MA History

For entry in the academic year beginning September 2027, the tuition fees are as follows:

• MA (full-time)
  UK students (per annum): £14,400
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £29,800

The fees quoted above are fully inclusive of tuition, administration and computational costs.

Fees for entry are subject to yearly review. The University reserves the right to increase your tuition fee by up to 7% each year for courses lasting more than one year, including to reflect rising costs associated with delivering our educational and wider student experience. Postgraduate fees information .

Always contact the admissions team if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.

International student CAS deposit

Self-funded international applicants are required to pay a deposit of £2500 towards their tuition fees before a confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) is issued. Some applicants will be required to pay a higher deposit. More information on tuition fee deposits .

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

We know that student finance can be complicated. The links below provide further information to help guide you.

• Learn more about - student finance options for UK students.
• Learn more about - fees and finance for international students .
• Graduates of The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University can receive a 10% discount on their master's degree tuition fees as part of our Manchester Alumni Loyalty Discount scheme.

This unit explores the radical changes in the character of the biological sciences over the last two centuries. Students taking this module will explore the development of key concepts and theories since 1800, will analyse how sites and institutions both shape and are shaped by biological sciences, and will consider how this history has shaped contemporary debates regarding issues such as genetic engineering and ‘de-extinction’ Our geographical focus will be on developments in Britain and Continental Europe, but with frequent reference where relevant to North America.

• Provide students with insight into major trends in the history of biological sciences since 1800, such as the emergence of evolutionary thinking in the nineteenth century; the rise of laboratory-based specialisms around 1900; the increasing connections between biological science and medicine; and the dominance of genetics and molecular approaches after 1945;
• Help students develop an understanding of how these changes have been understood and explained by historians and social scientists;
• Locate these changes in their broader social, cultural, intellectual and political contexts;
• Encourage critical reflection on the importance of sites, materials and institutions in the history of biological sciences;
• Allow students to develop skills in analysing and discussing relevant secondary literature and locating primary sources relating to major issues in the history of biological sciences (see unit description below for examples).
• Enhance students’ research and essay-writing skills, and provide suitable grounding for dissertation research into the history of the biological sciences.  

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