History

History at Chester is taught in an environment that takes the discipline's questions seriously while remaining genuinely accessible to students who come to the subject from a wide range of backgrounds. This programme includes a foundation year for those who need additional preparation before beginning degree-level study, as well as a year abroad that takes your learning into an international context. The combination makes for a programme that is both supportive and expansive.

You will study history across a range of periods, regions, and themes, developing the core skills of the discipline: reading primary sources critically, engaging with historiographical debates, constructing clear and well-evidenced arguments, and presenting your thinking in well-written essays and, eventually, a substantial piece of independent research. The foundation year prepares you for the demands of undergraduate study, building academic reading and writing skills before the main degree begins. The year abroad gives you experience of studying or living in another country, which develops independence, cultural awareness, and the broader perspective that history students often bring to their work already, through the nature of the subject itself.

History graduates are among the most flexible and employable in the humanities. The skills developed in a history degree, including research, critical analysis, source evaluation, and clear communication, are valued across a wide range of professions. Careers include journalism, the law, the civil service, politics, education, heritage and museums, publishing, business, and the charitable sector.

Many graduates also go into teaching or pursue further academic study, including postgraduate degrees in history, archives and records management, heritage studies, and a wide range of social science and humanities disciplines. The discipline's breadth means there are few paths it does not open.