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MSt - Master of Studies
University of Oxford
Full Time
OCT-25
9 months
Select a course option
MSt - Master of Studies
University of Oxford
Full Time
OCT-25
9 months
Select a an exam type
About the course
This nine-month programme offers a unique combination of methodological depth and access to excellent primary sources for students who wish to develop and extend their understanding of how visual styles at different times and in different places can be understood in relation to the aesthetic, intellectual and social facets of various cultures.
This course draws on the established strengths of the discipline of art history in formal, iconographic and contextual analysis in the Faculty of History's History of Art Department and links them to a rigorous approach to questions of theory and method.
The course will expose you to the ways in which the subjects of visual history are being redefined on a broad base to include a much wider range of artefacts and visual media, including images and objects produced in contexts ranging from the scientific to the popular.
Assessment
You will write dissertation of up to 15,000 words completed independently, under the guidance of an expert supervisor, on a topic of your choice and approved by the supervisor and the chair of examiners for the programme. The dissertation is submitted in Trinity term.
In addition to the dissertation, assessment will take the form of exams and assessed essays. For the compulsory methodology paper you will write three short essays in an examination at the start of Trinity term.
The option paper is assessed through one short methodological or historiographic essay of 2,500 words and one research project of 7,500 words. Students receive one-on-one supervision when preparing their essays.
Graduate destinations
About a quarter of master’s students proceed directly to doctoral work at Oxford or at other institutions, with additional students applying to doctoral programmes within a year or two of completing the degree. Other career destinations include museums and galleries, the heritage sector, media/publishing (including online), fine arts and teaching, as well as fields such as banking, law and the civil service.
As a minimum, applicants should hold or be predicted to achieve the equivalent of the following UK qualifications or their equivalent: a first-class or strong upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours in a relevant discipline in the humanities or social sciences. Most successful applicants have a degree in a humanities subject such as history of art, history, English, modern languages, Classics, theology, philosophy, archaeology or anthropology. Graduates in fine art who have excellent research and writing skills will also be considered. Applicants with social science and sometimes even science degrees have also been admitted provided they can make a persuasive application that attests to their interest in the visual arts, broadly defined, and demonstrates excellent preparation for the course’s research and writing demands. A degree in history of art is not a requirement and approximately half of each cohort will have completed an undergraduate degree in another subject. Your submitted written work should show your writing and research skills in their best light, as it will be important to show that you have the necessary skills required for art historical research. For applicants with a degree from the USA, the minimum GPA sought is 3.75 out of 4.0.
Students living in
Domestic
£16,900 per year
Students from Domestic
This is the fee you pay if the University is in the same country that you live in (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland)
£41,250 per year
Students from EU
The amount you'll pay if you come to study here from somewhere in the EU.
£41,250 per year
Students from International
The amount you'll pay if you come to study here from a country outside the EU.
University of Birmingham
