History and Journalism BA (Hons)

Our courses are informed by research and current developments in the discipline and feedback from students, external examiners and employers. Modules do therefore change periodically in the interests of keeping the course relevant and reflecting best practice. The most up-to-date information will be available to you once you have accepted a place and registered for the course. If there are insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, this might not be offered, but we will advise you as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative. 

Meet the team

For more information about teaching, learning and assessment on this course, please see the single honours course pages for History BA (Hons) and Journalism BA (Hons). 

History at Worcester is designed to enable you to study the types of history that appeal to you most. Informed by cutting-edge research on key questions of our time, it offers you the opportunity to study the political, cultural and social history of Britain, Europe and the wider world from the 16th to 20th centuries. The course begins with a broad introduction to many of today’s debates surrounding history and approaches to historical study. It ends with the opportunity for you to produce a major piece of work on a topic of your choice, supported by one-to-one supervision. History provides you with opportunities to benefit directly from your lecturers’ cutting-edge research and research interests – which include, amongst many others, the Devil in Tudor and Stuart England, US propaganda in the Second World War, appeasement, the transatlantic slave trade and the home front in World Wars 1 and 2.

Journalism is vocationally focused and aims to support you to acquire the knowledge and skills that will equip you to work in today’s multi-platform media environment. You are taught by experienced, trained, and still practising journalists in state-of-the-art broadcasting facilities, including radio studios linked to a newsroom, industry-standard TV studios, and new podcast studios. There are opportunities for work placements with local media organisations (including the BBC) and a host of guest lectures by high-profile visitors to the course. You are able to tailor your studies to focus on particular aspects of journalism – from sports to entertainment to environmental journalism – or to branch out into wider areas of media and communications. Your learning is hand-on, with an emphasis on supporting you to seek journalism and communications roles once you have graduated.

Studying History and Journalism in combination will be well worth considering if you enjoy the processes of research and communicating your research, if you are looking for a mix of academic and practical, hands-on learning, and if you are interested in the roles that historians, journalists and the media play in the formation of political understanding, social change and mass communication.

Programme specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest History programme specification and Journalism programme specification documents.

History graduates from Worcester have progressed in recent years to take up work in a variety of career sectors, including teaching, accountancy, law, the media industries, local government, the police, retailing, administration, marketing, management and university lecturing and research. A growing number of our graduates progress to postgraduate research in history, both at the University of Worcester and at other universities. Thus, History remains an attractive and personally satisfying degree to study, with a strong track record of supporting graduate employability in a range of professional, managerial, administrative and media-related careers.

The Journalism aspect of the course will provide you with practical skills to work as a journalist or researcher, or in related communications jobs such as those in public relations. You will be well placed to progress to postgraduate study in journalism or in a wide range of other areas. Students have found employment in the following areas: broadcast and print journalism, radio presenting, both local and national, media research, event organising, media planning, television, theatre, marketing, public relations, social media management, campaigns, teaching, and further study.