Programme Specifications

History


1 : Awarding Institution / Body
Aberystwyth University

2a : Teaching Institution / University
Aberystwyth University

2b : Work-based learning (where appropriate)


Information provided by Department of History and Welsh History:

The Department of History and Welsh History encourages students to participate in the Year in Employment Scheme and alerts students to a wide range of a range of internship opportunities, including at institutions such as the National Library of Wales, the Royal Commission for the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, Ceredigion Museum, Ceredigion Archives, and the Society of Antiquarians of London.



3a : Programme accredited by
Aberystwyth University

3b : Programme approved by
Aberystwyth University

4 : Final Award
Bachelor of Arts

5 : Programme title
History

6 : UCAS code
V100

7 : QAA Subject Benchmark


Information provided by Department of History and Welsh History:

History



8 : Date of publication


Information provided by Department of History and Welsh History:

September 2023



9 : Educational aims of the programme


Information provided by Department of History and Welsh History:

The Programme aims to develop learners’ interest in History, and to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the subject.  It offers learners a wide range of choice with regard to historical periods and themes from prehistory to the present, which include opportunities to study aspects of political, social, cultural or economic history.  Core modules focus on the acquisition of fundamental historical research skills and an understanding of historiographical issues.  In this way, the Programme aims to produce graduates who possess high level research and interpretative skills, and who have acquired a lifelong appreciation of History’s value to society.

 



10 : Intended learning outcomes


Information provided by Department of History and Welsh History:

The programme provides opportunities for students to develop and demonstrate knowledge and understanding, skills, qualities and other  attributes in the following areas:

 



10.1 : Knowledge and understanding


Information provided by Department of History and Welsh History:

Knowledge and understanding

  • A1 Knowledge and understanding of human societies in the past through the study of a range of historical periods and themes in more than one country, and in different cultural contexts

  • A2 The ability to frame historical questions, and to search for and locate appropriate secondary and primary evidence in diverse forms, including the electronic.

  • A3 The ability to read and use, critically and empathetically, a range of secondary texts and primary sources

  • A4 The appreciation of the complexity and diversity of situations, events and ways of thinking in the past.

  • A5 he understanding of the difficulties inherent in historical interpretation, and the means whereby historians deal with ambiguity, incomplete evidence and differences of viewpoints

  • A6 The appreciation of the basic critical skills of the historian in establishing and using rules of evidence and testing the validity of statements by developing a practical understanding of how established techniques of research and enquiry are used to produce and interpret historical knowledge

  • A7 ntellectual independence in the setting and solving of problems, the acquisition of bibliographical skills, the ability to gather, sift, select, organise and synthesise historical evidence, and the ability to formulate appropriate questions and to provide answers to them using valid and relevant evidence and argument.

  • A8 Reflexive and critical awareness of the forces of historical change and the ways in which they are explained in historiographical debates

  • A9 The marshalling of lucid and coherent arguments in written and oral forms.

  • A10 The ability to listen and to respond to the arguments of others.

  • A11 The understanding of the social value of History, and the fostering of a life-long enjoyment of History as a subject.

Learning/teaching methods and strategies:

Acquisition of 1 is through lectures, seminars (which include formal presentations, directed and student-led discussions), assessed coursework and individual essay tutorials. Additional support is provided by the resources of the University Library and the National Library of Wales. Acquisition of 2-11 is through a combination of Option and Survey modules with a range of skills and historiographical modules in Year 2 and Special Subject and Dissertation modules in Year 3. Throughout, learners are required to consolidate and broaden their knowledge by means of independent reading.

Assessment:

Assessment is by coursework (1, 3, 4-9), for which learners are offered regular feed-back, and by a combination of closed unseen examinations (1, 4-10), take-away examination (8) and where appropriate, projects (6), dissertation (1-9) and oral performance in seminars (9).



10.2 : Skills and other attributes


Information provided by Department of History and Welsh History:

10.2.1 Intellectual (thinking) skills – able to:
  • B1 engage with the complexity and diversity of the subject

  • B2 reason critically

  • B3 apply historical methods and concepts

  • B4 demonstrate independence of mind

  • B5 communicate knowledge and ideas to others, in written and spoken forms

Learning/teaching methods and strategies Intellectual skills are developed throughout the Programme in a variety of ways. These include the development of listening skills in lectures and comprehension skills in reading and note-taking (1), seminars, tutorials, dissertations and coursework (1-5) Assessment All forms of assessment measure learners’ abilities in each of the 5 intellectual skills by means of written responses in a variety of formats. Oral presentation is formally assessed on some skills and special subject modules, and developed but not formally assessed in all other modules. 10.2.2 Practical skills – able to
  • C1 search out, sift, assimilate and deploy bodies of historical evidence from a variety of sources

  • C2 demonstrate self-discipline in time-management and an ability to work both independently and collaboratively

  • C3 read secondary sources critically

  • C4 analyse primary sources in complex ways, including an ability to establish their provenance, analyse their content and language, and cross-reference them with other primary and secondary sources

Learning/teaching methods and strategies All learners are introduced to these practical skills in the Year 1 core modules, and each is further developed in Years 2 and 3 in all modules. Module handbooks and Year Guides provide further guidance, especially in relation to essay writing and preparation. Skills modules in Year 2 introduce students to a set of particular historical skills, such as oral testimony, IT, statistical analysis, and the use of a wide range of evidence from field monuments to journalism. A separate Dissertation Handbook is distributed to all Year 3 students, while the Dissertation Module provides detailed advice on how to select a topic, search for sources, and structure and present the completed dissertation. Assessment Skills 1-3 are assessed primarily by means of coursework and examinations, whereas 4, though an important element in the assessment of all modules, is assessed principally by means of essays, projects and seen and unseen examinations in the Skills, Special Subject and Dissertation modules.


10.3 : Transferable/Key skills


Information provided by Department of History and Welsh History:

Transferable skills – able to:
  • D1 demonstrate initiative, self-direction and self-motivation

  • D2 demonstrate flexibility and independence of mind

  • D3 demonstrate effective presentation and communication skills, orally and in writing

  • D4 manage time and work to deadlines

  • D5 search for and locate information in a wide variety of sources

  • D6 contextualise, evaluate and cross-reference diverse forms of (often incomplete) information

  • D7 work constructively in groups, and to assess the value and relevance of the ideas and arguments of others.

Learning/teaching methods and strategies The Programme develops these qualities cumulatively, and in a number of ways. 1 and 2 are learned principally in essay and seminar preparation and individual essay tutorial and seminar discussion, while 3 and 4 are learned in essay/project writing, tutorial and seminar presentation. 5 is developed in all research-based exercises, from essay and seminar preparation to the Dissertation. 6-7 feature strongly in all aspects of the Programme. Assessment The Programme’s marking criteria reward quality demonstrated in 1-3 and 5 and 6. 4 is not formally assessed, but penalties are imposed on coursework delivered after the agreed submission date. 7 is not formally assessed.


11 : Program Structures and requirements, levels, modules, credits and awards



BA History [V100]

Academic Year: 2023/2024Single Honours scheme - available from 2000/2001

Duration (studying Full-Time): 3 years

Part 1 Rules

Year 1 Core (40 Credits)

Compulsory module(s).

Semester 1
HY12120

Introduction to History

Semester 2
HY10420

'Hands on' History: Sources and their Historians

Year 1 Options

Choose 80 credits of modules (of which at least 40 must be taken in the History & Welsh History department):

Semester 1
HC11120

Concwest, Uno a Hunaniaeth yng Nghymru 1200-1800

HY11420

Medieval and Early Modern Britain and Europe, 1000-1800

HY11820

The Modern World, 1789 to the present

Semester 2
HA11420

Ewrop a'r Byd, 1000-2000

HC11820

Cymdeithas, Pobl a Gwleidyddiaeth: Cymru, 1800-1999

HY12420

Europe and the World, 1000-2000

WH11720

People, Power and Identity: Wales 1200-1999

Part 2 Rules

Year 2 Core (20 Credits)

Compulsory module(s).

Semester 1
HY20120

Making History

Semester 2

Year 2 Options

MUST take one 20 credit SKILLS module in semester two:

Semester 2
CY20720

Beirdd a Noddwyr: Llên a Hanes c.1300-1500

HY23120

Reading a Building

HY23420

History as myth-Making: the 'Myth of the Blitz'

HY24320

Interdisciplinary and decolonial history

HY24420

Seals in Their Context in Medieval England and Wales

HY24620

Victorian Visions: Exploring Nineteenth-Century Exhibitions

HY25020

Recounting Racism: Oral History and Modern American Race Relations.

Year 2 Options

Choose 80 credits of OPTION modules in the Department of History & Welsh History (students may opt to take up to 20 credits outside the department):

Semester 1
HA29320

Diwylliant, Cymdeithas a'r Fictoriaid

HC23520

Cymru a'r Tuduriaid

HY25520

Famine in Medieval England

HY26720

War, Politics and People: England in Context in the Fourteenth Century

HY28520

Between Revolution and Reform: China since 1800

HY28920

Roads to Modernity: Germany and Japan in the Age of Empires, 1860s-1930s

HY29120

Environmental History of the Neotropics (Latin America and the Caribbean) in the Capitalocene

HY29320

Culture, Society and the Victorians

WH23520

Wales under the Tudors

Semester 2
HA21820

Concro'r Byd: Twf a Chwymp Ymerodraethau Prydain a Ffrainc

HA24520

Stori America, 1607-1867, ar Ffilm a Theledu

HY22020

The British Isles in the Long Eighteenth Century

HY25620

Medieval England and Germany, c. 1050-1250

HY26520

The European Reformation

HY29220

From Poor Law to Welfare State: Poverty and Welfare in Modern Britain, 1815-1948

HY29420

The Nazi Dictatorship: Regime and Society in Germany 1933-1945

WH20120

Wales and the Kings of Britain: Conflict, Power and Identities in the British Isles 1039-1417

Final Year Core (40 Credits)

Compulsory module(s).

Semester 1
HY30300

Dissertation

Semester 2
HY30340

Dissertation

Final Year Options

MUST take two co-requisite 20-credit SPECIAL SUBJECT modules (first part runs semester one and complementary module in semester two):

Semester 1
HP37420

Bywyd a Gwaith ym Meysydd Glo Prydain, 1842-1914 (Rhan 1)

HQ33120

Ritual, kingship and power in Norman and Angevin England: methods, sources & actors (Part 1)

HQ35020

The English Reformation, 1520-58: Revolution and Counter Revolution

HQ35420

The Irish in Britain, c.1815-70 (Part 1): Migration and Settlement

HQ37520

Britain at War 1939-45 (Part 1)

HQ39620

The Invisible Empires: The First Ku Klux Klan and American Society, 1865-1915

Semester 2
HP37520

Bywyd a Gwaith ym Meysydd Glo Prydain, 1914-1948 (Rhan 2)

HQ33220

Ritual, kingship and power in Norman and Angevin England: methods, sources & actors (Part 2)

HQ35520

The Irish in Britain, c. 1850-1922 (Part 2): Community and Conflict

HQ35620

The English Reformation, 1558-1648: Consolidation and Conflict

HQ37620

Britain at War 1939-45 (Part 2)

HQ39720

The Invisible Empires: The Second Ku Klux Klan and American Society, 1915-1944

Final Year Options

Take 40 credits of OPTION modules (choose one 20 credit module from each semester):

Semester 1
HA39320

Diwylliant, Cymdeithas a'r Fictoriaid

HC33520

Cymru a'r Tuduriaid

HY35520

Famine in Medieval England

HY36720

War, Politics and People: England in Context in the Fourteenth Century

HY38520

Between Revolution and Reform: China since 1800

HY38920

Roads to Modernity: Germany and Japan in the Age of Empires, 1860s-1930s

HY39120

Environmental History of the Neotropics (Latin America and the Caribbean) in the Capitalocene

HY39320

Culture, Society and the Victorians

WH33520

Wales under the Tudors

Semester 2
HA31820

Concro'r Byd: Tŵf a Chwymp Ymerodraethau Prydain a Ffrainc

HA34520

Stori America, 1607-1867, ar Ffilm a Theledu

HY30120

The British Isles in the Long Eighteenth Century

HY35620

Medieval England and Germany, c. 1050-1250

HY36520

The European Reformation

HY39220

From Poor Law to Welfare State: Poverty and Welfare in Modern Britain, 1815-1948

HY39420

The Nazi Dictatorship: Regime and Society in Germany 1933-1945

WH30120

Wales and the Kings of Britain: Conflict, Power and Identities in the British Isles 1039-1417


12 : Support for students and their learning
Every student is allocated a Personal Tutor. Personal Tutors have an important role within the overall framework for supporting students and their personal development at the University. The role is crucial in helping students to identify where they might find support, how and where to seek advice and how to approach support to maximise their student experience. Further support for students and their learning is provided by Information Services and Student Support and Careers Services.

13 : Entry Requirements
Details of entry requirements for the scheme can be found at http://courses.aber.ac.uk

14 : Methods for evaluating and improving the quality and standards of teaching and learning
All taught study schemes are subject to annual monitoring and periodic review, which provide the University with assurance that schemes are meeting their aims, and also identify areas of good practice and disseminate this information in order to enhance the provision.

15 : Regulation of Assessment
Academic Regulations are published as Appendix 2 of the Academic Quality Handbook: https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/aqro/handbook/app-2/.

15.1 : External Examiners
External Examiners fulfill an essential part of the University’s Quality Assurance. Annual reports by External Examiners are considered by Faculties and Academic Board at university level.

16 : Indicators of quality and standards
The Department Quality Audit questionnaire serves as a checklist about the current requirements of the University’s Academic Quality Handbook. The periodic Department Reviews provide an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of quality assurance processes and for the University to assure itself that management of quality and standards which are the responsibility of the University as a whole are being delivered successfully.