MA History

For entry in the academic year beginning September 2026, the tuition fees are as follows:

• MA (full-time)
  UK students (per annum): £13,700
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £28,400
• MA (part-time)
  UK students (per annum): £6,850
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £14,200

Further information for EU students can be found on our dedicated EU page.

The fees quoted above will be fully inclusive for the course tuition, administration and computational costs during your studies.

All fees for entry will be subject to yearly review and incremental rises per annum are also likely over the duration of courses lasting more than a year for UK/EU students (fees are typically fixed for International students, for the course duration at the year of entry). For general fees information please visit: postgraduate fees . Always contact the department if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.

Self-funded international applicants for this course will be required to pay a deposit of £1000 towards their tuition fees before a confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) is issued. This deposit will only be refunded if immigration permission is refused. We will notify you about how and when to make this payment.

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).

• Information on university funding, loans, and scholarships available on the Masters student funding page
• The Faculty of Humanities offered a range of scholarship opportunities for eligible applicants starting in September 2025. Please check back to confirm availability for September 2026 start.
• Please visit the school funding page for more information on subject funding available
• Other funding for EU and international students is on our country-specific pages .

"Jewish studies" may be understood broadly as the study of Jewish history and culture, in all its manifestations. To study it at university level is to combine the traditions of disciplined academic research with the richness of Jewish culture and experience. This course will approach the subject from the perspective of the history of Jewish/non-Jewish relations, specifically, Jewish engagement with Christian and Islamic religious cultures, and with “secular” Western modernity, of which the academic study is a part. As a team-taught course, it draws on expertise in the development of the modern academic study of Judaism, of its ancient Hellenistic and Christian contexts, Judaism’s encounter with modernity and modern Christianity, and Jews in the context of Middle Eastern Muslim and Arab culture in the pre-Zionist and Zionist periods. 

• To develop a critical awareness of the profound level of interaction between Jewish thought and culture with non-Jewish thought and culture in history.
• To integrate critical perspectives of academic study of Judaism (and religious traditions more generally) into independent research, in contrast to other possible perspectives
• To develop skills in the analysis of the arguments of scholars of Jewish Studies and to develop skills in researching, presenting and defending conclusions on a topic of Jewish/Non-Jewish historical interaction.

 

• a good familiarity with the specifics of, and critical scholarship on, a topic of Jewish history and culture, including its Greaco-Roman, Christian, Muslim or secular contexts
• critical awareness of and ability to select appropriately for independent research from the variety of academic approaches in the disciplines of Jewish Studies 

• Analytical skills in considering diverse approaches to evidence
• Critical evaluation of arguments and approaches
• Skills in argument
• Independent research
• Awareness of the role of interpretation in academic approaches

 

• Ability to communicate effectively in a group
• Time management
• Ability to structure an extended piece of writing
• Apply key skills in analytical interpretation

 

•  Strengthened interpersonal and communicative skills
•  Heightened awareness of and responsiveness to cultural diversity and intercultural communication
•  Skills in presenting complex information and analysis in a precise and orderly fashion.
• Refined problem-solving skills and demonstrate the ability to locate, analyse and utilise information.

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Feedback method	Formative or Summative
Verbal or written feedback on draft Essay plan	Formative
Written feedback on essay	Summative
For the SALC Postgraduate Feedback Policy, please see:http://www.alc.manchester.ac.uk/staffintranet/postgraduatetaught/postgraduate-policies/

 

• Goodman, M. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002)
• Katz, S. D., The Cambridge History of the Jews, vol. 4: The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period (Cambridge: CUP, 2006)
• Baskin, J. R. and K. Seeskin (eds.), The Cambridge Guide to Jewish History, Religion, and Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010)
• Baumel, Simon D., Sacred Speakers: Language and Culture among the Haredim in Israel (New York: Berghahn Books, 2005)
• Kalmar, Ivan D. and Derek J. Penslar (eds), Orientalism and the Jews (Waltham, Mass: Brandeis University Press, 2005)
• Behar, Moshe and Zvi Ben-Dor Benite (eds), Modern Middle Eastern Jewish Thought: Writings on Identity, Politics, and Culture 1893–1958 (Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 2013)