Modern History

Entry requirements

Entry requirements for postgraduate taught programmes are a 2.1 Honours degree or equivalent qualification (for example, GPA 3.0 or above) in a relevant subject unless otherwise specified.

Note: a short (one paragraph) statement of interest is also required.

Months of entry

September

Course content

Modern History at Glasgow brings together social and political historians, active in research on topics from the French Revolution to the War on Terror in Afghanistan. The Masters in Modern History provides you with thorough research training and a wide set of transferable skills in the conception, design and execution of a research project.

Why Glasgow

• Members of the Centre for Gender History, the Centre for War Studies and the Centre for Scottish Cultural Studies are all leaders in their fields.
• You will enjoy access to the Baillie Collection, our prized collection of printed medieval and modern sources in Scottish, Irish and English history. The collection also offers printed state papers, Historical Manuscript Commission publications and a select collection of modern monographs.
• Our programme has strong links with the University's Hunterian Museum & Art Gallery, giving you access to primary source material including an enormous collection of anatomical and pathological specimens, coins, books, manuscripts and ethnography.
• You will also have unparalleled access to Scotland's world-leading collections including the National Library of Scotland, the National Collections and the Mitchell Library, Glasgow.
• Internships are available with the Hunterian Museum. There are also opportunities to work closely with other key institutions such as Glasgow Museums and Glasgow Women's Library.

Programme Structure

Our History Masters are built around a hands-on research training course, specialised courses on historical and theoretical themes, and other courses developing your technical skills and other abilities like languages and palaeography.

If you choose to study Modern History, there will be a guided selection of courses that will provide you with the specialised knowledge in that field. You will be taught through a series of seminars and workshops. Internationally recognised historians give guest lectures throughout the year.

In the final part of the programme, you will select a specialised topic and conduct original primary source research for your dissertation. You are supported in your research and writing up by an assigned supervisor with expertise in your field of inquiry.

Core courses

• Research resources and skills for historians.

Optional courses

Course options may include

• Secret intelligence in the 20th century
• American material culture
• Introduction to social theory for researchers
• American counterculture
• History of medicine, 1850-2000
• The American way of war
• Topics in historical computing
• Issues, ideologies and institutions of modern Scotland
• Gender, politics and power
• Christianity and sexual revolution.

The courses taught each year vary depending upon staff availability.

To widen your approach and develop an interdisciplinary perspective, you are also strongly encouraged to take one or two complementary courses in cognate subjects, such as

• The art of war
• Democracy and governance: classical political thought
• Political philosophy
• 2D digitisation
• Archives and records theory
• Employers, elites and the state: capitalism in Britain.

Courses in Scottish literature, English literature, theology, history of art and other College of Arts subjects can also be studied, by agreement with the programme convener.

Career prospects

Apart from continuing to study a PhD, you can transfer the arts research skills and methods you learn on this programme to positions in the public and private sectors, such as heritage, policy and projects, journalism and teaching.

Positions held by recent History graduates include Editor Business & History Products, Lead Scholar/Instructor and Secretary.

Information for international students

Please see the English language requirements and the international page.

Fees and funding

• Fees and funding
• Scholarships and funding

Qualification and course duration

MLitt

Further details of qualification

The Masters in Modern History provides you with thorough research training, an outstanding learning experience, and a wide set of transferable skills in the conception, design and execution of a research project.