History

History is the disciplined study of the human past, asking not merely what happened but how we know it, why it matters and how the interpretation of the past has itself changed over time. At university level, history is less about learning a fixed narrative and more about developing the skills to interrogate sources, evaluate competing arguments, construct evidence-based interpretations and communicate them clearly. It is one of the most intellectually rigorous of the humanities disciplines and one of the most transferable in terms of the thinking skills it develops.

At the University of Edinburgh, history follows the four-year Scottish honours degree structure, providing a broad first two years before you specialise in particular periods, themes and regions in the final years. The programme includes a year abroad, extending your academic experience internationally and allowing you to study history in a different national context, which can illuminate the distinctiveness of both traditions. Edinburgh's history department is one of the strongest in the UK, with particular depth in Scottish history, early modern European history, the history of empire and the modern world.

The typical entry tariff is around 168 UCAS points.

You will engage with historical methods and historiography from early on, learning to work with primary sources in archives and digital repositories, to situate them critically and to engage with the scholarly debates that have shaped their interpretation. The range of periods and themes available at Edinburgh is wide, from medieval Scotland to the history of slavery and colonialism, from Reformation Europe to the history of science and medicine.

Graduates of history programmes from Edinburgh work across an exceptionally wide range of careers. Law, the civil service, diplomacy, journalism, finance, management consulting, publishing, education, museums and heritage organisations, policy research and academia are all well-represented among history graduates nationally and from Edinburgh specifically. The analytical, research and writing skills developed through a rigorous history degree are consistently valued by employers across sectors.

Postgraduate study in history, archival studies, heritage management, law or education is a natural next step for those who wish to specialise.