Public History MA 12 months Postgraduate Program By UCL |Top Universities
Subject Ranking

# 15QS Subject Rankings

Program Duration

12 monthsProgram duration

Tuitionfee

33,000 GBPTuition Fee/year

Main Subject Area

HistoryMain Subject Area

Program overview

Main Subject

History

Degree

MA

Study Level

Masters

Study Mode

On Campus

The MA Public History will give students the opportunity to consider how history is created and understood in public contexts. The programme offers advanced-level teaching by leading practitioners and is delivered across both the historic Bloomsbury and new UCL East campuses, with all the resources that they have to offer.

The MA Public History combines cutting-edge, research-led knowledge of the way history is produced and engaged with in public contexts, with training in the practices through which public historical understanding is created and communicated. Students will benefit from UCL’s rich experience working with national heritage institutions, museums, and media outlets, as well as local communities in London, and from the university’s own role as a public history provider (through its three on-campus museums and special collections). They will work with internationally recognized practitioner-researchers in the fields of oral history, documentary film and radio, exhibition curation, digital history, historical dramatization, and heritage-making. Students will also have opportunities to study with public history professionals from beyond UCL and thus gain exposure to a range of career pathways.

The approach of the MA in Public History is distinctively global and interdisciplinary. Students will be primarily based out of UCL East where they will work alongside those undertaking studies in the related fields of global urbanism, heritage studies, creative humanities, and media studies. They will first examine what public history means and how it changes over time and place, across distinct global contexts, exploring key concepts and debates centring on memory, heritage, history as activism, history as business, policy, and as institutional and community memory, as well as the arts and acts of remembrance. They will then focus on developing their practical public history skills in an area, or areas, of public history relevant to them, through project-based work in collaboration with one of UCL’s experienced practitioner-mentors. The programme’s emphasis on combining a theoretical framework with practice-based learning will allow students to critically self-reflect on their public history efforts as they produce them.

Program overview

Main Subject

History

Degree

MA

Study Level

Masters

Study Mode

On Campus

The MA Public History will give students the opportunity to consider how history is created and understood in public contexts. The programme offers advanced-level teaching by leading practitioners and is delivered across both the historic Bloomsbury and new UCL East campuses, with all the resources that they have to offer.

The MA Public History combines cutting-edge, research-led knowledge of the way history is produced and engaged with in public contexts, with training in the practices through which public historical understanding is created and communicated. Students will benefit from UCL’s rich experience working with national heritage institutions, museums, and media outlets, as well as local communities in London, and from the university’s own role as a public history provider (through its three on-campus museums and special collections). They will work with internationally recognized practitioner-researchers in the fields of oral history, documentary film and radio, exhibition curation, digital history, historical dramatization, and heritage-making. Students will also have opportunities to study with public history professionals from beyond UCL and thus gain exposure to a range of career pathways.

The approach of the MA in Public History is distinctively global and interdisciplinary. Students will be primarily based out of UCL East where they will work alongside those undertaking studies in the related fields of global urbanism, heritage studies, creative humanities, and media studies. They will first examine what public history means and how it changes over time and place, across distinct global contexts, exploring key concepts and debates centring on memory, heritage, history as activism, history as business, policy, and as institutional and community memory, as well as the arts and acts of remembrance. They will then focus on developing their practical public history skills in an area, or areas, of public history relevant to them, through project-based work in collaboration with one of UCL’s experienced practitioner-mentors. The programme’s emphasis on combining a theoretical framework with practice-based learning will allow students to critically self-reflect on their public history efforts as they produce them.

Admission Requirements

7.5+
3.3+
191+
75+
109+
A minimum of an upper second-class Bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline from a UK university or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard.

1 Year
Sep

  • Candidates are required to submit an essay(s) for acceptance

Tuition fees

Domestic
16,000 GBP
International
33,000 GBP

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