Research Degrees: History
DURATION
3 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2024
TUITION FEES
GBP 22,490 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* for overseas student full-time | | GBP 4,860 home student full-time | overseas student part-time: GBP 11,245 per year | home student part-time: GBP 2,430 per year
Introduction
The SOAS History Department is one of the world’s major centres offering supervision for research degrees in African and Asian history. It attracts students and scholarly visitors from all parts of the world. The top ratings given to the Department in the official national research assessments of 1996, 2001 and 2008 took into account the excellence of its research training, as well as the staff publication record.
The Department provides opportunities for well-qualified applicants to join large groups of students and staff working in or around their specialist fields of history. The unique combination of individual supervision, taught courses and seminars ensures that the large majority of students complete their degrees within four years.
Why study Research Degrees History at SOAS?
In History, we are 11th in the UK (QS World University Rankings 2021) and 45th in the World (QS World University Rankings 2021).
SOAS students have unrestricted and usually free access to a huge range of seminars, conferences and workshops being held in SOAS or within easy reach. Most importantly, they attend a weekly regional history seminar – on Africa, South Asia, the Near and Middle East, East Asia, or South East Asia – and often special workshops on themes related to their research.
Close links are maintained with the nearby Institute of Historical Research and the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, which run their own research seminars. These give research students many opportunities to meet scholars who are visiting SOAS, and those based elsewhere in the University of London or in Britain. Attendance at classes forming part of taught courses in SOAS or elsewhere may also be possible by arrangement.
Library holdings in London are superb for many of the subjects studied in the Department. SOAS history students have free access to the nearby British Library (including the India Office and Oriental Collections), the British Library Newspaper Library at Colindale, the National Archives, and a vast array of other collections, including the libraries of most other London colleges and universities.
Duration
3 years modeFull-time or part-time
Admissions
Curriculum
This departmental research handbook sets out the main stages of writing an MPhil or PhD in history, the department’s programme for research students, the supervision you can expect and the expectations from the research students.
We, the faculty members, value the active participation of the research students in the department’s academic life and we consider the research students a vital part of its research culture. The following is meant to ensure that you complete your research in the proscribed period and that you take the most out of your years in our department.
This handbook completes the School’s Code of Practice for Research Degrees, which is the main document for all questions linked to your research degree.
Compulsory
Term 1
- Methodology Seminar
- Language Training and/or Regional Research Seminar
- Auditing Course
- Work with Supervisor
- One Generic Research Skills Seminar
Term 2
- Methodology Seminar (including presentation)
- Language Training and/or Regional Research Seminar
- Auditing Course
- Work with Supervisor
Term 3
- Regional Research Seminar (including presentation)
- Work with Supervisor
- Upgrade (‘mini-viva’)
Second-year students are expected to attend the regional research seminar during their terms of residence.
Students in their third year attend the fortnightly Writing-Up Seminar, at which they will discuss draft chapters with fellow students. Third-year students are also required to attend the regional research seminar and will be expected to give one presentation to that seminar after their return from fieldwork. Fourth-year students are expected to attend the regional research seminar during their terms of residence. All students in residence attend the Department’s Research Seminar which will take place once or twice per term and in which members of staff discuss their current research projects.
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
With specialised historical knowledge, an understanding of cultural sensibilities and skills in research and analysis, graduates from the Department of History are well respected by employers across private and public sectors.
Recent graduates have been hired by:
- Al Jazeera
- Amnesty International
- Bank of England
- BBC
- Blackstock PR
- Bonhams
- British Council
- British Library
- Dataminr
- Ernst and Young
- Goldman Sachs
- HSBC
- International Committee of the Red Cross
- KPMG
- Middle East Consultancy Services
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Cyprus
- Natural History Museum
- Publicis Media
- UNESCO
- United Nations Development Programme