The most striking thing about History at Oxford is the enormous amount of choice offered to students (there are over 100 different options), reflecting the breadth of interests and expertise among those who teach here. You can study wide-ranging survey papers in World, European and British history from the end of the ancient world to the present day. You can develop interests in different historical themes, including gender, race, empire, religion, political history, economics, science and medicine, and political thought. You will encounter a wide variety of sources, including film and visual culture as well as written texts. A popular first-year course is Approaches to History, which examines interactions between History and disciplines such as Anthropology and Sociology. Modern south Asia, China, Africa, Ireland, eighteenth-century America, early modern European court cultures, women and print in early modern England, and the medieval Middle East are among more than 30 second-year options. The third-year Special Subject offers a similar breadth of options, and the undergraduate dissertation allows you to delve deeper into whatever interests you most about the past.
At Univ, the History tutors provide an environment which is both supportive and rigorous. All undergraduates are encouraged to confront periods and concepts beyond those encompassed by a narrow chronological focus. Our tutors foster a strong sense of community among the College’s historians, regularly bringing together undergraduates, graduates and faculty members for academic and social events. The College library has a very well-stocked History section, and we are just a few minutes’ walk from the History Faculty Library and the Bodleian. At Univ we offer tuition in History as a single honours course, and also in three joint schools: History and Modern Languages, History and Politics, and Ancient and Modern History.
Resources
If you are considering applying for History, a number of resources you might find useful to explore beyond the school curriculum can be found on Univ’s Staircase12 pages, including the Reading Bank and Resource Hub.