MLitt Middle Eastern History

A  2.1 Honours undergraduate degree in History or Middle Eastern Studies. If you studied your first degree outside the UK, see the international entry requirements.

The qualifications listed are indicative minimum requirements for entry. Some academic Schools will ask applicants to achieve significantly higher marks than the minimum. Obtaining the listed entry requirements will not guarantee you a place, as the University considers all aspects of every application including, where applicable, the writing sample, personal statement, and supporting documents.

Application requirements

• CV or résumé. This should include your personal details with a history of your education and employment to date. 
• a personal statement 
• a sample of your own, single-authored academic written work (2,000 words) 
• two original signed academic references 
• academic transcripts and degree certificates

For more guidance, see supporting documents and references for postgraduate taught programmes.

For fees and funding options, please visit website to find out more

History postgraduates go on to pursue careers in a range of sectors including: 

• journalism 
• publishing 
• think tanks 
• government 
• law 
• teaching

The Careers Centre offers one-to-one advice to all students as well as a programme of events to assist students in building their employability skills.

Compulsory

Themes in Middle Eastern and Iranian History: looks at a variety of theoretical and disciplinary approaches, including Orientalism, as well as exploring questions of nationalism, statehood and identity. 

Optional

Students will be advised, as appropriate, into a range of other optional modules, such as:

• State and Society in the Pre-Modern Middle East: introduces students to debates about development of states and societies in the Middle East from late antiquity to the eve of the modern period. 
• Directed Reading in Middle Eastern History (1 and 2): encourages the development of skills of historical analysis through concentrated study of a topic chosen by the student in consultation with a supervisor. 
• Language: modules in Arabic or Persian at the appropriate level. 
• Middle Eastern Historical Translation: intended to complement and supplement language modules and to serve as a bridge between the language modules and history modules which constitute the majority of this MLitt programme. 

Optional modules are subject to change each year and require a minimum number of participants to be offered; some may only allow limited numbers of students (see the University’s position on curriculum development). 

Dissertation

Student dissertations will be supervised by members of the teaching staff who will advise on the choice of subject and provide guidance throughout the research process. The completed dissertation of not more than 15,000 words must be submitted by a date specified in August. 

If students choose not to complete the dissertation requirement for the MLitt, there is an exit award available that allows suitably qualified candidates to receive a Postgraduate Diploma. By choosing an exit award, you will finish your degree at the end of the second semester of study and receive a PGDip instead of an MLitt.