in the QS World University Rankings by Subject (2019), and by the unique and world-leading Department of War Studies; a leading centre for the study of international relations, conflicts and conflict resolution.

• This is a cutting-edge programme, drawing on the best of both departments, and also on specialist expertise in the Departments of European and International Studies, Political Economy, and the King’s Global Institutes.

• Outstanding flexibility, enabling students to develop their specialist interests in a very wide range of areas, with support from experts on virtually all parts of the world.

• Our location in the heart of London offers unrivalled access to the museums, libraries, historical sites, archives and cultural resources of the capital.

• Excellent employment prospects. King’s is ranked 4th in the UK for graduate employability (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2018). The combination of historical breadth with close engagement with contemporary world issues makes this degree an ideal preparation for careers in government, journalism, policy development, the NGO sector, and much more.

• Students have the option to study abroad at one of our partner institutions for the second semester of the second year. Current options include University of Sydney, Hong Kong University, University of Auckland, Peking University and the University of Oslo

Description

Our History & International Relations degree combines teaching from our History and International Relations courses, to create an integrated multidisciplinary programme. The research and communication skills of historical study combined with the intellectual and analytical demands of International Relations, create a challenging education pathway to provide an ideal foundation for a wide range of careers.

The first year provides a grounding in historical methods and in the theoretical and historical foundations of international studies. The second year focusses on the use of history for international analysis, with a wide range of specialist options. In the final year, students take a special subject and write an associated dissertation in the Department of History, and choose from a wide range of option modules in International Relations.

You will have the opportunity to study abroad as part of your degree at King’s.

Because King’s is part of the University of London, second and final-year students also have the option of taking history courses at other institutions such as UCL and Royal Holloway.

Teaching

You will have regular and varied contact with staff and other students in lectures, seminars and supervisions. You will also spend an extensive amount on written work and independent study. Most teaching takes place in seminars, which usually have between 15 and 25 participants and are a forum for discussion in which students have the opportunity to refine their discussion and presentation skills.

From the beginning of the degree, you will analyse primary sources as well as the writings of historians and international relations experts. We ensure you are exposed to many different approaches to these subjects, and encourage a comparative approach, looking at the connections and contrasts between various times and places throughout the degree. In your final year, you will conduct supervised historical research resulting in a 10,000 word dissertation in History.

Typically, one credit equates to 10 hours of work.