History MA

Year of entry: 2025

Course length: 12 months Full-Time | 24 Months Part-Time

About the course

Our MA History master's course enables you to tailor your postgraduate studies to suit your interests.

Your focus could be chronological (medieval, early modern or modern), geographical (European, transnational, global) or methodological (cultural or economic and social history). Alternatively, you can create a wide-ranging course for yourself by choosing units from a variety of areas, including thematic course units that transcend orthodox boundaries to facilitate intellectual breadth and imagination.

This course consists of taught units and a dissertation. Taught units cover topics including:
The History of Capital
Race, Migration & Humanitarianism
War, Culture and Conflict
Introduction to Documentary filmmaking in the Arts & Humanities
History Beyond the Nation State: Debates & Dialogues in Modern History

These are example course units based on 2024/25 options and are subject to change each year.

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The University of Manchester is ranked in the top 10 for History programmes in UK

(QS World Rankings 2023)

Study in Manchester, a living history book – from Peterloo and the anti-slavery movement, to Roman forts and medieval monuments.

Our graduates are among the most targeted by top UK employers

(High Fliers 2024)

Where will your degree take you?

The high standard of arts research training, both formal and practical, opens doors to many kinds of modern public and private sector graduate careers requiring research skills, formulation of projects and policy documents as well as a range of other careers. Our course also offers outstanding doctoral research preparation training through the core units and skills training programme.

Audrey Berdahl-Baldwin

USA Marshall Scholar, MA History

‘’The History MA programme really expanded my intellectual and methodological approaches – the programme really focuses on how historians have researched and written about the past and this experience really guided my own focus for my dissertation.’’

Jack Mitchell

MA History

‘’The course at Manchester really enabled me to explore and expand my interests. Indeed, it simultaneously enabled me to develop a lot of new understanding and knowledge of history, whilst also expanding my pre-existing interests as well.

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