Taught by leading scholars across a range of periods and geographies, our MA History programme seeks to satisfy your curiosity about history while deepening your knowledge of its key concepts and methods as a discipline.

As an MA History student at Cardiff University, you will benefit from the opportunity to explore a variety of approaches to study of the past – social, cultural, intellectual, political – across a broad chronological and geographic range.

Our academic interests span British, Welsh, European (including Central and Eastern Europe, and Russia), Asian, and North American histories from the medieval to the modern period. The extensive range of our expertise enables you to develop your own particular research interests and to pursue modules that allow you to develop and extend these.

We appreciate that career and employability prospects are important to you, and we are committed to supporting you with life after University. As such, we offer two optional modules with employability in mind.

And we pride ourselves on our flexible, student-centred approach to training, including time spent learning outside the university environment. Uniquely, we offer a flexible dissertation route. This means that you have the choice between a traditional dissertation, where you have the opportunity to flex your practical research skills and develop your own original research contribution, or you can choose to complete a public engagement project. The first of its kind in the UK, this innovative project will enable you to draw on your own experience to demonstrate the importance of history in the wider community.

Careers and placements

Our Master’s degree graduates find work (or return to work) in a wide range of related and non-related professional and academic employment. For other graduates, our Master’s degree is an important step on the path to a PhD at Cardiff or elsewhere.

The programme equips you with the intellectual skills and personal development acquired through advanced historical study. These are much sought after in a variety of workplaces, and provide you with a depth of historical perspective that helps you to contribute in important ways to the advancement of your own society.

The skills you will develop through completing a Master’s degree at Cardiff will qualify you for a wide range of professions. Popular employment sectors include education, the law, journalism, publishing, advertising and marketing, the civil service, heritage, government, and other professional sectors.

From the outset, we encourage you to think about life beyond the University. In addition to taught modules and academic workshops, we offer dedicated sessions to increase your transferable skills and employability prospects to give you a competitive advantage on graduating.

Placements

The School of History, Archaeology and Religion has a dedicated Work Placements Officer who can support you with work experience opportunities both in and out of term time.