Programme Specification for the 2023/4 academic year
BA (Hons) History
1. Programme Details
| Programme name | BA (Hons) History | Programme code | UFA3HPSHPS35 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Study mode(s) | Level 1 |
Academic year | 2023/4 |
| Campus(es) | Streatham (Exeter) |
NQF Level of the Final Award | 6 (Honours) |
2. Description of the Programme
The BA (Hons) History programme gives you the tools you need to study the history that interests you. It develops a broad foundation of skills and knowledge in the first year, builds on this in the second year as you begin to become an independent researcher, and culminates in the opportunity to produce highly specialised work in the final year, including the study of a particular subject in depth. There is a huge amount of module choice available to you, covering time periods from the Roman Empire to the early twenty-first century, and topics as diverse as migration and mobility, indigenous peoples in Latin America, the history of health and its politics, women in society, the Vikings, magic and witchcraft in early modern Europe, and histories of material things.
3. Educational Aims of the Programme
In this programme, our students and friendly, approachable staff work together, driven by curiosity and inspired by a shared passion for History. Our mission is to research and educate ourselves and others about the past and its present legacies. We aim to develop and pass on the highest standards of rigour and excellence that characterise our discipline at its best. During your time studying for a degree with us, we will make learning exciting, engaging and fun – exploring hidden treasures, secret worlds and famous historical events from new perspectives. We offer a huge range of History options, covering hundreds of years and many different cultures and continents. We will also encourage you to broaden your horizons further by taking modules that interest you beyond History. You will be challenged along the way to move out of your comfort zone, not just by what you study, but what you learn about yourself and your capabilities during your degree. This, we believe, will prepare you well for life beyond graduation, including tools that will help you thrive in an increasingly complex, rapidly-changing world.
We will work with you on your personal development so that you can:
- Become an open-minded and internationally-engaged individual and an informed participant in uncovering the fullest range of human histories, particularly in decolonising the study of the past. You will have the chance to explore rich and diverse ways of seeing the past. The programme will enable you to become an informed participant in decolonising the study of the past, recognising injustices in the past and present, and uncovering the full range of human histories: for example, in our first-year modules, Understanding Medieval and Early Modern History, and Understanding Modern History. By studying history across time periods and cultures, you will be able to engage sensitively and appropriately with a wide range of perspectives. You will develop a deeper historical understanding of the causes and consequences of some of the most pressing issues facing societies today, including conflict and violence, climate change, social injustice and inequality: for example, in our second-year module, Uses of the Past, or our final-year module, The Future of the Past. This ability to understand past and present from multiple perspectives will enable you to make your own connections, forge your own opinions, and be an agent for positive change.
- Become a mature and critical reader able to observe, understand, analyse and interpret a wide variety of historical sources, from ancient archives to digital collections. This will not only enrich your lifelong experience, but equip you to make sense of a complex world, giving you the skills to decode past and present. You will become well-informed, capable of in-depth and critical engagement with a wide variety of historical themes, and experienced in applying these to a range of geographical areas and time periods, developing your abilities at each stage of the programme.
- Become a confident, independent thinker and researcher adept at constructing reasoned arguments based on historical evidence, and gain a well-developed awareness of the different methodological and theoretical ways of thinking about the past and how it has shaped us. You will be able to marshal ideas cogently, and have the chance to develop these skills through the independent second-year research project, Doing History in the Digital Age, and your final-year dissertation. With choice over your own direction of study – including interdisciplinary studies, digital humanities, language development, supported research projects, and opportunities such as internships – you will be able to shape the content of your own intellectual and personal development.
- Become an effective listener, communicator and collaborator able to use your knowledge, insights and creativity to work with others and independently. You will be equipped with critical communication skills that are essential for you to be able to use your knowledge, insights and creativity to work both collectively and independently. By practising a range of assessed activities such as oral presentations and group work, you will become a highly attuned and empathetic listener, capable of engaging with a wide range of perspectives. You will develop high levels of literacy through various written assignments, and the ability to speak fluently and listen attentively and accurately through participation in a variety of activities. By working with others across a range of assessed activities you will gain experience of collaborating with others respectfully and in a mutually-supportive environment.
4. Programme Structure
5. Programme Modules
The following tables describe the programme and constituent modules. Constituent modules may be updated, deleted or replaced as a consequence of the annual programme review of this programme.
Details of the modules currently offered may be obtained from the College website:
http://intranet.exeter.ac.uk/humanities/studying/undergraduates/modules/
You may take optional modules as long as any necessary prerequisites have been satisfied, where the timetable allows and if you have not already taken the module in question or an equivalent module.
You may take elective modules up to 30 credits outside of the programme in any stage of the programme as long as any necessary prerequisites have been satisfied, where the timetable allows and if you have not already taken the module in question or an equivalent module.
Stage 1
75 credits of compulsory modules, 45 credits of optional modules
Compulsory Modules
Stage 1: 75 credits of compulsory modules, 45 credits of optional modules
Single Honours students must take at least 15 credits (and up to a maximum of 30 credits) of Sources and Skills modules at Stage 1. ‘Sources and skills’ modules change yearly, depending on staff availability and other factors.
| Code | Module | Credits | Non-condonable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| HIH1137 | Becoming a Historian: Core | 15 | Yes |
| HIH1421 | Understanding Medieval and Early Modern History | 30 | No |
| HIH1422 | Understanding Modern History | 30 | No |
Optional Modules
Single Honours students must take at least 15 credits (and up to a maximum of 30 credits) of Sources and Skills modules at Stage 1. ‘Sources and skills’ modules change yearly, depending on staff availability and other factors.
You are strongly encouraged to take at least 15 credits (and up to a maximum of 30 credits) of modules outside History in Stage 1 via modularity.
Single honours students may take as one of their options HIH1139 Becoming a Historian (Extension)
| Code | Module | Credits | Non-condonable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| HIH1139 | Becoming a Historian: Extended | 15 | No |
| HISS S1 new BA SH opt 2023-4 | |||
| HIH1002 | Losing an Empire, Finding a Role: Britain Since 1945 | 15 | No |
| HIH1014 | The Body in Eighteenth-Century Britain | 15 | No |
| HIH1042 | Murder in Early Modern England | 15 | No |
| HIH1043 | The Collapse of Communism in Central-Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union | 15 | No |
| HIH1051 | Everyday Life in the Anglophone Caribbean, c.1900-1966 | 15 | No |
| HIH1053 | Gender and Sexuality in the Middle Ages | 15 | No |
| HIH1138 | Medieval, Manufactured? Uses and Reuses of the Middle Ages | 15 | No |
| HIH1408 | The Dissolution of the Monasteries | 15 | No |
| HIH1411 | From Wigan Pier to Piccadilly: Britain between the Wars | 15 | No |
| HIH1501 | The Viking Phenomenon | 15 | No |
| HIH1505 | The First Crusade | 15 | No |
| HIH1506 | The First Day of the Somme | 15 | No |
| HIH1585 | Ladies of the Night: Prostitution in the Victorian World | 15 | No |
| HIH1586 | Early Modern Venice: Representations and Myths | 15 | No |
| HIH1597 | Serfdom in Late Medieval England | 15 | No |
| HIH1600 | Images of Stalinism | 15 | No |
| HIH1607 | JFK | 15 | No |
| HIH1612 | Renaissance Florence 1350-1550 | 15 | No |
| HIH1614 | Environment and Industry, 1750-1950: Global Perspectives | 15 | No |
| HIH1615 | Imperial Science, Race, and Exploration in the Long 19th Century | 15 | No |
| HIH1616 | Producing Poverty: Peasants in a Global Perspective, 700-1300CE | 15 | No |
| HIH1618 | Body, Border, Partition: Understanding Violence in South Asia | 15 | No |
| HIH1140 | Confinement, Care, Cure: Psychiatric Institutions in the Twentieth Century | 15 | No |
| HIH1539 | Early Modern Things: Materials as Historical Sources | 15 | No |
| HIH1534 | Maritime Power in the Age of Nelson | 15 | No |
| HIH1532 | The History of Strategic Thinking | 15 | No |
| HIH1412 | Early Modern Magic and Witchcraft | 15 | No |
Stage 2
60 credits of compulsory modules, 60 credits of optional modules
Compulsory Modules
| Code | Module | Credits | Non-condonable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| HIH2237 | Doing History in the Digital Age | 30 | Yes |
| HIH2002 | Uses of the Past | 30 | No |
Optional Modules
You must select 30 credits of Stage 2 Option Modules from term 1, and 30 credits from term 2.
As part of your options, you are strongly encouraged to take 30 credits outside History via modularity.
| Code | Module | Credits | Non-condonable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| HISS S2 BA SH opt 2022-3 | |||
| HIH2014A | Decolonisation and the Collapse of the British Empire, 1919-1968 | 30 | No |
| HIH2032A | Europe 1650-1800: From Enlightenment to Romanticism | 30 | No |
| HIH2036A | Albion's Fatal Tree: Capital Punishment in England, 1688-1965 | 30 | No |
| HIH2186A | Deviants and Dissenters in Early Modern England | 30 | No |
| HIH2209A | African American History | 30 | No |
| HIH2218A | Religion, Society and Culture in Tudor England | 30 | No |
| HIH2224A | African Modernities: Popular Cultures in Twentieth Century Africa | 30 | No |
| HIH2234 | Sailors, Slavery and Piracy: The Atlantic World, 1600 - 1800 | 30 | No |
| HIH2590 | An Age of Iron? Europe in the Tenth Century | 30 | No |
| HIH2592 | Science, Empire, and Natural History Museums: A Global Perspective | 30 | No |
| HIH2587 | The Other Renaissance: Religion, Knowledge, and Power in the Twelfth Century | 30 | No |
| HIH2011A | Forgetting Fascism, Remembering Communism: Memory in Modern Europe | 30 | No |
| HIH2037 | American Frontiers: The West in U.S. History and Mythology | 30 | No |
| HIH2137A | Inventing Modern Man: Constructions of Mind, Body, and the Individual, 1400-1800 | 30 | No |
| HIH2138A | History of Development: Ideologies, Politics, and Projects | 30 | No |
| HIH2145A | Spain from Absolutism to Democracy | 30 | No |
| HIH2179A | The American Empire | 30 | No |
| HIH2185A | China in the World, 1500-1840 | 30 | No |
| HIH2208A | Medieval Paris | 30 | No |
| HIH2233 | The British World c.1860-1975 | 30 | No |
| HIH2591 | Philip Augustus and the Making of France, 1180-1223 | 30 | No |
Stage 3
30 credits of compulsory Dissertation, 60 credits of Sources and Context modules, 30 credits of Option modules.
Compulsory Modules
a You must select HIH3005 Dissertation OR HIH3006 Research Project Dissertation
| Code | Module | Credits | Non-condonable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| HIH3005 | General Third-Year Dissertation [See note a above] | 30 | Yes |
| HIH3006 | Research Project Dissertation [See note a above] | 30 | Yes |
Optional Modules
You must select a Special Subject pair (consisting of both a Sources and Context module) for 60 credits.
You must select 30 credits of Option Modules from either Concepts or modules from outside of History via modularity.
| Code | Module | Credits | Non-condonable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| History UG Final Stage Concepts Concepts modules | |||
| HIH3330 | Truth | 30 | No |
| HIH3332 | Labour | 30 | No |
| HIH3333 | In Sickness and in Health | 30 | No |
| HIH3334 | War | 30 | No |
| HIH3336 | Revolution | 30 | No |
| HIH3331 | Elites | 30 | No |
6. Programme Outcomes Linked to Teaching, Learning and Assessment Methods
Intended Learning Outcomes
A: Specialised Subject Skills and Knowledge
| Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) On successfully completing this programme you will be able to: | Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) will be... | |
|---|---|---|
| ...accommodated and facilitated by the following learning and teaching activities (in/out of class): | ...and evidenced by the following assessment methods: | |
1. Describe and discuss the philosophical problems confronting historians. | ILO1s 1-3 are developed at stage 1 in compulsory modules though lectures, seminars, and written work. | The assessment of these skills is through a combination of coursework in a variety of formats, oral work both independently and as part of a group, and project and Dissertation work. The criteria of assessment pay full recognition to the importance of the various skills outlined. |
Intended Learning Outcomes
B: Academic Discipline Core Skills and Knowledge
| Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) On successfully completing this programme you will be able to: | Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) will be... | |
|---|---|---|
| ...accommodated and facilitated by the following learning and teaching activities (in/out of class): | ...and evidenced by the following assessment methods: | |
8. Draw thematic comparisons between material from different sources | All these ILOs are embedded in all modules, at all stages of the programme, and are developed via seminars, lectures, workshops, and supervisions. | The assessment of these skills is through a combination of coursework in a variety of formats, oral work both independently and as part of a group, and project and Dissertation work. The criteria of assessment pay full recognition to the importance of the various skills outlined. |
Intended Learning Outcomes
C: Personal/Transferable/Employment Skills and Knowledge
| Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) On successfully completing this programme you will be able to: | Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) will be... | |
|---|---|---|
| ...accommodated and facilitated by the following learning and teaching activities (in/out of class): | ...and evidenced by the following assessment methods: | |
21. Undertake independent study and work to deadlines | ILO 21 is an essential part of the successful completion of the programme but is particularly developed in stage 2 core modules and the Dissertation modules. | The skills in ILOs 21-23 are assessed in all modules. |
7. Programme Regulations
Classification
Full details of assessment regulations for all taught programmes can be found in the TQA Manual, specifically in the Credit and Qualifications Framework, and the Assessment, Progression and Awarding: Taught Programmes Handbook. Additional information, including Generic Marking Criteria, can be found in the Learning and Teaching Support Handbook.
8. College Support for Students and Students' Learning
History tutors set aside two ‘office’ hours a week during term-time to see personal tutees and students they teach, and are also available to see students by appointment. There is a full programme of personal tutoring that accompanies the academic curriculum, varying by stage and focusing on particular issues relevant to your progression through the degree course. The role of academic tutors is to support you on individual modules; the role of personal tutors is to provide you with advice and support for the duration of the programme and extends to providing you with details of how to obtain support and guidance on personal difficulties such as accommodation, financial difficulties, and sickness.
Each research centre in History runs its own seminar series, which you are welcome to attend. In addition, we have close relations with a range of organisations that support student research. For example, Exeter Cathedral Library is a key centre for the study of medieval history. The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum, on campus, houses one of Britain’s largest public collections of books, prints, artefacts and ephemera relating to the history and prehistory of cinema. At the heart of the Centre is the Bill Douglas and Peter Jewell Collection, comprising approximately 50,000 items.
Programme handbooks and other useful information can be accessed via the student gateway pages on the Exeter Learning Environment (ELE): http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/login/index.php,
Other useful information and student resources can also be accessed via ELE, including specific information on library skills, essay writing and research skills, and via StudyZone: https://www.exeter.ac.uk/students/studyzone/
9. University Support for Students and Students' Learning
Please refer to the University Academic Policy and Standards guidelines regarding support for students and students' learning.
10. Admissions Criteria
Undergraduate applicants must satisfy the Undergraduate Admissions Policy of the University of Exeter.
Postgraduate applicants must satisfy the Postgraduate Admissions Policy of the University of Exeter.
Specific requirements required to enrol on this programme are available at the respective Undergraduate or Postgraduate Study Site webpages.
11. Regulation of Assessment and Academic Standards
Each academic programme in the University is subject to an agreed College assessment and marking strategy, underpinned by institution-wide assessment procedures.
The security of assessment and academic standards is further supported through the appointment of External Examiners for each programme. External Examiners have access to draft papers, course work and examination scripts. They are required to attend the Board of Examiners and to provide an annual report. Annual External Examiner reports are monitored at both College and University level. Their responsibilities are described in the University's code of practice. See the University's TQA Manual for details.
14. Awarding Institution
University of Exeter
15. Lead College / Teaching Institution
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS)
16. Partner College / Institution
Partner College(s)
Not applicable to this programme
Partner Institution
Not applicable to this programme.
17. Programme Accredited / Validated by
Not applicable to this programme.
18. Final Award
BA (Hons) History
19. UCAS Code
Not applicable to this programme.
20. NQF Level of Final Award
6 (Honours)
21. Credit
| CATS credits | 360 |
ECTS credits | 180 |
|---|
22. QAA Subject Benchmarking Group
Level 1
23. Dates
| Origin Date | 21/09/2022 |
Date of last revision | 22/09/2023 |
|---|
