Year 1

The first year provides a strong foundation for your degree, with core modules on American history since independence, US political institutions, processes and ideas, and the emergence of the modern world order.

Core modules

• Making History
• The Government and Politics of the USA
• The Shock of the Modern
• People and Places
• With Liberty and Justice for All? US History since 1776
• Global History: Connections and Cultures in a Changing World, 1750 to the present
• Modern Britain: c1700-Present
• Medieval and Early Modern Europe: People, Power, Faith, and Culture

Modules shown represent choices available to current students. The range of modules available and the content of any individual module may change in future years.

Year 2

The core modules will delve deeper into understanding the diverse people, communities and wider world relationships that have shaped America’s development, and will enhance your critical thinking, independent research, and intellectual creativity - skills you’ll put into practice in further optional modules.

Core modules

• Perceiving the Past
• Becoming the Historical Researcher

Option modules

Choose three option modules from:

• Gender History
• Jack-the-Ripper: Crime, Popular Culture and Policing in Victorian Times
• A World Connected: Economy, Wellbeing and Sustainability since 1945
• The History of Alcohol in North America, 1650-1950
• Living with Dictatorship: European Societies, 1918-1941
• Fight the Power! Race, Rights and Protest in the USA
• Foreign Policy Analysis

Then choose three option modules from:

• Class Struggle and the Industrial Revolution
• Histories of Violence
• Madness, Monarchy and Politics from George III to Queen Victoria
• Domestic Revolutions: Women, Men, and the Family in American History
• Enter the Dragon: Modern Chinese History, 1839-1989
• History in the Classroom
• Heritage Field Project
• Foreign Policy Analysis

Modules shown represent choices available to current students. The range of modules available and the content of any individual module may change in future years.

Year Abroad or Year in Industry (optional)

Year Abroad

We’ll make sure you have everything you need for your future career: not just by awarding you a high quality degree, but also by helping you to develop the skills, knowledge and confidence you need to make your mark in the world as a Citizen of Change. One way you can do this is by opting to take a Year Abroad between Years 2 and 3 of your degree.

Studying abroad is not just for people who are interested in travelling and meeting new people. It is about acquiring life skills that are becoming increasingly significant for a wide range of jobs in our modern globalised society. Whether you go on to a career in the private, public or third sector - or plough your own furrow as an entrepreneur – you will find the experience invaluable.

For more information, including a list of destinations, please visit our Study Abroad website.

Please note

• A year spent abroad still incurs a tuition fee, but this is much lower than for a normal year at Leicester. See the Fees and Funding tab of this page for details.
• You may be eligible for a travel grant from Student Finance England.
• Places are offered on a competitive basis, and eligibility is dependent on your academic performance in Years 1 and 2.
• Language courses, at beginners or advanced level, are available through our Languages at Leicester scheme.

Year in industry

A year in industry gives you the opportunity to gain professional experience of working in a sector related to your course, whilst developing workplace skills and building a network with people in industry. It is normally a paid position and can take place in the UK.

Employers are increasingly looking for graduates with industry experience. By taking up this option, you will benefit from real-world experience in a workplace setting, enabling you to make an easier transition from studying to working after you finish your degree. It will also strengthen your CV significantly in preparation for entering the graduate market.

Benefits of a year in industry

• Develops the key skills required for the graduate market
• Expands your professional networks
• Enables you to turn classroom theory into real-world practice
• You will receive your degree with 'a Year in Industry' 

What does the year in industry involve?

You will be introduced to the year in industry programme in your second year. You will find your own placement with support from the central Placements Team you in searching for suitable placement opportunities, and undertaking the recruitment and selection process.

Whilst on your year in industry you will continue to be supported by the School. This will include communication with you and your manager, and a meeting in your place of work. You will undertake written work to capture your learning from your industry experience.

Modules shown represent choices available to current students. The range of modules available and the content of any individual module may change in future years.

Final Year

The final year is shaped entirely by your preferred areas of interest and specialisation. You will research and write an original dissertation – an independent research project of your own design – with the support of an expert supervisor. You will also choose from a wide range of optional modules that reflect the cutting-edge research expertise of your tutors.

Option modules

Choose one option module from:

• After Hitler: Society, Culture and The Politics of The Nazi Past in The Two Germanies, 1945-1990
• The Age of Bede and Alcuin: Anglo-Saxon Northumbria and Mercia in the 7th and 8th Centuries
• Cultures of Struggle and Liberation: Twentieth Century Southern Africa
• The Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt

Choose two option modules from: 

• The Civil Rights Movement, 1945-1968
• Gender, Crime and Deviance in Eighteenth Century Britain
• Abolitionists: Antislavery Activism in Britain and America, 1787-1865
• Fourteenth Century Crisis in England? Politics and Society 1297-1413
• Women in American Society from the Civil War to First World War
• Clothing and Fashion in Historical Perspective. Case Studies of Modern European History in Transnational Context
• The Holocaust in Europe, 1939-45

Then choose one option module from: 

• Apocalypse Then: The USA and the Vietnam War
• Crime and Punishment in African American History
• When Two Dragons Fight: China and Japan at War in the Twentieth Century
• Indigenous Peoples of the Americas, c1350-1650
• Daring to be Free: The Women's Movement, 1850s to 1970s

Plus your Dissertation (History)

Modules shown represent choices available to current students. The range of modules available and the content of any individual module may change in future years.