Modern History MA
Year of entry 2025
- Start date
- September 2025
- Delivery type
- On campus
- Duration
- 12 months full time
- 24 months part time
- Entry requirements
- A bachelor degree with a 2:1 (hons) in history or a related subject.
Full entry requirements - English language requirements
- IELTS 6.5 overall, with no less than 6.0 in all components
- UK fees
- £12,000 (Total)
- International fees
- £26,000 (Total)
- Contact
- HistoryPGTadmissions@leeds.ac.uk
Course overview
Spanning the early modern period to the present day and covering Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas, our MA Modern History offers a diverse range of study, not only chronologically and geographically but thematically too. We are one of the largest History departments in the country and the staff who teach on the course have a wide range of expertise.
With a wide range of optional modules, you can tailor the course to suit your interests, but we also encourage you to develop how you think as a historian: you’ll have the chance to encounter new ways of ‘doing’ modern history, from the study of state archives to popular culture and everyday life. Crucially, we don’t prioritise any one approach so you’ll get to work with historians who ask different kinds of questions, use different kinds of sources and who understand the past in different ways.
The School of History at Leeds has more than thirty members of staff currently working in the field of Modern History. We have long-standing strengths in British, European, American and colonial history but we also have experts working on East and South-East Asia, India, Africa, Latin America, Australia and the Middle East. Thematically, we also can offer a tremendous range of Modern History. We have specialists in medical history and the history of psychiatry, histories of race and gender, military history, the histories of childhood and the family, histories of protest and resistance, political, transnational and international history.
The MA Modern History enables you to immerse yourself in this diverse scholarly community; besides taught modules, you are encouraged to participate in the School’s research culture by attending research seminars, conferences and workshops. The Leeds Humanitites Research Institute (LHRI) fosters interdisciplinary study and connects students with staff and students outside the School.
The University’s libraries provide some of the best archival and library collections in the country and its Special Collections have a wide range of archival holdings, with particularly extensive collections in political and social history, the history of religion and theology, histories of science, medicine, education, travel and art. Outside Leeds, students have easy access to the British Library at Boston Spa.
Specialist Resources
You’ll study in a supportive environment with a wide range of resources. The world-class Brotherton Library has one of the best history collections in the UK, ranging from monographs and journals to conference papers, theses and over 100 digital databases of primary sources and other materials for fundamental research. The Brotherton also has its own special collections including the Leeds Russian Archive and the Feminist Archive North.
The Alf Mattinson Collection is full of printed works and papers related to the history of the Labour Party, whilst the Romany collection and Liddle Collection offer insights into Romany culture and the First World War respectively.
Take a look around our three main libraries:
Course details
The course has two core modules (worth 30 credits each). You take a further two optional modules (worth 30 credits each) and complete a 60-credit dissertation.
The course can be taken on a full-time (12 months) or a part-time (24 months) basis. As a full-time student you will take two 30-credit core modules in semester 1 and two optional modules in semester 2. The dissertation will be submitted after 12 months of study. As a part-time student you will take one 30-credit module each semester of both Year 1 and Year 2, with the dissertation submitted after 24 months.
The core modules give you the skills you need to study Modern History and communicate your work. You'll build confidence working with different historical approaches and incorporating these different approaches into your own historical practice and learn the skills you need to share your own research and understand how historians contribute to our understanding of the contemporary world.
The optional modules allow you to specialise. Whether you wish to focus on an existing interest or do something entirely new, our range of staff expertise enables you to study particular times, places and topics in depth. The dissertation enables you to put the knowledge and skills you have gained into practice in an extended piece of historical writing.
The list shown below represents typical modules/components studied and may change from time to time. Read more in our terms and conditions.
For more information and a list of typical modules available on this course, please read MA Modern History (Full-Time) or MA Modern History (Part-Time) in the course catalogue.
Year 1 compulsory modules
| Module Name | Credits |
|---|---|
| Dissertation (MA) | 60 |
| Practising Modern History | 30 |
| Communicating History | 30 |
Year 1 optional modules (selection of typical options shown below)
| Module Name | Credits |
|---|---|
| Making History: Archive Collaborations | 30 |
| Global Health: Decolonising Histories, Politics and Practice | 30 |
| Latin America and the Global Cold War | 30 |
| Revolution and Rebirth: Eastern Europe and the USSR, 1985-99 | 30 |
| Social Histories of South Africa | 30 |
| Stalinist Terror | 30 |
| Histories of Migration from Early Modern to Modern | 30 |
| Approaches to the History of Health and Medicine | 30 |
| The Idea of Black Culture | 30 |
Learning and teaching
This course will connect you with the latest research and thinking in the broad field of modern history.
Our staff are dedicated teachers as well as experts in this field, and their teaching is informed by their own cutting-edge research. Most of your optional modules will be taught through weekly two-hour seminars, where you’ll discuss major concepts, debates, and sources with a small group of students and your tutor.
Independent study also forms an important part of this degree, giving you the space to develop into a researcher in your own right. You will be supervised by one member of staff for your dissertation and can arrange to see members of staff in their office hours to discuss any issues. The school has a rich culture of research seminars, which bring together our staff and students, as well as historians from other universities giving papers which you can attend.
Listen to the School of History podcast – a series of interviews with our academic staff about their latest groundbreaking publications, their research interests and how they bring them into the classroom, and what inspired them to become historians in the first place.
On this course, you’ll be taught by our expert academics, from lecturers through to professors. You may also be taught by industry professionals with years of experience, as well as trained postgraduate researchers, connecting you to some of the brightest minds on campus.
Assessment
You will be assessed through a variety of approaches, including essays, dissertations, book and literature reviews, and podcasts. Fairness and inclusivity will be ensured through opportunities for formative assessment and in the provision of training where skills and support are required. You might also be offered a choice of assessment, for example between an essay and a podcast or between a presentation or a literature review.
The assignments you will complete have been designed to help you develop critical skills that are valued by employers. In the course, you will need to be able to research independently in order to evaluate claims and arguments to come to a reasoned conclusion. You will also need to produce convincing evidence to support your conclusions. Tasks like presenting to an audience or working with others to produce a joint presentation will similarly help you to boost your employability skills.
Your lecturers will use a marking scheme to ensure fairness in assessing your work, which will also be considered by a second colleague and by an external examiner.
Applying
Entry requirements
A bachelor degree with a 2:1 (Hons) in history, or a degree scheme that includes a significant proportion of history, or a related subject such as politics.
English language requirements
IELTS 6.5 overall, with no less than 6.0 in all components. For other English qualifications, read English language equivalent qualifications.
Improve your English
International students who do not meet the English language requirements for this programme may be able to study our postgraduate pre-sessional English course, to help improve your English language level.
This pre-sessional course is designed with a progression route to your degree programme and you’ll learn academic English in the context of your subject area. To find out more, read Language for Arts and Humanities (6 weeks) and Language for Social Science and Arts: Arts and Humanities (10 weeks).
We also offer online pre-sessionals alongside our on-campus pre-sessionals. Find out more about our six week online pre-sessional.
You can also study pre-sessionals for longer periods – read about our postgraduate pre-sessional English courses.
How to apply
Documents and information you need
You’ll need to upload the following documents when completing the online application form:
Your degree certificate and transcript, or a partial transcript if you’re still studying. Please provide official translations into English if applicable.
A personal statement of around 500 words in response to the questions asked in the supporting statement section of the application form.
If English is not your first language, you’ll need to submit proof of your English language results (eg IELTS).
We do not generally request references, unless further information is required to support the assessment of your application. Where further information to support the assessment of your application is needed, we may ask for a recent sample of written work.
Deadlines
Please see our How to Apply page for information about application deadlines.
The ‘Apply’ link at the top of this page will take you to information on applying for taught programmes and to the University's online application system.
If you're unsure about the application process, contact the admissions team for help.
Personal Statement Requirements:
Please explain why you have chosen to apply for the MA Modern History at the University of Leeds by answering the following questions in separate numbered paragraphs: These questions provide us with important information on your suitability for the course, so please complete them carefully and in detail.
- What areas of history particularly interest you and why? Have you studied these before?
- Why do you want to study this programme at Leeds? Please comment on aspects such as available resources at the University and in the city, research specialisms within the school or academics you would like to work with.
- What potential themes have you considered for dissertation research?
- What skills and experience do you have that have prepared you for this MA? You may like to give details of any final year project you have previously undertaken, relevant work experience etc.
- How will studying for this MA programme help you to achieve your longer term goals?
Read about visas, immigration and other information in International students. We recommend that international students apply as early as possible to ensure that they have time to apply for their visa.
Admissions policy
University of Leeds Admissions Policy 2025
This course is taught by
Contact us
Student Education Service Office
Email: HistoryPGTadmissions@leeds.ac.uk
Telephone:
Fees
UK: £12,000 (Total)
International: £26,000 (Total)
For fees information for international taught postgraduate students, read Masters fees.
Read more about paying fees and charges.
Part-time fees
Fees for part-time courses are normally calculated based on the number of credits you study in a year compared to the equivalent full-time course. For example, if you study half the course credits in a year, you will pay half the full-time course fees for that year.
Additional cost information
There may be additional costs related to your course or programme of study, or related to being a student at the University of Leeds. Read more on our living costs and budgeting page.
Scholarships and financial support
If you have the talent and drive, we want you to be able to study with us, whatever your financial circumstances. There may be help for students in the form of loans and non-repayable grants from the University and from the government. Find out more at Masters funding overview.
Career opportunities
This course will enable you to gain high-level research, analysis and communication skills, which will prove valuable in a wide range of careers.
History MA graduates have found success in a wide range of careers in journalism, policy making, research, and the private sector. Many others have continued with their studies at PhD level.
We offer different forms of support to help you reach your career goals. You’ll have the chance to attend our career groups, meeting students with similar plans, or you could become a paid academic mentor to an undergraduate completing their final-year dissertation. You could also apply for one of the internships we offer each year.
Reach your potential
Hear more about the School and Faculty support you can access from our employability lead, Professor Karen Burland.
Careers support
We encourage you to prepare for your career from day one. That’s one of the reasons Leeds graduates are so sought after by employers.
The Careers Centre and staff in your faculty provide a range of help and advice to help you plan your career and make well-informed decisions along the way, even after you graduate. Find out more about Careers support.
Study abroad and work placements
Our optional placement module "Making History" provides a fantastic opportunity to gain relevant experience in areas relating to History such as archiving and heritage. You will gain 50 hours of work experience working on a project with a partner organisation. You will also develop your critical analysis skills through the completion of a critical essay and a project portfolio.