伦敦大学皇家霍洛威学院

The course

Royal Holloway’s MA in Public History is the longest-running and most well-established programme of its kind in the United Kingdom. The module attracts applicants from across the world and Royal Holloway is one of the leading centres for public history in Europe. The wider Department of History, which forms part of Royal Holloway’s School of Humanities, is also one of the most innovative, diverse and widely recognised departments in the country. Our faculty members regularly appear on television, radio and in the popular print media. Other staff are engaged in community-based projects and research that make important contributions to policy development and national debates.

This module offers a unique qualification for those wishing to pursue a career in public history, working in the heritage sector, in broadcasting or in film, in museum or in journalism. Through a variety of highly engaging modules, students are trained in the professional skills of historical interpretation and communication and provided with opportunities to meet leading practitioners in the field, popular historians, museum curators, public archivists, publishers and TV and radio producers. The MA thus provides an engaging combination of practical and theoretical learning for historians who are keen to communicate with a wide public audience and offers students a unique gateway to the heritage sector and to the world of popular media,

Teaching & assessment

In addition to working towards producing their final project in the second half of the year, full-time MA students are required to take a two-term core module (Pathways to the Past), a radio, podcast and social media communications module, an innovative oral history module and two more conventionally historiographical one-term modules.

Your future career

On completion of your MA in Public History at Royal Holloway you will be equipped to pursue a career in broadcasting or film, in museums, heritage, with community organisations or in journalism. You will also have started to develop a valuable network of producers and representatives from production companies and links within the industry. Our Careers team will work with you to enhance your employability and prepare you for the choices ahead. Their support doesn’t end when you graduate; you can access the service for up to two years after graduation.

Our graduates are highly employable and, in recent years, have gone on to pursue a variety of really interesting careers with the BBC, Hampton Court Palace, the Imperial War Museum, the Houses of Parliament, the National Archives, and as engagement officers and historians with a variety of public history institutions and heritage sites. This module also equips you with a solid foundation for continued PhD studies.