The University

The University campus offers students the advantages of a compact campus university which is just a few minutes’ walk from the main shopping area. Newcastle is the largest city between Leeds and Edinburgh, with a population of 284,000 and has been a city for over 900 years. It is a thriving economic, educational, social and cultural capital for over three million people in the region.

The University is supported by first-class academic facilities. The Robinson Library has a government Charter Mark (awarded for quality of service), stocks over one million books and 5,000 periodicals, and has 2,450 user places. Computing facilities are extensive; over 30 clusters throughout the campus provide a fully-networked computer service. The Language Centre provides a state-of-the-art language learning environment for all students and the Open Access Centre enables students of any subject to develop skills in an existing language or learn a new language (from a choice of over 40!) from scratch.

As part of your learning experience, we aim to provide you with the transferable skills you will need in whatever you choose to do after graduating. In addition, the University Careers Service provides an extensive range of employment and vacancy information, and can offer guidance and support throughout your time here as a student and even after you leave. The record of employment for our graduates is very impressive.

The University of Newcastle is a mid-sized University, with around 16,500 students. It is located on a single-site campus in the heart of the city of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.

The History Department is currently expanding its intake of students, and will be admitting around 130 students a year from 2001. Additionally, around 30 students a year register for the joint honours programme in Politics and History.

A full lists of modules available, including links to module descriptions and, in some cases, online teaching materials, is available at our website, http://www.ncl.ac.uk/history

First Year. All students take two semester-long modules in World History: Encounters in World History and Identities in World History, and a skills-based module, Varieties of History. The rest of the year’s courses are taken from a range of options available in the history department, for instance The Birth of Europe, American History 1776-1861, Modern History of East and Southeast Asia. Some courses may be taken outside the history department.

Second Year. Two compulsory modules: Processes in European History and Purposes in European History. The rest of the programme is made up of optional modules. Examples include: The Making of the European City, Imperial China, The Rise and Fall of Atlantic Slavery, Documents and Databases: An Introduction to Computing for Historians. Some courses may be taken outside the history department.

Third Year. All students take a year-long special subject (options include The French Revolution, The African-American Struggle for Civil Rights, The English Coffee House). Students may opt to write dissertation on a subject of their own choice. Depending on whether or not they write a dissertation, students take between one and three additional optional modules.

Joint Courses: There is also a joint Politics and History degree, in which students take roughly equal amounts of modules in Politics and History. Combined Studies in Arts students also take courses in History. The Classics department offers a degree in Ancient History.