Modern History

Modern history is the study of the past five hundred years of human experience, from the age of European expansion and the scientific revolution through industrialisation, empire, revolution, war, decolonisation, and the transformations of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. It is a discipline that demands both breadth and depth, asking you to move between different national and regional histories, different time periods, and different scales of analysis, from the global dynamics of world systems to the micro-histories of individual lives. The skills it develops, particularly the capacity to evaluate sources critically, construct evidence-based arguments, and communicate complex ideas clearly, are among the most transferable in higher education.

At the University of St Andrews, this four-year, full-time MA programme develops your historical analysis through the study of events across the past five centuries from a present-day context. You will choose from a range of optional classes with very broad chronological, geographical, and thematic coverage, allowing you to develop a genuinely personalised programme around the historical questions that matter most to you. A year abroad is incorporated into the programme, giving you the opportunity to study history at an international institution and to encounter the past from a different scholarly tradition and cultural vantage point.

A typical entry tariff of 200 points reflects the high academic standard of this programme at one of Scotland's most prestigious universities.

Modern history graduates go on to work in the civil service, journalism and broadcasting, law, education, heritage and archives, publishing, cultural organisations, think tanks, and many other fields where rigorous analysis and clear communication are valued. Postgraduate study in history, archival science, international relations, or a related field is a common further step.