History and Politics at Kent will allow you to find your own critical voice. You'll explore challenging questions about the impact of political, social and cultural change on class, gender, race, injustice and power, and discover how historical and political understanding can illuminate the modern world.
In the ancient city of Canterbury you'll meet history face-to-face and learn from world-leading academics who help to sharpen your skills of analysis, argument and communication.
You'll explore how human society works now, and how it has worked in the past. You'll discuss ideas such as freedom and democracy, and the factors that have shaped society and culture around the world over time. You'll graduate with the knowledge and the skills to play your part in tackling some of the world’s most important problems.
Have you considered Ancient History or Military History?
“The lecturers bring the subject to life. When I studied Jack the Ripper in a module on Victorian Britain, we actually went to a surgical room in London to see how the Victorians would have investigated the murders.”
Brooke Huxter, BA History
You'll have the freedom to explore your subject and tailor your studies to the times and themes you find most fascinating. You discover topics from the Crusades to the Cold War, and explore the challenges facing the world today, from from terrorism to the impact of the pandemic on politics, and political polarisation.
The University will consider applications from students offering a wide range of qualifications. All applications are assessed on an individual basis but some of our typical requirements are listed below. Students offering qualifications not listed are welcome to contact our Admissions Team for further advice. Please also see our general entry requirements.
BBB
The University welcomes applications from Access to Higher Education Diploma candidates for consideration. A typical offer may require you to obtain a proportion of Level 3 credits in relevant subjects at merit grade or above.
The University will consider applicants holding BTEC National Diploma and Extended National Diploma Qualifications (QCF; NQF; OCR) on a case-by-case basis. Please contact us for further advice on your individual circumstances. A typical offer would be to achieve DMM.
30 points overall or 15 points at HL.
Pass all components of the University of Kent International Foundation Programme with a 60% overall average.
The University will consider applicants holding T level qualifications in subjects closely aligned to the course.
If you are an international student, visit our International Student website for further information about entry requirements for your country, including details of the International Foundation Programmes. Please note that international fee-paying students who require a Student visa cannot undertake a part-time programme due to visa restrictions.
Please note that meeting the typical offer/minimum requirement does not guarantee that you will receive an offer.
Please see our English language entry requirements web page.
Please note that if you do not meet our English language requirements, we offer a number of 'pre-sessional' courses in English for Academic Purposes. You attend these courses before starting your degree programme.
Duration: 3 years full-time, 6 years part-time
The modules below are indicative of those offered on this programme. This list is based on the current curriculum and may change year to year in response to new curriculum developments and innovation.
The 2023/24 annual tuition fees for this course are:
For details of when and how to pay fees and charges, please see our Student Finance Guide.
For students continuing on this programme, fees will increase year on year by no more than RPI + 3% in each academic year of study except where regulated.*
The University will assess your fee status as part of the application process. If you are uncertain about your fee status you may wish to seek advice from UKCISA before applying.
There are no compulsory additional costs associated with this course. All textbooks are available from the library, although some students prefer to purchase their own.
Find out more about accommodation and living costs, plus general additional costs that you may pay when studying at Kent.
We have a range of subject-specific awards and scholarships for academic, sporting and musical achievement.
Search scholarshipsKent offers generous financial support schemes to assist eligible undergraduate students during their studies. See our funding page for more details.
At Kent we recognise, encourage and reward excellence. We have created the Kent Scholarship for Academic Excellence.
The scholarship will be awarded to any applicant who achieves a minimum of A*AA over three A levels, or the equivalent qualifications (including BTEC and IB) as specified on our scholarships pages.
Teaching is by a combination of lectures, providing a broad overview, and seminars, which focus on discussing particular issues and are led by student presentations. Lectures and seminars use a variety of materials, including original documents, films and documentaries, illuminated manuscripts, slide and PowerPoint demonstrations.
Assessment is by a combination of coursework and examination.
For a student studying full time, each academic year of the programme will comprise 1200 learning hours which include both direct contact hours and private study hours. The precise breakdown of hours will be subject dependent and will vary according to modules. Please refer to the individual module details under Course Structure.
Methods of assessment will vary according to subject specialism and individual modules. Please refer to the individual module details under Course Structure.
For programme aims and learning outcomes, please see the programmes specification for each subject below. Please note that outcomes will depend on your specific module selection:
History at Kent was ranked 1st for research quality in The Complete University Guide 2023.
Over 93% of final-year History students were satisfied with the quality of teaching on their course in The Guardian University Guide 2023.
Our graduates find employment in a range of fields, such as:
Both the School of History and the School of Politics and International Relations run employability sessions and workshops to help you hone your job-hunting skills.
The University also has a friendly Careers and Employability Service, which can give you advice on how to:
Alongside your subject-specific knowledge and skills, you learn key transferable skills that are essential for all graduates. These include the ability to:
You can also gain extra skills by signing up for one of our Kent Extra activities, such as learning a language or volunteering.
We are no longer taking applications for the 2023/24 academic year. Please visit the 2024 online prospectus for a list of current undergraduate courses.
T: +44 (0)1227 768896
T: +44 (0)1227 823254
E: internationalstudent@kent.ac.uk
Discover Uni is designed to support prospective students in deciding whether, where and what to study. The site replaces Unistats from September 2019.
Discover Uni is jointly owned by the Office for Students, the Department for the Economy Northern Ireland, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales and the Scottish Funding Council.
It includes:
Find out more about the Unistats dataset on the Higher Education Statistics Agency website.
