Note about optional modules (if available): The below is indicative of the typical modules offered, but is not intended to be construed or relied on as a definitive list of what might be available in any given year. The module content and availability is subject to change.
The programme can be undertaken full-time (three years across three levels) or part-time (four to six years across three levels). You take a total of 360 credits, 120 credits at each level.
Year 1
In your first year, you will take the following compulsory modules, as well as two optional modules from a list published annually by the department.
Compulsory modules
Module title |
Credits |
Global Connections: the violence and exchanges that shaped the modern world
|
30 credits |
Identity, Agency & Environment 1
|
15 credits |
Identity, Agency & Environment 2
|
15 credits |
Reading and Writing History
|
15 Credits |
Historical Controversies
|
15 credits |
You will also select two 15 credit modules from a list approved annually by the Department of History.
Year 2
In your second year, you will have more freedom to shape your curriculum and broaden your intellectual horizons with 90 credits of optional modules, and 30 credits of compulsory modules.
You will choose 60 credits from the list offered by the History department, up to 30 credits of which can be a University of London intercollegiate group II module.
The additional 30 credits will be from a list provided annually by the Department of Politics and International Relations.
Compulsory modules
Module title |
Credits |
The Goldsmiths Elective
|
15 credits |
Goldsmiths’ Social Change Module
|
15 credits |
Year 3
In your final year, you will develop your specialist interests and knowledge.
You will take a special subject module from the Department of History or the University of London Intercollegiate Group III. This will be combined with a dissertation linked to your special subject, to make 60 credits.
You will also choose 45 credits of optional modules offered by the Department of Politics, and 15 credits offered by the Department of History.
See the full list of year 3 and Special Subject History modules.
Teaching style
The programme is cumulative and progressive, with knowledge and skills building on previous years and growing year on year. Basic skills and competencies are delivered in the first year which sets the broad agenda for the programme as a whole. In the second year, the modules contain increasingly challenging and demanding material which provides the foundations for the significant independent scholarly work required and undertaken in the final year.
Teaching may be delivered in the form of lectures and seminars or other forms of contact time such as extended seminars, workshops, field trips, and film screenings. Lectures introduce subject specific skills and understandings and provide the basis for discussions, activities, group work, and debates. Seminars linked to lectures provide a space for further exploration of the lecture topics and materials and they reinforce the knowledge gained from the lectures and from independent reading and studying. Seminars also involve field-trips and site visits to relevant places including museums, galleries, archives, and sites of historical interest.
Throughout the programme students are taught to critically engage with the inter-relationship between history and Politics. In the final year, this interdisciplinary knowledge, understanding, skill, and experience is tested through the compulsory dissertation project. The variety of theoretical and empirical material throughout the programme, covering a wide range of topics, periods and regions, provides students with the opportunity to pursue their own interests while examining and interrogating the linkages between the two disciplines. Under close co-supervision, students develop a substantial and sustained individual project in which they form and present their own critical arguments in an extended format. In the context of this joint degree, students are required to produce a genuinely interdisciplinary piece of work that reflects their abilities to analyse and assess historical evidence, their awareness of political ideas, methods, and concepts, and a knowledge of relevant empirical work and debates in each discipline.
Lecturers also make themselves available for tutorials either during their Consultation and Feedback hours or by appointment. These provide opportunities to ask questions about modules and their content, to receive support and guidance on independent work, and to receive feedback on submitted work.
The following information gives an indication of the typical proportions of learning and teaching for each year of this programme*:
- Year 1 - 13% scheduled learning, 87% independent learning
- Year 2 - 13% scheduled learning, 87% independent learning
- Year 3 - 13% scheduled learning, 87% independent learning
How you’ll be assessed
A wide and innovative variety of different methods are used to assess learning, these include essays, reviews, source analyses, blogs, videos, walks, presentations, exams, and dissertations. Some modules are assessed by portfolios of coursework, or by a combination of coursework and an examination. Others are assessed by long essays or dissertations on topics approved with the tutor. Assessments vary in length according to the type of assessment and/or level of module.
Assessment supports student progression across the programme, as assessments in the first year aim to measure a set of baseline skills and competencies which are enhanced, deepened and broadened in subsequent years. Lecturers return assessments and provide useful and constructive feedback in a timely manner so as to ensure that students learn from the feedback and have the opportunity to improve subsequent work.
The following information gives an indication of how you can typically expect to be assessed on each year of this programme*:
- Year 1 - 69% coursework, 31% written exam
- Year 2 - 81% coursework, 19% written exam
- Year 3 - 100% coursework
*Please note that these are averages are based on enrolments for 2022/23. Each student’s time in teaching, learning and assessment activities will differ based on individual module choices. Find out more about how this information is calculated.
Credits and levels of learning
An undergraduate honours degree is made up of 360 credits – 120 at Level 4, 120 at Level 5 and 120 at Level 6. If you are a full-time student, you will usually take Level 4 modules in the first year, Level 5 in the second, and Level 6 modules in your final year. A standard module is worth 30 credits. Some programmes also contain 15-credit half modules or can be made up of higher-value parts, such as a dissertation or a Major Project.
Download the programme specification.
Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.