History MSc
Awards: MSc
Study modes: Full-time, Part-time
Funding opportunities
Programme website: History
This comprehensive programme allows you to take full advantage of the breadth of our research expertise.
On this programme we will help you to:
- develop a specialised knowledge and understanding of history and its central issues
- examine historical sources
- evaluate existing research
- work towards a specialised research project of your own.
Taught by one of the largest groups of historians in any British university, you will encounter a stimulating environment in which to further your interest in practically any era of history and many regions of the world.
By joining this programme you’ll also take part in a rich programme of events featuring our renowned academic staff and distinguished visitors from all over the world.
You will:
- take a variety of seminar-style courses in small groups
- carry out an extended piece of written work, while some courses may also assess non-written skills
- complete two compulsory courses
- select a further four course options from a wide range on offer
- undertake an independent research dissertation under the guidance of an assigned supervisor
The compulsory courses are:
- Historical Methodology
- Developing Historical Research
Option courses previously offered include those listed below. Option courses change from year to year and those available when you start your studies may be different from those shown in the list:
- Black Activism in Britain since 1800
- The Politics of History in the Arabic-Speaking World (c.1750-Present)
- Islamic Africa
- The Cold War in Latin America
- The Sixties in the United States
- Race, Religion, and Ridicule: The American South from Reconsturciton to World War II
- The Dark Side – Tourism and Difficult Heritages
- An uncertain world: The West since the 1970s
- Freedom and Coercion in the Making of the Atlantic World
- Thinking with Things: History and Material Culture Studies
- Literature and History in Early Medieval Britain and Ireland
- Medieval Men and Masculinities
- Studying Women in Late Medieval England: Sources and Approaches
- Medieval Travellers in the Mediterranean, Africa and Asia
- Propaganda in Renaissance Scotland
- Constantinople: The History of a Medieval Megalopolis from Constantine the Great to Suleyman the Magnificent
- The Global Renaissance
- Slavery in the British Atlantic World, 1650-1834
- The Scientific Revolution in Global Perspective
- The European Enlightenments, 1670 - 1820
- The Material Culture of Gender in Eighteenth Century Britain
- Edinburgh's Slavery Connections: Research Seminar
- History as Romance, Profession, Critique: Theory and Scholarship in the West, 1835 to 1985
- Gender, Crime and Deviancy: Britain c. 1860-1960
- Revolutions in Modern Europe
- Gender and Empire: Contested Meanings and Divergent Practices
- American Borderlands: Histories of the Western Hemisphere
- An Unhappy Valley: Mau Mau, culture and colonialism in Kenya's highlands ca.1895-ca.1964
- Conservatism in the United States, c.1930-c.1990
- War and Identities in Twentieth Century Britain and Ireland
- Thinking the 20th Century - Hannah Arendt and the breakdown of European Civilization
- Cinema and Society in South Asia, 1947-Present
- The United States and the Cold War
- China's foreign and security policy: a twentieth-century perspective
- The Civil Rights Movement
- Citizens and Subjects: concepts of citizenship in modern African intellectual history
- Contemporary Scotland
- Genocide in Contemporary History
- Narrating Native Histories
- A Cultural History of Photography
- The Sources of Medieval History
- Themes in American Historiography
- Introduction to Contemporary History
- The Crusades: Thirteenth Century Crossroads
- Myth and the History of Scholarship in Early Modern Europe
- The Germans and the East: Myth, Migration and Empire 1795 - 1970
- The British Empire in Political Thought
- Debating Marriage between Antiquity and the Middle Ages
- Currents of Radicalism, 1776-1848
Find out more about compulsory and optional courses
We link to the latest information available. Please note that this may be for a previous academic year and should be considered indicative.
Award | Title | Duration | Study mode | |
---|---|---|---|---|
MSc | History | 1 Year | Full-time | Programme structure 2024/25 |
MSc | History | 2 Years | Part-time | Programme structure 2024/25 |
Our students view the programme and a graduate degree from Edinburgh as an advanced qualification valued and respected by many employers.
Others are interested in pursuing long-term academic careers and therefore consider the MSc as preparation for a PhD.
The combination of skills training courses, specialised seminars, and independent research provides you with transferable skills that will be beneficial whatever path you choose.
Graduates pursue work in related areas, such as:
- museums
- policy think-tanks
- national and international civil services
- non-governmental organisations
- galleries
- libraries
- historic trusts
Others build on the transferable skills gained and enter areas as diverse as:
- business
- media
- public administration
- marketing
These entry requirements are for the 2025/26 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2026/27 academic year will be published on 1 Oct 2025.
A UK 2:1 honours degree, a minimum US 3.25 GPA or international equivalent, in History or another humanities or social science subject with a significant historical component.
We will also consider an honours degree in another subject if you have relevant experience, or professional or other qualifications.
Students from China
This degree is Band C.
International qualifications
Check whether your international qualifications meet our general entry requirements:
English language requirements
Regardless of your nationality or country of residence, you must demonstrate a level of English language competency which will enable you to succeed in your studies.
English language tests
We accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified:
- IELTS Academic: total 7.0 with at least 6.0 in each component. We do not accept IELTS One Skill Retake to meet our English language requirements.
- TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition): total 100 with at least 20 in each component. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
- C1 Advanced (CAE) / C2 Proficiency (CPE): total 185 with at least 169 in each component.
- Trinity ISE: ISE III with passes in all four components.
- PTE Academic: total 73 with at least 59 in each component. We do not accept PTE Academic Online.
- Oxford ELLT: 8 overall with at least 6 in each component.
Your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start date of the programme you are applying to study, unless you are using IELTS, TOEFL, Trinity ISE or PTE, in which case it must be no more than two years old.
Degrees taught and assessed in English
We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration:
We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries (non-MESC).
If you are not a national of a majority English speaking country, then your degree must be no more than five years old at the beginning of your programme of study.
Find out more about our language requirements:
Award | Title | Duration | Study mode | |
---|---|---|---|---|
MSc | History | 1 Year | Full-time | Tuition fees |
MSc | History | 2 Years | Part-time | Tuition fees |
Funding for postgraduate study is different to undergraduate study, and many students need to combine funding sources to pay for their studies.
Most students use a combination of the following funding to pay their tuition fees and living costs:
borrowing money
taking out a loan
family support
personal savings
income from work
employer sponsorship
- scholarships
Explore sources of funding for postgraduate study
Featured funding
- UK students: School of History, Classics & Archaeology funding opportunities
- International students: School of History, Classics & Archaeology funding schemes
UK government postgraduate loans
If you live in the UK, you may be able to apply for a postgraduate loan from one of the UK’s governments.
The type and amount of financial support you are eligible for will depend on:
- your programme
- the duration of your studies
- your tuition fee status
Programmes studied on a part-time intermittent basis are not eligible.
Other funding opportunities
Search for scholarships and funding opportunities:
- Phone: +44 (0)131 650 6693
- Contact: futurestudents@ed.ac.uk
- Programme Director, Dr Jeremy Dell
- Contact: Jeremy.Dell@ed.ac.uk
- School of History, Classics & Archaeology
- William Robertson Wing
- Teviot Place
- Central Campus
- Edinburgh
- EH8 9AG
- Programme: History
- School: History, Classics & Archaeology
- College: Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
Applying
Select your programme and preferred start date to begin your application.
MSc History - 1 Year (Full-time)
MSc History - 2 Years (Part-time)
Due to high demand, this programme operates a gathered field approach to admissions, with two application deadlines as noted below.
Each application round has a decision deadline, also listed below, but note that we may make offers to the strongest candidates on an ongoing basis, in advance of the published decision deadline.
We strongly recommend that you apply as early as possible, especially if you intend to apply for funding. Applications may close earlier than published deadlines if there is exceptionally high demand. If you are considering applying for our pre-sessional English Language programme, please make sure you apply in Round 1.
Please note that for an application to be reviewed, it must be a complete application by the application deadline with all supporting documentation uploaded, including references and transcripts. If you already have evidence that you meet the English language entry requirements e.g. via an approved English language test, please upload this evidence at the time of your application. If you have not already met your English language requirements, please upload that evidence as soon as you have it.
Selection deadlines
Round | Application deadline | Places awarded by |
---|---|---|
1 | 13 January 2025 | 17 April 2025 |
2 | 29 May 2025 | 30 June 2025 |
Deadlines for UK/Scotland fee status
After Round 2, if there are still places available, applications will remain open only to applicants who are eligible for the UK/Scotland fee rate, including the EU/EEA Pre-settled Scotland fee status. Applications will remain open no later than 30 June 2025 and may close earlier than this if the programme becomes full, so we strongly recommend you apply as soon as possible.
If you apply with another fee status after 29 May 2025, your application will be rejected.
(Revised 18 October 2024 to add application deadlines and selection process information)
You must submit one reference with your application.
Please read the application guidance for more information:
Find out more about the general application process for postgraduate programmes:
Further information
- Phone: +44 (0)131 650 6693
- Contact: futurestudents@ed.ac.uk
- Programme Director, Dr Jeremy Dell
- Contact: Jeremy.Dell@ed.ac.uk
- School of History, Classics & Archaeology
- William Robertson Wing
- Teviot Place
- Central Campus
- Edinburgh
- EH8 9AG
- Programme: History
- School: History, Classics & Archaeology
- College: Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences