Department of History

History at Oxford Brookes offers students the opportunity to get involved in one of the most exciting History Departments in the country. Oxford Brookes Historians were rated among the top fourteen Departments in the country in the recent Research Assessment Exercise of 2009 and 65% of the Department’s research was rated either ‘world class’ or ‘world leading’. It is also an international centre for the History of Medicine, and because of these research strengths students can get involved in undergraduate courses that are taught by leading experts in their field.

The Oxford Brookes History Course

The Department offers both single honours and combined honours undergraduate degrees, the latter allowing students to combine History with one of a wide range of other subjects in particular in the Arts, Humanities and the Social Sciences. International Relations and Politics are particularly popular. Looking to the future, both the Oxford Brookes Careers Service and students’ personal tutors are deeply involved both with the development of student centred courses, and with the skills and ambition that employers demand. Oxford Brookes also prides itself on the support it offers its students. There are a number of people, including Academic Advisors, the Senior Tutor and a Student Support Co-ordinator, all working within the department itself, who can help you with your programme. . There is also a very active History Society, which offers an exciting programme of events, both intellectual and social, every year.

Learning and Teaching in History

Historians at Oxford Brookes teach over a very-wide ranging syllabus, from the problems of early modern religion to the governance of Ireland in the nineteenth century, from poisoning and crime to fascism and totalitarianism to terrorism, and from the history of marriage to the question of Anglo-American co-operation in Iraq. All types of teaching methods are used at Brookes, including lectures, seminars, and tutorials, providing a learning environment that all students can enjoy and thrive in. Lectures and classes cover topics as diverse as the Atlantic slave trade, the Protestant Reformation, the history of marriage and the National Health Service. Oxford Brookes History Department also contains a thriving History of Art field: first year History students can take modules from the other subject, and both fields can be combined in a joint History and History of Art degree.

Our innovative modular system, combined with our total commitment to student support and close interest in each student’s progress, means that we are able to admit students from a huge range of backgrounds. Students with non-traditional careers paths or backgrounds are welcome to contact the Senior Tutor (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)) for information or just an informal chat. If we are unsure of your suitability for the course we may interview you.

Post-Graduate Teaching

We also have a thriving Masters programme in History, as well as a Masters in History of Medicine. Together, these form the core of a strong postgraduate community including more than twenty-five students undertaking research for their doctorates. The MA has clusters in social, medical, political and international history, and any of these can all lead on to doctoral research.

Oxford Brookes Historians and the Wider World

We welcome international students, for instance from the United States. The Department has good international links and researchers from Universities that include Vienna, Salzburg, Trier, Jerusalem, Stockholm, Umea and Tasmania have spent up to a year at Brookes under our Visiting Scholar programme.

Oxford Brookes’ Historians are happy to come and talk to schools, college and historical societies at any time. They can provide guest classes, public lectures or school workshops across a wide range of subjects. Please e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to request a visit.