St Mary's, founded in 1850, has a single, self-contained, campus situated in a pleasant suburb in West London. The College is within easy reach of the West End, and is only a short distance from Richmond, Kingston and Twickenham. Set within extensive grounds, the most striking architectural feature of the campus is Horace Walpole's original Strawberry Hill gothic villa, now a Grade 1 listed building. St Mary's has just over 2500 students who follow a range of courses which all lead to degrees conferred by the University of Surrey – a leading UK university. The College's excellent reputation among employers is well deserved. Of our 1999 graduates, 89% were either employed or had begun postgraduate study within six months of graduating; the figure for postgraduate students was 98 per cent.

Horace Walople’s gothic villa

There are up to 80 history places available – currently we have about 50 students in each of the three years. The size of the programme helps to foster a friendly working relationship between staff and students. All students are assigned a personal tutor and teaching tutors operate an open door policy as well as having advertised office hours each week. All of the tutors combine a commitment to teaching with active research: over the past few years we have published monographs and textbooks, contributed articles to a range of journals and magazines and organised a number of well-attended conferences.

Formal class teaching is supported by Saint Mary’s Information Resources Centre (IRC) housed in a modern, comfortable, building at the centre of the campus. In addition to an extensive collection of history monographs, textbooks, journals and magazines, all on computer catalogue, the IRC offers ample student study places and networked PCs available on a 24-hour basis. Formal teaching is also supplemented by the visits to museums, galleries and historical sites which are an important feature of several modules. On occasions we offer residential field visits to places such as Bruges and the World War I battlefields, to Paris and Venice.

Recent history graduates have entered careers in BBC radio, management consultancy, heritage and museum work, law, accountancy, corporate events management, journalism and academia. We are committed to widening participation in higher education and welcome applications from mature students and those with access, vocational or other appropriate qualifications. We also offer an MA Programme and supervision for PhD students.

In short, the Saint Mary’s history programme offers a wide variety of courses, excellent tutorial support and a long track record in providing students with an enriching and enjoyable experience.

At St Mary's we teach ancient, medieval, early modern and modern history, as well as courses on the nature and methodologies of history. The subject can be studied either as single or joint honours.

Level 1: This involves guidance on study skills in HE and the use of Information and Communications Technology. The aim is to help students make the transition to degree-level study, and to introduce them to a range of historical periods and concepts. Current modules include those on politics, society and culture in early-modern England and modern Britain. We also offer modules on the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, Modern World Revolutions and War and Society in Modern Europe.

Level 2: These modules are wide-ranging, comparative and examine themes in history over an extended period. Their aim is to build on Level 1 work, to broaden and deepen students’ knowledge. They currently include: Art and Power from the Renaissance to the Present, Cinema and Society, European Cities, World Empires, and Popular Music in the Twentieth Century.

Level 3: Final year modules are more narrowly focused, involving detailed work on primary sources. Current modules are offered on Fascism, the Great War, Eastern Europe since 1945, Sixties' Britain, Renaissance Venice, the English Revolution, the Middle East and Britain in the Second World War. Single honours and major students also write a supervised dissertation on a topic of their choice