Bachelor of Arts in History

As a History student, you learn to ask the right questions, track down relevant sources, and determine which methods to apply to extract useful information. Subsequently, you learn to analyse, evaluate, and synthesise this historical data. The History programme provides historians with a thorough understanding of the past and a broad knowledge of social sciences and the humanities. Our graduates possess a research-oriented mindset, a broad perspective on the world, and a critical understanding of societal processes and structures, both past and present. Historians with a university degree can conduct independent historical research, present their findings orally and in writing to a broad audience, and contribute to the current social debate.

Bachelor

The Bachelor's curriculum includes three types of course units. The course units focusing on knowledge and understanding offer overviews of significant historical periods and themes. The historical seminars are guided exercises where you learn to design and execute independent research. The non-historical course units provide introductions to the Humanities and Social Sciences.

• The first year includes several general course units, such as essential introductory Humanities courses and two fundamental History course units. The curriculum also features programme-specific course units, four period-specific ones focusing on areas like Antiquity or the Middle Ages, and two region-specific ones delving into the histories of Belgium and Africa, respectively. The History Studio consists of two course units. In the first one, you will learn the essential skills for conducting and reporting historical research. The second is a practical course unit that applies this knowledge to a specific period-related theme.
• The second-year curriculum leaves more room for electives alongside course units to foster your methodology skills. Your practical expertise is furthered by choosing two 'research focuses' from four historical periods and an option in extra-European history. Two additional electives will introduce you to an interdisciplinary consideration of the past, offering an in-depth understanding of a non-Western region, its religion, and its culture.
• In the third year, you have even more opportunities to tailor the curriculum to your interests (see the "Programme Summary" tab). Apart from two general specialist course units on how history and memory are recuperated in society and historical economic concepts, models, and structures, the third-year curriculum also focuses on honing your research skills. You build on the choices of the second year by specialising in one Research Focus. This also becomes the framework for your Bachelor's dissertation. In addition, you can take on more focused course units, an elective set from another study programme, or a practice-oriented track in Public History.

Master

The Master’s programme contains the actual discipline-specific specialisation. In the context of your research project, you choose a specific period (e.g., the Middle Ages), a specific topic (e.g., urban or world history), or a specific region (e.g., African History). These choices tie into your Master's dissertation.

• The Master’s programme contains the actual discipline-specific specialisation. In the context of your research project, you choose a specific period (e.g., the Middle Ages), a specific topic (e.g., urban or world history), or a specific region (e.g., African History). These choices tie into your Master's dissertation. Your Bachelor’s diploma also grants access to additional Master's programmes beyond those mentioned here, including the Master of Science in Teaching. Please refer to the ‘Postgraduate Studies’ tab.

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).