Modern History and Persian

Modern history and Persian is a combination that equips you to engage seriously with the past 500 years of a world that European historical traditions have often studied only partially. Modern history at St Andrews takes you across a vast chronological, geographical, and thematic range, training you to analyse events from the past five centuries with rigorous critical method. Persian opens access to one of the world's richest literary, philosophical, and cultural traditions, as well as to societies in Iran, Afghanistan, and the wider Persian-speaking world that have been central to the history of the modern era in ways that are only fully visible once you can engage with their own sources and perspectives.

This four-year full-time programme at St Andrews develops both disciplines to a high level. You will study the methods and debates of modern historical scholarship alongside progressive language training in Persian, building toward the ability to read primary sources in the original language. A year abroad is built into the programme, giving you the opportunity to deepen your Persian in an immersive setting and to engage directly with Persian-speaking cultures and archives.

The typical entry tariff for this programme is 200 UCAS points, reflecting the academic demands of the combined degree at St Andrews.

Graduates from this combination pursue careers in diplomacy, international organisations, journalism, intelligence, development agencies, academia, and cultural institutions. The combination of deep historical training and Persian language proficiency is particularly valued by employers with interests in the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia. Academic research and postgraduate study in Middle Eastern history, Iranian studies, or modern history are natural routes for those who wish to pursue scholarly careers.

The analytical and linguistic skills the degree develops are assets in any professional context that requires careful reading, cross-cultural understanding, and the ability to construct well-evidenced arguments.