BA History, Politics and International Relations
Royal Holloway, University of London
About this course
BA in Politics and International Relations and History, combining political analysis with historical study. Core topics include Policy Analysis, Historical Research, Research Methods, and Global & Comparative Perspective. The programme includes a first-year foundation module in historical methods and an 8,000-word dissertation in the final year, available in History, Politics, or International Relations.
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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Real offers for this course
Applicants have posted 1 UCAS decision for BA History, Politics and International Relations (VLN1) at Royal Holloway, University of London for 2027 entry so far. The published offer is ABB at A level.
What students say
Based on about 29 final-year students who answered (a small group: a rough guide only)
- Teaching on my course: 94%
- Learning opportunities: 88%
- Assessment and feedback: 86%
- Academic support: 99%
- Organisation and management: 90%
- Learning resources: 91%
- Student voice: 81%
Do students stay on the course?
Based on about 55 students who started
- Continued on course: 89%
- Left higher education: 11%
What graduates do next
Based on about 11 graduates who answered (a small group: a rough guide only)
- Working: 70%
- Working and studying: 5%
- Further study: 15%
- Unemployed: 15%
Most common jobs
- Elementary occupations: 20%
- Business, Research and Administrative Professionals: 20%
- Managers, directors and senior officials: 10%
- Administrative occupations: 10%
- Teaching Professionals: 10%
- Find their work meaningful: 60%
- Feel on track for their future plans: 45%
- 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 35 students who started
- A levels: 95%
- Baccalaureate: 5%
Accreditation & quality ratings
TEF 2023 (whole university): Silver overall, Silver for student experience, Silver for student outcomes.
Modules
- History in the Making
- Introduction to International Relations
- Introduction to Politics and Government
- Gods, Men and Power: An Introduction to the Ancient World, from Homer to Mohammed
- Republics, Kings and People: The Foundations of European Political Thought from Plato to Rousseau
- 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
- Rome to Renaissance: An Introduction to the Middle Ages
- The British and the World: 1763-1900
- The Decline and Fall of Britain’s Global Empire, 1899-1997
- The Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic
- Rome and its Empire from Augustus to Commodus
- Globalising Capital: Britain and the World, 1846 to 1913
- The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1000-1250
- Religion, Culture and Society in Europe, 1000-1250
- Politics, Pestilence and War in Late Medieval Europe, 1300 to 1500
- The Sacred and Profane: Cultural Life in Renaissance Europe
- The Dark Continent: Europe, 1914-1948
- Safe European Home? Europe 1945-2000
- Twentieth-Century World History: the Asian resurgence
- The Tudor Monarchy 1485-1603
- Killing the King: England in an Age of Revolution, 1603-1714
- Gorgeous Georgians?: Society, Culture and Crime, 1714-1830
- The Shock of the New: European Culture and Society 1789-1905
- The Birth of Europe, 400-900
- The Light of Burning Heretics: Popular Heresy in the Middle Ages
- Twentieth-Century World History: The Middle East, Africa and Latin America
- Medicine from Antiquity to the Medieval Near East
- The Western Powers and East Asia, 1839-1945
- The Ottomans: The Muslim Empire in the Early Modern World, 1453-1789
- Apocalypse Postponed: The Global Cold War 1945-98
- Virtue and Power: Political Thought from Cicero to Machiavelli
- Spanish and Portuguese Empires in the Americas, 1450-1650
- The Making of the Modern Middle East, 1789-1939
- Everyday Life in the Italian Renaissance
- American Economic Hegemony: Its Rise and Fall, 1941-2012
- Vice, Virtue and the Victorians: British History 1837-1901
- Modern British History 1914-1973
- An Empire of Liberty? History of the USA 1787-1877
- The United States in the Twentieth Century
- Spain 1898-1939
- Spain from Dictatorship to Democracy 1939-1989
- Awakening China: From the Opium Wars to the Present Day
- The Holy Man: Sanctity and the Sacred in Historical Research
- Centre of the Universe: Science from Antiquity to the early Middle Ages
- Mutiny to Modi: the Indian subcontinent from the C19th to the present
- Byzantine Twilight, 1200-1460
- The Greek World from the Fall of Byzantium to the Rise of Nationalism, 1453-1910
- Italy from Unification to the Present
- The History of Cyprus from the Ottoman Conquest to the Present Day
- From Venizelos to Varoufakis: The History of Greece from 1910 to the Present Day
- The Later Roman Empire
- Byzantium and its Neighbours, 641-1081
- London Urban Society, 1400-1600
- Tudor Queenship: Mary I and Elizabeth I, 1553-1603
- The Crusades and the Eastern Mediterranean, 1095-1291
- Medicine and Society in Medieval Europe
- Martin Luther King Jr and the Black Freedom Struggle
- Modern Girls: Women in Twentieth-Century Britain
- The Pursuit of Power: the Russian Empire in the Age of Reform and Revolution
- Spain in Conflict 1930-1953
- Borderlands: Coexistence and Conflict, Democracy and Authoritarianism in Eastern Europe, 1912-1945
- Modern Political Ideas
- The Devil's Decade: Britain, America and the Great Slump, 1929-41
- The Islamic Revival: from C18 Reform to C20 Political Action
- Genocide: A Global History
- A History of Terrorism
- Grand Designs: Art, Architecture and Power in the Roman World
- Histories of Humanitarianism, From the 1880s to the Present
- Justice, Power and Religion in the Muslim World
- Entangled Histories: The Interconnected Atlantic World, 1500-1800
- 'Dragon Ladies'? Society, Politics and Gender in Modern China
- Modernizing Despots and Angry Mullahs: Development and Popular Resistance in the Muslim World, 1930 to 1980
- Waging Armageddon: WW1 in British Experience and Memory
- The Vietnam War and the Cold War in Southeast Asia
- Children of the Revolution? France from 1789 to the Great War
- Art, Architecture & Power in the Roman World
- From Constantinople to Alexandria: Eastern Mediterranean Cities, 1798-1956
- The Age of Thatcher
- Sex, Society and Identity in Britain, c. 1660-1815
- Explorers and Inventors in Classical and Late Antiquity
- From Mussolini to Trump: Nationalism, Far Right and Identity Politics in Europe and America, 1919-2016
- Independent Research Project
- Understanding the European Union: Politics and Theory
- International Relations Theory
- Democracy in Britain
- Contemporary Political Theory
- International Political Economy
- War and Security in World Politics
- Modern Political Thought
- International Organisations
- Introduction to Political Communication
- Politics Outside the West
- History Dissertation
- Politics and/or International Relations Dissertation
- Despots and Mullahs: Development and Popular Resistance in the Muslim World, 1910-1980
- The Kingdom of Darkness Destroyed: Reason and Religion, 1651 to 1718
- Faith and Fire: Religious Culture in England, c.1375 to 1525
- The Origins and Impact of the Second Crusade
- The City and the Conqueror: The Fall of Constantinople (1453)
- Heresy, Crusade and Inquisition in Southern France, c.1140 to c.1300
- The Empire in Victorian Britain, c.1830 to 1870
- The Origins of Environmentalism: Critics of Modernity in Britain
- Berlin: A European Metropolis in the Twentieth Century
- The Holocaust
- A Clash of Powers: The United States, China and the Cold War
- Stalinism
- Christians and Pagans from Constantine to Augustine (AD 306-430)
- Representations of Rule: Authority and Image from Henry VII to Charles II 1485-1660
- Victorian Babylon: Life, Work and People in London, c.1840 to 1890
- Comparing Religious Fundamentalisms in the 19th and 20th Centuries
- Migration, Identity and Citizenship in Modern Britain
- The Age of Terror: Terrorism from 1945 - Present
- Britain on Camera: Photography, Film and Society, 1840-1965
- China and the World: Migrations and Frontiers, 1800-1960
- Malcolm X: Islam and Black Protest in America
- The Bomb - A History: Atomic Weaponry and Society in the 20th Century
- Europe, 1900: Cultures of Conflict and the Shock of the New
- Villa, Domus and Palace: Domestic Space and Social Identity in the Roman World
- A Nation Torn Asunder: Civil War America
- The Death of God: From the Enlightenment to Psychoanalysis
- Visions of Europe: Political and Intellectual Readings of European Integration from the Interwar years to the Present
- Reformers and Revolutionaries: Monasteries and Society in Europe, c.1050 – 1150
- ‘With Intent to Destroy’: Genocide in the Modern World
- The Holocaust Witness: Personal Histories of Survival and Resilience
- From Inverts to Perverts: Queer Life and Identity in Modern Britain
- Politics in Action: The Politics and International Relations Experience Placement
- European Union Public Policy
- Power and Money in the European Union
- Radical Political Theory I: Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche
- The British in India: a Social and Political History
- US Foreign Policy - History
- Comparative Foreign Policy
- Young People's Politics
- Leadership, Power and the British Prime Ministership
- Visual Politics
- Understanding China's Rise: Domestic Politics and Foreign Policy
- Global Energy Policy
- Refugees and Migration in World Politics
- American Political Development
- The Politics of Russia and Eastern Europe
- The Politics of International Development
- Political Theories of Freedom
- Defence and Security Governance
- Military Change in the 21st Century
- Leaders and Political Communication
- Global Healthy Policy
- Political Protest
Questions about this course
How much do graduates of BA History, Politics and International Relations 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 £3,000 less than the UK median for Politics.
What do graduates of BA History, Politics and International Relations at Royal Holloway, University of London do next?
90% were in work or further study 15 months after finishing (Graduate Outcomes 2023-24).
Are students happy with the teaching on BA History, Politics and International Relations at Royal Holloway, University of London?
94% of final-year students were positive about the teaching in the National Student Survey 2025-26.
What grades do I need for BA History, Politics and International Relations at Royal Holloway, University of London?
The typical offer is ABB at A level, or 32 points in the IB. The average entrant had 130 UCAS points.
Does BA History, Politics and International Relations 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, Politics and International Relations at Royal Holloway, University of London?
89% of students continued into their second year, and 11% left higher education.