Ancient and Modern History BA (Hons)

University of Oxford

Overview

The Ancient and Modern History course enables students to study history from the Bronze Age Mediterranean and Near East, through the Roman Empire, middle ages and early modern period, right up to British, European and World history in the present day. Fruitful comparisons between societies abound, and the methods by which we study them are mutually illuminating.

The extraordinary range of choices (more than 90 options) for this course reflects the breadth of interests of those who teach here. The Oxford Classics and History Faculties are world-famous for teaching and research. The people who will teach you here will often be leading researchers in their field, with lecturers encouraged to put on new courses which reflect their own interests. Oxford also possesses exceptional library provision for History in the Bodleian Library, the History Faculty Library, the Sackler and the Weston Library’s special collections, as well as a dedicated Classics centre.

Careers

Oxford historians move on to careers in fields as varied as the law, teaching, investment banking and consultancies, advertising, accountancy, the Civil Service, publishing, journalism and the media, global charity work, museums and librarianship and archive work. Recent Ancient and Modern History graduates include a civil servant, a librarian and a charity campaign manager.

Mary-Kate says: ‘Through my joint course I developed skills in working flexibly and under pressure, enhanced my analytical skills and learnt to be independently minded. These have all proven to be invaluable assets in my career as a Fast Streamer for the Home Office. Being a Fast Streamer means that you follow an accelerated training and development graduate programme.’

Heather now works as a Lecturer in British History at the Humboldt University in Berlin. She says: ‘Learning to work independently and under time pressure as an undergraduate was the perfect preparation for an academic career. It gave me the skills I needed to teach successfully at a university level and the self-confidence necessary to publish and present my research before my peers.’