History with a Foundation Year

History is the discipline through which societies examine their own past, asking how events came to happen as they did, whose perspectives have been recorded and whose excluded, and how the past continues to shape the present. At its best, it is an education in evidence, argument, and the recognition that things did not have to be as they are, that present institutions and beliefs are the products of contingent choices rather than natural inevitabilities. The capacity to think historically, to situate the present in the long sweep of the past and to resist easy narratives, is one of the most valuable intellectual achievements a degree can produce.

At the University of East Anglia, this four-year full-time programme includes a foundation year specifically designed to open up degree-level history to students who might not yet have the qualifications or confidence to begin the main programme. The foundation year provides the academic preparation, skills support, and time to explore your interests that make the transition to degree-level study successful. UEA believes that everyone should have the chance to study at this level, and the foundation year puts that commitment into practice.

As you progress through the main degree, you will work with primary sources, develop historical arguments, and engage with the debates that animate professional historical scholarship, building the analytical and writing skills that employers across many sectors value.

With a typical entry tariff of 72 UCAS points at foundation entry, this programme makes history accessible to students who might otherwise not consider it. Graduates pursue careers in journalism, heritage, archiving, the civil service, law, teaching, publishing, politics, broadcasting, and a wide range of roles in which the ability to research, analyse, and communicate is central. Many go on to postgraduate study in history, archival science, public policy, or related fields.

The foundation year route makes this progression available to a wider range of students than traditional entry requirements allow.