Politics and History BA Honours

Course overview

This three-year joint honours degree focuses on developing your skills and abilities to critically analyse historical and political topics. You'll graduate as a confident independent learner with a specialist knowledge in areas of interest to you.

You'll be able to follow your own path, choosing to study modules which are closely related, or cast your net wide, studying topics that span six continents.

You’ll study in a research-led environment, alongside scholars at the forefront of their fields. You'll also improve your research skills, completing a range of research projects during your degree.

In history, you'll explore themes including revolution, slavery, radicalism, medical history, and religion across a variety of periods, geographies and cultures. In politics, you'll look at global politics, political philosophy and international relations.

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Your course and study experience - disclaimers and terms and conditions  
Please rest assured we make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the programmes, services and facilities described. However, it may be necessary to make changes due to significant disruption, for example in response to Covid-19.

View our Academic experience page, which gives information about your Newcastle University study experience for the academic year 2023-24.

See our terms and conditions and student complaints information, which gives details of circumstances that may lead to changes to programmes, modules or University services.

Quality and ranking

Professional accreditation and recognition

All professional accreditations are reviewed regularly by their professional body.

Modules and learning

Modules

The information below is intended to provide an example of what you will study.

Most degrees are divided into stages. Each stage lasts for one academic year, and you'll complete modules totalling 120 credits by the end of each stage. 

Our teaching is informed by research. Course content may change periodically to reflect developments in the discipline, the requirements of external bodies and partners, and student feedback.

Optional module availability
Student demand for optional modules may affect availability.

Full details of the modules on offer will be published through the Programme Regulations and Specifications ahead of each academic year. This usually happens in May.

To find out more please see our terms and conditions.

You'll build a foundation to become an independent learner and critical reader/thinker through compulsory modules.

Optional modules give an overview of our range, whether that be the major pathways in Politics (such as political thought and international politics), or the chronological and cultural variety of History.

Modules

Compulsory Modules	Credits
Evidence and Argument	20
Order and Disorder: The Shaping of the 21st Century	20

Optional Modules	Credits
Slavery	20
Global Middle Ages	20
Stuff: living in a material world	20
Global Ancient Histories	20
Historical Sources and Methods	20
History Lab I	20
History Lab II	20
Public History	20
What is History For?	20
The Westminster System: the UK in comparative perspective	20
Key Concepts in International Politics	20
Becoming a Political Analyst	20
Power and Inequality	20
Politics of Happiness	20

You’ll choose six optional modules in total – three each from Politics and History. Through these modules you’ll deepen your subject knowledge and build on your skills from Stage One.

You'll critically engage with the topics you're studying and become a confident participant in our learning community. If you are thinking about undertaking an optional dissertation in Stage Three, you’ll select modules to prepare you for this.

Modules

Optional Modules	Credits
Prehistoric Europe	20
Archaeologies of the Roman Empire: The Roman World from Augustus to Justinian	20
The Medieval World: AD 400-1500	20
Colonial Worlds: History & Archaeology	20
Hellenistic Empires from Alexander to Cleopatra	20
The Roman World from Hadrian to Heraclius	20
Greek and Roman Religions	20
Slavery in Greco-Roman antiquity	20
Africa: History of a Continent	20
Social Histories of Alcohol: Britain and Ireland, 1700 - Present	20
Oral History and Memory	20
Greece from ancient times to the 21st century: Interdisciplinary approaches to the study of the past	20
1968: A Global Moment?	20
Communication in the Medieval World, from Europe to Asia: Prayer, Poetry, Pictures, and Travel	20
Crafting History: The Dissertation Proposal	20
War, Wounds, and Disabilities in Global Perspectives	20
Famines in History	20
Germany and Central Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries	20
History and Film: Representing the Past	20
Ideas and Belief in premodern East Asia	20
Violence in the American South: From the Colonial Era to Reconstruction	20
Researching History	20
The Aftermath of War in Europe and Asia, 1945-56	20
Revolutions of the Mind: European Thought, 1550–1750	20
Reformation and Revolution: Tudors to the Georgians	20
The Supernatural: The Cultural History of Occult Forces	20
Diversities of Sexuality and Gender in History	20
Britain since the 60s	20
The Mediterranean: a connected past	20
HaSS Study Abroad Semester 1 60 Credits	60
HaSS Study Abroad Semester 2 60 credits	60
Comparative History of Hispano-America and Brazil: from Independence to the Mexican Revolution (1789/1810-1917)	20
Career Development for second year students	20
Politics of the Middle East	20
Becoming a Political Researcher	20
Government and Politics of the USA	20
The Politics and Policy of the European Union	20
Power and Poverty in the Global Economy	20
British Politics: State and Society	20
A Global History of Political Thought	20
Political Violence and the Modern State	20
The Politics of Africa: Africa's place in Global Politics	20
Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: Social Issues in Contemporary Political Philosophy	20
Politics Work Placement	20
Critical Security Studies	20
Sex, Gender and Power	20
The Politics of Race	20
International Organizations and Diplomacy	20

Study abroad

If you study abroad for one semester as part of the study abroad student exchange programme, you choose one of the following modules:

 

HaSS Study Abroad Semester 1 (60 credits)

HaSS Study Abroad Semester 2 (60 credits)

You will continue to study a mixture of Politics and History modules. This can be through an even split of modules, or a weighting towards History or Politics. You may include a research dissertation in either subject.

Through study in the recommended modules you'll critically reflect on History and your own ideas through close study of an influential work. You'll also broaden your horizons by considering the uses and abuses of history in public life.

Modules

Optional Modules	Credits
Archaeologies of the Middle Sea: An Armchair Voyage Across the Prehistoric Mediterranean	20
Regionality and the Fall of Rome	20
Early Prehistoric Europe: Origins and transformations	20
Sex, bodies and identities in Classical Greece	20
How To Survive The Apocalypse: Recreating Ancient Technology from Scratch	20
Semester One Substitute for Stage 3 HIS Capped Special Subject	20
Semester Two Substitute for Stage 3 HIS Capped Special Subject	20
Reading History	20
Writing History	40
Why History Matters	20
Violence and social transformation in China and Taiwan, 1940s-1980s	20
America's civil war: an emotional history	20
The British Revolutions, 1640-1660	20
The Irish Revolution, 1879-1923	20
Reconstruction and the New South, 1865-1900	20
Living Together: Christians, Muslims and Jews in Medieval Iberia	20
British Foreign Policy since Suez	20
Birth Control in the 19th & 20th Centuries	20
Civil Rights and Armalites Northern Ireland since 1969	20
Civil Rights in America, 1948-1975	20
Viking-Age Scandinavia	20
Women in Colonial South Asia: Tradition, Reform and Modernity	20
Lunatic to Citizen? Madness and Society since 1900	20
The Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall, 1961 - 1990	20
The Rising Generation: Youth, Age and Protest in Cold War Britain	20
Haitian Revolution	20
Buddhism and Society in Medieval Japan	20
The Gulag: A History of the Soviet Camps - Origins, Experiences and Aftermaths	20
Nineteenth Century Aotearoa New Zealand: Maori, Pakeha & Tauiwi	20
Pleasure, Fashion, and Performance in Georgian England	20
May 1968: all power to the imagination	20
British Colonialism in Sudan: Violence, Gender and Race, 1899-1956	20
Inter-American Relations from the Spanish-American War (1898) to the end of the Cold War (1989/1991)	20
Career Development for final year students	20
Final Year Dissertation	40
Final Year Project: Semester 1	20
Final Year Project: Semester 2	20
The Ethics of Killing	20
Political Leadership in Britain	20
Urban International Politics	20
Applied Political Research with Quantitative Methods	20
The Politics of Protest in the Middle East	20
International Political Thought	20
Community-based Research in Politics	40
UK Parliamentary Studies	20
Politics of Immigration	20
Mexican Politics: Authoritarianism & Democracy	20
Politics of Citizenship	20
Global Apartheid Regimes	20
Global Justice: Global Issues in Contemporary Political Philosophy	20
Public Policy: Theories, Cases, Skills	20
Politics as a Way of Life	20

Information about these graphs

We base these figures and graphs on the most up-to-date information available to us. They are based on the modules chosen by our students in 2022-23.

Teaching time is made up of:

• scheduled learning and teaching activities. These are timetabled activities with a member of staff present.
• structured guided learning. These are activities developed by staff to support engagement with module learning. Students or groups of students undertake these activities without direct staff participation or supervision

Teaching and assessment

Teaching methods

Most of your modules will be delivered through lectures and seminars. Seminars become more important in Stage 2 and 3, reflecting your development into a confident and skilled independent learner and part of the School's wider learning community. 

In Politics, you'll also focus on public speaking, with in-class debates used to test, defend and refine your ideas.

Assessment methods

You'll be assessed through a combination of:

• 

  Essays

• 

  Examinations – practical or online

• 

  Group work

• 

  Presentations

• 

  Projects

Skills and experience

Practical skills

You'll benefit from a range of field trips to places such as:

• local museums
• castles
• broadcasters

You'll also have the opportunity to gain first-hand experience carrying out community-based politics research. You'll support a local institution or non-governmental organisation and apply some of your learned skills in the workplace.

Research skills

You'll be able to choose to complete an independent research project in Stage 3. You can either complete a dissertation, or the more practical option of hands-on research within the community.

You'll learn to plan, develop and implement a project, while contributing to academic knowledge, or having an impact on the community.

You can also apply for a vacation scholarship, where you can work alongside researchers. You'll gain first-hand experience of working on a project and develop key skills, such as:

• researching new material
• collecting, analysing and interpreting social data
• carrying out research in challenging environments

Opportunities

Study abroad

Experience life in another country by choosing to study abroad as part of your degree. You’ll be encouraged to embrace fun and challenging experiences, make connections with new communities and graduate as a globally aware professional, ready for your future.

You can choose to spend up to a year studying at a partner institution overseas.

If you choose to study abroad, it will extend your degree by a year. 

Find out more about study abroad

Work placement

Get career ready with a work placement and leave as a confident professional in your field. You can apply to spend 9 to 12 months working in any organisation in the world, and receive University support from our dedicated team to secure your dream placement. Work placements take place between stages 2 and 3.

You'll gain first-hand experience of working in the sector, putting your learning into practice and developing your professional expertise.

If you choose to take a work placement, it will extend your degree by a year, and your degree title will show you have achieved the placement year. A work placement is not available if you're spending a year studying abroad. Placements are subject to availability.

Find out more about work placements

Facilities and environment

Facilities

You'll be based at our city-centre campus between the School of History, Classics and Archaeology, in the historic Armstrong Building and the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, in the recently refurbished Henry Daysh Building.

You'll have access to a range of on-campus facilities, including:

• the Great North Museum: Hancock, with its Antiquarian Library and range of artefacts
• the Special Collections in the Robinson Library

Support

You'll have the support of an academic member of staff as a personal tutor throughout your degree to help with academic and personal issues.

Peer mentors will help you in your first year. They are fellow students who can help you settle in and answer any questions you have when starting university.

Your future

Join our network of successful graduates

On graduation from our degree courses, you will have the proven ability to think critically, assess complex material and data, carry out research, construct a well-informed argument and articulate it on paper and in person.

Some of our graduates have used this powerful combination of skills to progress directly into careers in politics, economics and international relations – for employers such as the Houses of Parliament, HM Treasury, local government, the Civil Service, inter-governmental organisations and public affairs consultancies.

Others have applied their skills with equal success in the media, law, finance, management consultancy, education, human resources, marketing, business and academia.

Our Politics graduates include MPs in Westminster, fast-track civil servants in the Cabinet Office and Department for Work and Pensions, parliamentary researchers, and Brussels-based public affairs consultants.

Our staff also maintain strong links with governmental bodies such as the UK and Scottish Parliaments, NATO and the EU.

Make a difference

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Careers support

You'll benefit from targeted careers support throughout your degree. In your induction week, you'll explore potential career paths.

In Stage 2, you can apply for a work placement with a local political party or charity. In Stage 3 you can boost your prospects by conducting policy research on behalf of a local community organisation.

Our award-winning Careers Service is one of the largest and best in the country, and we have strong links with employers. We provide an extensive range of opportunities to all students through our ncl+ initiative.

Visit our Careers Service website

Recognition of professional qualifications outside of the UK

From 1 January 2021 there is an update to the way professional qualifications are recognised by countries outside of the UK

Tuition fees and scholarships

Tuition fees for 2024 entry (per year)

Qualification: BA Honours
Home students full time 3 years	Tuition fees (per year) 9250
International students full time 3 years	Tuition fees (per year) 21000

Home Fee Students

The maximum fee that we are permitted to charge for home fee-paying students is set by the UK government.

As a general principle, you should expect the tuition fee to increase in each subsequent academic year of your course, subject to government regulations on fee increases and in line with inflation.

Read more about fees and funding

International Fee Students

Depending on your residency history, if you’re a student from the EU, other EEA or a Swiss national, with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, you’ll normally pay the ‘Home’ tuition fee rate and may be eligible for Student Finance England support.

EU students without settled or pre-settled status will normally be charged fees at the ‘International’ rate and will not be eligible for Student Finance England support.

If you are unsure of your fee status, check out the latest guidance here.

As a general principle, you should expect the tuition fee to increase in each subsequent academic year of your course, subject to government regulations on fee increases and in line with inflation.

Read more about fees and funding

Scholarships

We support our EU and international students by providing a generous range of Vice-Chancellor's automatic and merit-based scholarships. See our undergraduate scholarship page for more information.

Year abroad and additional costs

For programmes where you can spend a year on a work placement or studying abroad, you will receive a significant fee reduction for that year. 

Some of our degrees involve additional costs which are not covered by your tuition fees.

Find out more about:

• different tuition fees
• additional costs

Scholarships

Find out more about:

• scholarships for UK, EU and international students
• Student Loans and Government financial support for UK and EU students

How to apply

Apply through UCAS

To apply for undergraduate study at Newcastle University, you must use the online application system managed by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). All UK schools and colleges, and a small number of EU and international establishments, are registered with UCAS. You will need:

• the UCAS name and institution codes for Newcastle University (NEWC/N21)
• the UCAS code for the course you want to apply for
• the UCAS 'buzzword' for your school or college

If you are applying independently, or are applying from a school or college which is not registered to manage applications, you will still use the Apply system. You will not need a buzzword.

Apply through UCAS

Apply through an agent

International students often apply to us through an agent. Have a look at our recommended agents and get in touch with them.

Visit our International pages