Bachelor of Arts in History

The History programme delivers historians with a research-oriented attitude and a broad view on the world. Infinitely more than mere memory work or the enumeration of historical facts, the study of history requires a critical attitude vis-à-vis historical sources and academic insight into the why and wherefore, and the coherence of historical events.

Bachelor's Programme
3 year 180 credits
Faculty of Arts and Philosophy
Dutch
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About the programme
Programme summary
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Postgraduate studies

What

As student of History, you will learn to ask the right questions, to identify relevant sources, and which methods to use to disclose useful information from those sources. Then you will learn to analyse, evaluate and synthesise these historical data. Our History programme delivers historians with an in-depth knowledge of the past and a broad understanding of the Humanities and Social Sciences. Our graduates are equipped with a research-oriented attitude, a broad lookout on the world and a critical understanding of social processes and structures - past and present. As an academic historian you will conduct independent historical research, be able to present your research findings orally as well as in writing to a broad audience, and be able to participate in today’s public debate.

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For whom

You are fascinated by ‘all things history’, for the sake of the past and its intrinsic value but also for a better understanding of the structures of your own times. History students are interested not only in what happened, but also in why something happened. You look forward to gaining an understanding of the coherence and meaning of historical events. Last but not least, you have an inquiring mind. Historical work has much in common with detective work: it is all about asking questions, searching, analysing, interpreting! An aptitude for and interest in foreign languages is certainly an asset when consulting and processing sources and historical literature meticulously. A talent for critical writing is another welcome asset. Prior knowledge of Latin and/or Greek can come in handy if you choose classical antiquity or the Middle Ages as your area of specialisation.

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Structure

Bachelor

The Bachelor’s curriculum contains three types of course units. The course units focusing on knowledge and understanding units provide overviews of major historical periods and themes; the historical seminars are supervised exercises, during which you learn to set up and conduct independent research; the non-historical course units contain introductions to the Humanities and Social Sciences. We apply a combination of such teaching methods as lectures, seminars and supervised independent work. In the course of the Bachelor’s curriculum, the amount of lectures is reduced in favour of seminars and your own independent work, which ultimately culminates in an independent piece of research, the Bachelor’s paper.
The first year comprises a number of general course units: i.e. essential introductory Humanities course units and two fundamental History course units. The curriculum also contains programme-specific course units, in particular six general historical introductions. We also introduce you to a number of aspects of historical research. Finally, you learn to consult foreign-language sources: while French is a mandatory module, you have a set of six other foreign languages to choose from as your second foreign language.
The second-year curriculum leaves more room for electives, as well as course units to foster your understanding of methodology.
The third-year curriculum offers a choice of course units from a thematic cluster and a methodology cluster. There are also three practice-oriented tracks to choose from: Public History, Archival Studies, or Education. The Education Track is the perfect stepping stone towards the Master of Science in Teaching (in Dutch). If you are not too keen on the practice-oriented track, you might want to consider the minor track. It offers you a chance to look beyond your own discipline and adopt an interdisciplinary approach to specific historical problem statements. If you are not keen on the practice-oriented or the minor track, the advanced clusters track might be more up your sleeve: it allows for an additional choice of course units from the clusters mentioned above. Last but not least, the third year culminates in a Bachelor’s paper, the crowning achievement of the Bachelor's programme.

Master

The Master’s programme contains the actual discipline-specific expertise. In the context of your research project, you choose a specific period (e.g. the Middle Ages), a specific topic (e.g. urban history) or a specific region (e.g. African History). At the heart of our programme is the Master’s dissertation, your independent graduation work. Your course units and seminars tie into the approach you choose for your Master's dissertation.

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Labour Market

The study programme’s broad scope and academic depth gives our History graduates access to various professional contexts (in Dutch). History graduates can be found in all sectors of civic life: education, academic research, the culture sector, (government) administration, journalism, diplomacy, the social sector, publishing, and the banks and insurance sector. Historians also do rather well in a number of advanced studies, such as Cultural Studies, Archival Sciences, Communication Studies or Social Sciences. This is a clear advantage of our study programme’s polyvalent, flexible and critical character. Take a look at interesting testimonials by some of our alumni at www.durfdenken.be (in Dutch).