BA History and French / Course details

BA History and French provides you with the opportunity to study aspects of history that interest you most, from ancient, medieval, modern, and economic and social history, to the history of science, technology and medicine.

You will also develop a comprehensive grounding in French language, literature, culture, history and linguistics, enabling you to become proficient enough in French to live and work effectively in a French-speaking environment.

History

• We offer one of the most diverse history courses in the UK, with course units covering almost all human history, including British, European, American, Asian and African history, and ranging from the classical era (Greece and Rome), through the medieval and modern periods, to the late 20th century.
• We offer a wide variety of approaches to history, from political and economic history, to gender, social, cultural, and colonial history.
• You will benefit from studying in the historically rich and multi-ethnic city of Manchester, itself a living history book - from Peterloo to the anti-slavery and suffragette movements, and from Roman and Anglo-Saxon forts to medieval monuments.
• You can draw on the abundant library, archive and museum holdings of the local area, including the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre, Chetham's Library, The Museum of Science and Industry, The People's History Museum and the Working-Class Movement Library.
• You will also have access to one of only five National Research Libraries, including the special collections of The John Rylands Library, as well as the exclusive holdings of Manchester Museum.

French

• Over two-thirds of our staff are native speakers, teaching you in French language classes as well as most culture classes.
• You will experience between 3 and 6 hours of French grammar and conversation every week (at post A-Level or beginners' level), in order to reach near-native precision and fluency. This will run in parallel with optional course units on French and Francophone history, politics, literature, popular culture and/or linguistics, from the Early Modern period to the present.
• You will benefit from our long-established partnership with the Alliance Francaise de Manchester with cultural events throughout the year, such as film screenings, talks, plays, concerts, exhibitions and intensive language classes.
• You will also benefit from our collaboration with the Institut de Touraine in the Loire Valley, which hosts Easter and Summer French language classes that are appropriate for complete beginners and finalists.
• Our range and quality of courses are regularly cited for praise by external examiners and three colleagues have won University and Faculty Teaching Excellence Awards.

The course unit details listed below are those you may choose to study as part of this programme and are referred to as optional units. These are subject to change and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this programme. Although language units may show here as optional, they are a mandatory part of your modern languages degree and you will take the units relevant to your level of language in each year of study. It is compulsory to study language at all levels of your modern languages degree.

Study abroad 

Your  year abroad  will offer the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of life in a French-speaking country, and further develop your language skills. 

Connect with like-minded students 

Join the History Society, which plays a key role in building a community among History students at Manchester by organising trips (in the UK and on the continent) and hosting social events, and get involved with the student magazine,  The Manchester Historian . 

You can also join The Francophone Society and benefit from French classes, discussion groups, cheese and wine nights, film screenings, themed socials, and a yearly trip to Paris.

Our courses take maximum advantage of our well-established areas of research expertise, including everything from modern British and European cultural history, to economic and social history from the later Middle Ages to the 20th century.

You will learn through:

• lectures;
• seminars;
• web-based seminars;
• small group tutorials;
• field trips.

We encourage you to study a diverse range of types of history and to develop your own original and imaginative approaches.

You will spend approximately 12 hours a week in formal study sessions. For every hour spent at University, you will be expected to complete a further two to three hours of independent study. You will also need to study during the holiday periods.

The individual study component could be spent reading, producing written work, revising for examinations or working in the University's Language Centre .

You will be assessed in various ways, including:

• written and oral examinations;
• coursework essays;
• research reports;
• practical tests;
• learning logs;
• web contributions.

Many course units are assessed through a mixture of techniques.

In your final year, you will write a dissertation.

The University of Manchester owns the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester Museum and Tabley House, giving you unique access to outstanding cultural and historical resources.

As well as making use of the wider University library network, you will have access to the University Language Centre , a modern open learning facility where you can study independently and make use of a library and audio-visual resources. There are also language laboratories and multimedia facilities.

Learn more on the Facilities page.