BA Ancient History and History / Course details

This module is focused on current affairs. It examines how history can be used to address problems in the contemporary world. Students will explore how knowledge about the past can be deployed to inform the development of policy responses to contemporary issues. The module will be delivered in conjunction with employers from sectors such as law, finance, marketing, media, NGOs, media, policy makers, government and heritage. Throughout the module, students will first be introduced to an historical case study, and then asked to use their understanding of this case study to help them develop an appropriate response to a problem faced by a particular employer in the private, public or third sector. The aim of the course is to develop core skills from your History degree and apply them to help resolve issues confronted in the working world.   

• Develop core skills around historical research  

• Gain an understanding of how historical knowledge and skill can be applied to problem solving  

• Generate a template for understanding the transferable skills of your History degree and enhance employability 

• Generate an environment for enhancing teamwork. 

1 x 2-hour workshop per week  

1 x 1-hour seminar  

In the 2-hour workshops, the students will make presentations to a panel of employers/external participants and course tutors on the case study material as a group every alternate week. Students will select one of these case studies as a basis for preparing their case study exercise 

• Demonstrate a range of academic and transferable skills, including communicating ideas and arguments in written form, delivering presentations, group-work and independent research. 

• Demonstrate self-confidence in a range of learning processes 

• Present solutions to research problems clearly and effectively orally and in writing 

• Place data and arguments effectively within their wider comparative context 

• Understand the intellectual dynamic between past and present 

• Develop solutions to problems using historical knowledge and research skills  

• Work in a team to development effective solutions to chosen problems  

• Address a range of contemporary issues from an historical perspective  

• Present ideas in a workshop context 

• Gain skills in making ‘elevator pitches’ to external employers 

• Gain commercial awareness 

• Analyse, evaluate and apply historical research to current affairs  

• Develop and carry out independent research projects 

• Problem solving  

• Generate data for employers in response to commercial / economic change  

• Communicate arguments through improved written and oral communication skills 

• Work efficiently as part of a group 

Workshop Presentations (Formative)

Case Study Video Presentation (designed and delivered in conjunction with the University Careers Service) (Summative) 40%

Reflective Learning Journal (Summative) 30%

Case Study Essay (Summative) 30%

John Tosh, Why History Matters (2008) 

Jeremy Black, Contesting History: Narratives of Public History (2014) 

Paul Ashton and Hilda Kean, People and their Pasts: Public History Today (2008) 

Margaret Macmillan, Dangerous Games: The Uses and Abuses of History (2010) 

Suzannah Lipscomb and Helen Carr What is History, Now? How the Past and Present Speak to One Another (2021)