The Faculty of History is one of the constituent departments of the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. Teaching and research of history has centuries old roots at Cambridge and the first Regius Professorship of Modern History was established by King George I in 1724. The History Faculty is one of the largest history departments in the world with well over a hundred faculty members. Each academic year a new intake more than two hundred undergraduates is admitted and the Faculty also has more than 450 graduate students studying for masters degrees and the PhD. Cambridge's History Faculty is consistently ranked as one of the best history faculties in the world and is almost always ranked first in the UK. It is notable among Cambridge's faculties for the influence of its alumni in public life. The Faculty is divided into eight subject groups (i.e. areas of research and teaching): American History; Ancient and Medieval History; Early Modern History; Economic, Social and Cultural History; Modern British History; Modern European History; Political Thought And Intellectual History; and World History. cmglee_Cambridge_Seeley_Historical_Library

cmglee_Cambridge_Seeley_Historical_Library

Courses offered

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...

level, the faculty offers three courses (known as

tripos At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mathe ...

) that result in a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

(BA) degree. These are the Historical Tripos, the History and Politics Tripos, and the History and Modern Languages Tripos. At

postgraduate Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree. The organization and stru ...

level, the faculty offers three types of degrees:

Master of Philosophy The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...

(MPhil),

Master of Studies The Master of Studies or Master in Studies (M.St. or MSt; ) is a postgraduate degree at the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of St Andrews, the Australian National University, University of Dublin and the University of N ...

(MSt), and

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

(PhD). The MPhils are 9 month to one year courses, consisting of taught courses and a research dissertation; there are eight MPhils, one for each of the eight subject groups. The MSt is a two year part-time course, consisting of taught modules and a research dissertation: it is jointly taught by the Faculty Of History and the

Institute of Continuing Education The University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education (ICE) is a department of the University of Cambridge dedicated to providing continuing education programmes which allow students to obtain University of Cambridge qualifications at un ...

. The PhD is a research course, taking 3–4 years full-time and 5–7 years part-time, and resulting in a

doctoral thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

of 80,000 words.

Notable academics

There are a number of

professorships Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

, including endowed chairs, within the department: * Regius Professor of History (currently

Sir Christopher Clark Sir Christopher Munro Clark (born 14 March 1960) is an Australian historian living in the United Kingdom and Germany. He is the twenty-second Regius Professor of History at the University of Cambridge. In 2015, he was knighted for his servi ...

) *

Paul Mellon Professor of American History The Paul Mellon Professorship of American History is a senior professorship at the University of Cambridge. It was established in 1980 with funds from Paul Mellon family fortune and has been held by several notable American, British, and Canadian ...

(currently

Gary Gerstle Gary Gerstle (born 1954) is an American historian and academic. He is the Paul Mellon Professor of American History at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College. Early life Gary Gerstle received his BA from Brown Univers ...

) * Professor of Medieval History (currently John H. Arnold) *

Smuts Professor of Commonwealth History The Smuts Professorship of Commonwealth History was established on 25 October 1952 as the Smuts Professorship of the History of the British Commonwealth; it was retitled in 1994. The professorship is assigned to the Faculty of History at the Univers ...

(currently

Saul Dubow Saul H. Dubow, (born 28 October 1959) is a South African historian and academic, specialising in the history of South Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Since 2016, he has been the Smuts Professor of Commonwealth History at the U ...

) *

Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History The Vere Harmsworth Professorship of Imperial and Naval History is one of the senior professorships in history at the University of Cambridge. After the Beit Professorship of Colonial History at Oxford (founded in 1905) and the Rhodes Professors ...

(currently

Samita Sen Samita Sen is an Indian historian and academic. Having previously taught at the University of Calcutta and Jadavpur University, she has been Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History at the University of Cambridge since 2018. Early ...

) *

Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History The Dixie Professorship of Ecclesiastical History is one of the senior professorships in history at the University of Cambridge. Lord Mayor of London in the 16th century, Sir Wolstan Dixie, left funds to found both scholarships and fellowships at ...

Courses offered

Notable academics

Alumni

References

External links