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ESPaCH - School of English, Sociology, Politics & Contemporary History

Politics & Contemporary History

 Politics and History at the University of Salford are rated among the very best departments in Britain.

We are dedicatedly interdisciplinary and offer degrees at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in Politics, Politics and History, Military and International History and International Relations.

Our students can:

  • Spend up to one year studying abroad at one or more of our many partner universities in Europe, North America, Australia and India, on very advantageous financial terms
  • Take courses that, by combining Politics and History, are very relevant to the world in which we live
  • Take advantage of a Parliamentary placement in their third year
  • Benefit from tuition in relatively small groups led by specialist academics
  • Participate in stimulating conferences and seminars, and attend guest lectures

Research Ratings and Teaching Quality

You will want to know whether our academic staff are good at explaining things; do they make the subject interesting; are they enthusiastic about what they teach; and are the courses intellectually stimulating? In the last National Student Survey (2008) 85 to 93 per cent of our students answered ‘yes’ to these questions.

We believe that this is related to the fact that we produce research of a quality that is recognised nationally in terms of originality, significance and rigour. Indeed the most recent Research Assessment (2008) rated 75 per cent of this work to be of international significance, originality and rigour.

These are recent results but our reputation for quality in research and teaching has been upheld by every Research Assessment since its inception and, when the Quality Assurance Agency first reviewed our teaching ten years ago, we were given the highest scores available.

What Do We Teach?

Although all our courses provide a general background in history and politics, our staff is particularly strong in five areas: military and international history, security studies, international relations, European politics, and critical political thought. Students who have an interest in one or more of these areas will find that our staff and courses are particularly well fitted to them. Check out our staff here. In addition to degrees in military history, politics, international relations, European studies, and combinations of these, we also offer some very unique combination degrees with journalism, criminology, and English. Check out our degree programmes here.

Our students also have access to many exchange and placement programs designed to broaden their experience and improve their chances in the employment and post-graduate markets. We have uniquely active Erasmus Exchange programs with universities within the EU. The most popular links involve institutions in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland, the Czech Republic and Turkey, all of which teach in English. Students may spend one or two semesters at these places, supported by non-means-tested maintenance grants from the EU and the University. We also have grant-assisted exchange programmes with Wayne State University in Detroit, USA, Thompson Rivers University in Canada and the University of Canberra in Australia. Others are in the pipeline. For most exchanges, full tuition waivers and grants are available.

Suitable third year students can also spend a semester on the Manchester Television Placement scheme, or on Parliamentary placement, working with an MP at Westminster. There is also a Military History work placement schemeavailable for final-year students offering the opportunity to spend a semester working at the Imperial War Museum (London), Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives (King's College London) and Queen's Lancashire Regiment Museum (Preston). All of these pathways are credited to the degree programmes and do not add to the overall duration of study.

What Happens to Our Graduates?

As would be expected, given the high regard of our staff, the quality of students we attract, and the innovative and rigorous character of our courses, our students have done particularly well following graduation. In recent years, they have gone on to pursue postgraduate degrees at the London School of Economics, the University of Manchester, and the University of Edinburgh. Graduates have also gone on to work as advisors and members of staff for ministers and Parliamentarians, as journalists at the BBC, and as elected officials with two of our graduates currently serving as Members of Parliament.

We hope that this brief introduction has been helpful and that you are now closer to knowing if our offerings and talents match up with what you are looking for in an undergraduate program. We are always happy to answer any questions that you may have, a list of contacts can be found here.