History

Exploring the past is exciting, thought-provoking and sometimes revelatory. Our Graduate Certificate in History will help you develop the skills needed to become a historian, with a taught foundation module in the first term that will acquaint you with the theory, tools, techniques and research skills of historical analysis.

We will look at the varied primary sources through which we study the past, from laws and official reports to diaries, letters, memoirs, newspapers, oral testimony, paintings, cartoons, music, film, architecture, landscape, archaeological remains and the internet. We will consider how a secondary source differs from a primary one and the problems involved in interpreting a source and ascertaining its truthfulness and reliability.

Thereafter, the course offers two routes for you to choose between: the first route is research-focused and will support you in producing a dissertation of 7000 words on the historical subject that most interests you; the taught route lets you select one module from any of the extensive range of option modules offered in history, classics and archaeology.

This course is ideal for those who wish to pursue their passion for the past, those who want to experience postgraduate historical study without committing to a full Master’s degree, and those who are changing direction and moving to history from a different undergraduate subject.

This is an undergraduate-level qualification that will prepare you for postgraduate study. Graduate Certificates typically take one to two years to complete and are made up of two, three or four modules at final-year undergraduate degree level (worth 60, 90 or 120 credits).

Highlights

Birkbeck was ranked in the top eight universities in the UK for its History research in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework.

Our research is unique in its range across geographical and chronological boundaries. We are the only university in London to include historians, classicists and archaeologists in the same academic team investigating every period from prehistory to the early twenty-first century. We see the study of the past as crucial for our understanding of present-day society, culture and politics.

We are at the heart of academic London with access to unparalleled research resources. Situated very close by are: the Institute of Classical Studies, with its library, training facilities and seminars; the British Museum, with its extensive collection of classical antiquities; and the British Library, the largest national library in the world.

We are home to a number of affiliated research centres that actively run seminars, conferences and other events where some of the world's best scholars present their latest research. These include the Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism, the Raphael Samuel History Centre and the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities.

Careers and employability

Graduates can pursue career paths in research and archiving, education, the heritage industry, publishing, journalism and the media, and the charity sector. Possible professions include:

historian

higher education lecturer

archivist

journalist

heritage manager

politician’s assistant

academic librarian

museum/gallery curator.

We offer a comprehensive careers service - Careers and Enterprise - your career partner during your time at Birkbeck and beyond. At every stage of your career journey, we empower you to take ownership of your future, helping you to make the connection between your experience, education and future ambitions.