English and History

English and history is one of the most natural and productive combinations in the humanities. The two disciplines share a commitment to close reading, critical thinking, and the construction of persuasive arguments from evidence, yet they approach their subjects from different angles that each enriches the other. English literature asks how language, form, and narrative create meaning, and what literary texts reveal about the cultures and minds that produced them.

History asks how the past actually unfolded, how we can know what happened, and how events and structures connect across time. Read together, literary texts become historical documents and historical contexts become the living soil in which literature grew.

At Nottingham Trent University, this three-year full-time programme includes a sandwich year with work placement and work placement opportunities throughout, giving it a strongly practical orientation. The placement year gives you the opportunity to gain extended professional experience in a setting where the skills of literary analysis and historical thinking are applied: in education, journalism, heritage, publishing, arts administration, the civil service, or research. This practical dimension is increasingly valued by arts graduates, and many students find that the placement experience significantly sharpens their career direction.

NTU has a reputation for teaching-focused, practically oriented higher education, and the English and history faculty brings academic rigour to a programme designed to produce graduates ready for a range of careers. The East Midlands location gives the programme access to a range of heritage sites, museums, and cultural organisations that enrich the teaching and placement opportunities.

Graduates work in education, heritage and museums, journalism, publishing, the civil service, law, broadcasting, and arts administration. The combination of analytical and communication skills developed in this programme is valued across a wide range of professional contexts. Postgraduate study in English, history, or related humanities fields is a natural further step for those who wish to deepen their expertise.