BA History
Royal Holloway, University of London
About this course
BA in History. Core topics include research methods, historical research, and critical and analytical thinking. The programme begins with a first-year foundation module exploring global historical themes and approaches. Students complete an 8,000-word dissertation based on independent primary source research in their final year.
Written by AI from the university's course page and module list. It can get details wrong, so check the official course page before you rely on it.
Entry requirements
A level: ABB-BBB (Required subjects: We require English Language and Mathematics GCSE at grade 4 (C)) IB: 6,5,5 at Higher level or 32 points overall.
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What students say
Based on about 47 final-year students who answered
- Teaching on my course: 95%
- Learning opportunities: 90%
- Assessment and feedback: 87%
- Academic support: 99%
- Organisation and management: 91%
- Learning resources: 97%
- Student voice: 82%
Do students stay on the course?
Based on about 90 students who started
- Continued on course: 92%
- Left higher education: 8%
What graduates do next
Based on about 15 graduates who answered (a small group: a rough guide only)
- Working: 55%
- Working and studying: 20%
- Further study: 10%
- Unemployed: 5%
Most common jobs
- Administrative occupations: 25%
- Elementary occupations: 20%
- Teaching Professionals: 15%
- Business and public service associate professionals: 15%
- Managers, directors and senior officials: 5%
- Find their work meaningful: 75%
- Feel on track for their future plans: 55%
- Use what they learnt on the course: 35%
Where graduates work (5 years on)
Based on about 275 graduates, across similar courses at this university
- North East: 1%
- North West: 1%
- Yorkshire and the Humber: 2%
- East Midlands: 1%
- West Midlands: 3%
- East of England: 12%
- London: 33%
- South East: 37%
- South West: 7%
- Wales: 2%
Who gets in
Based on about 60 students who started
- A levels: 97%
- Baccalaureate: 2%
- Other HE qualification: 2%
Accreditation & quality ratings
TEF 2023 (whole university): Silver overall, Silver for student experience, Silver for student outcomes.
Modules
- History in the Making
- Gods, Men and Power: An Introduction to the Ancient World, from Homer to Mohammed
- Rome to Renaissance: An Introduction to the Middle Ages
- From Renaissance to Revolutions: Europe and the World, 1500-1800
- Conflict and Identity in Modern Europe, c. 1770 to 2000
- From Mao to Bin Laden: Twentieth-Century Leaders in the Non-Western World
- World City: A History of London from Roman to Contemporary Times
- Concepts in History
- The Holy Man: Sanctity and the Sacred in Historical Research
- The Ottomans: The Muslim Empire in the Early Modern World, 1453-1789
- The British and the World: 1763-1900
- Awakening China: From the Opium Wars to the Present Day
- Refugees in the 20th Century: A Global History
- The Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic
- Rome and its Empire from Augustus to Commodus
- Natural History: Science from Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages
- Medieval Worlds: Power, Belief and Culture, c.1000-1300
- She-Wolves: Female Royal Power across the Medieval World, c.1000-1400
- Spanish and Portuguese Empires in the Americas, 1450-1650
- An Empire of Liberty? History of the USA 1787-1877
- The United States in the Twentieth Century
- The Tudor Monarchy 1485-1603
- Gorgeous Georgians?: Society, Culture and Crime, 1714-1830
- Vice, Virtue and the Victorians: British History 1837-1901
- Community, Culture and Conflict in Twentieth-Century Britain
- The Shock of the New: European Culture and Society 1789-1905
- The Dark Continent: Europe, 1914-1948
- Safe European Home? Europe 1945-2000
- Histories of Humanitarianism, From the 1880s to the Present
- Genocide: A Global History
- Justice, Power and Religion in the Muslim World
- 'Dragon Ladies'? Society, Politics and Gender in Modern China
- The Vietnam War and the Cold War in Southeast Asia
- Representations of Twentieth-century War in Popular Culture
- The Later Roman Empire
- Byzantium and its Neighbours, 641-1081
- Holy Warriors: Crusaders, Muslims and the Struggle for Jerusalem, 1095-1244
- Feast, Fast, and Famine: Eating and Living in the Middle Ages, c.1000-1500
- Martin Luther King Jr and the Black Freedom Struggle
- The Empire Strikes Back? Imagining and Remembering the British Empire
- The Pursuit of Power: the Russian Empire in the Age of Reform and Revolution
- Modern Girls: Women in Twentieth-Century Britain
- Waging Armageddon: WW1 in British Experience and Memory
- History Dissertation
- ‘With Intent to Destroy’: Genocide in the Modern World
- The Curse of Aid: International Development 1940-2000
- A Clash of Powers: The United States, China and the Cold War
- The Age of Terror: Terrorism from 1945 - Present
- China and the World: Migrations and Frontiers, 1800-1960
- Drawing the Line: Independence, Partition, and the Making of India and Pakistan
- Children of the Revolution? France from 1789 to the Great War
- A Global History of Drugs and Prohibition
- History and Fiction
- Grand Designs: Art, Architecture and Power in the Roman World
- Christians and Pagans from Constantine to Augustine (AD 306-430)
- Medicine in the Ancient, Medieval and Islamic World
- Saladin, Richard the Lionheart and the Third Crusade
- The City and the Conqueror: The Fall of Constantinople (1453)
- A Nation Torn Asunder: Civil War America
- Malcolm X: Islam and Black Protest in America
- Entangled Histories: The Interconnected Atlantic World, 1500-1800
- Divided by Faith: Belief in the Age of the European Reformations
- Britain on Camera: Photography, Film and Society, 1840-1965
- From Inverts to Perverts: Queer Life and Identity in Modern Britain
- Europe, 1900: Cultures of Conflict and the Shock of the New
- The Holocaust Witness: Personal Histories of Survival and Resilience
- The Holocaust
- Out On The Town: Leisure and Popular Culture in Twentieth-Century Urban Britain
- The Age of Thatcher? Politics, Identities and Cultures in Britain, c.1970-2000
- Sex, Society and Identity in Britain, c. 1660-1815
- Borderlands: Coexistence and Conflict, Democracy and Authoritarianism in Eastern Europe, 1912-1945
- Berlin: A European Metropolis in the Twentieth Century
Questions about this course
How much do graduates of BA History at Royal Holloway, University of London earn?
The median salary is £27,000 after 15 months, £25,500 after 3 years, £31,000 after 5 years. After five years the middle half of graduates earn between £25,000 and £40,000. The £31,000 median after five years is £500 more than the UK median for History.
What do graduates of BA History at Royal Holloway, University of London do next?
80% were in work or further study 15 months after finishing (Graduate Outcomes 2023-24).
Are students happy with the teaching on BA History at Royal Holloway, University of London?
95% of final-year students were positive about the teaching in the National Student Survey 2025-26.
What grades do I need for BA History at Royal Holloway, University of London?
The typical offer is ABB at A level, or 32 points in the IB. The average entrant had 124 UCAS points.
Does BA History at Royal Holloway, University of London include a placement year or year abroad?
The course has an optional placement year and an optional year abroad.
How many students continue on BA History at Royal Holloway, University of London?
92% of students continued into their second year, and 8% left higher education.