This course is a popular joint honours combination which brings together two subjects with highly complementary approaches and interests. Study English and history and you will explore a wide range of sources and representations that enhance our understanding of the world around us, both past and present.

As well as offering a balanced combination of core and option units rooted in each of the two subjects, this course has been designed so that your growing knowledge and skills in each subject will help you to develop a distinctive perspective, and strengths, in the other. During year 1, for instance, you will study the history of Manchester as a radical city on the History side of the joint curriculum, and the various ways in which it has been represented in literary and cultural texts on the English side. As you do so, you will be developing foundational skills and subject knowledge in the study of each discipline.

You may also have the opportunity to study abroad and, if you wish, to take your third year as a placement – in Britain or abroad. In your final year, you will have a chance to spread your wings with a substantial piece of project work, presented in a thesis, building on the skills you've been developing over previous years. 

The English and history subject groups are staffed by internationally renowned writers and academics, and there’s a strong research culture, creating a learning environment that is both supportive and intellectually challenging. We pride ourselves on our excellent teaching and highly positive student feedback. And with our extensive cultural links both in Manchester and further afield, you will be in the right place to begin building a network for your future.

Placement options

You may have the chance to spend a year getting a taste of professional life. It is an opportunity to develop core skills and explore how this course can relate to the graduate world. It shows employers that you’re ready to get to work.

Students are free to choose placement opportunities from a wide range of roles both in the UK and abroad. Students choosing this option are supported by a dedicated placement team who provide links to employers through presentations, events, and fairs, and provide a specialist programme of guidance on recruitment procedures including CV and interview preparation, as well as work readiness and working overseas.

Studying a joint honours degree gives you the opportunity to develop skills and knowledge in two subjects. These are skills that are well suited to a broad range of graduate employment opportunities, especially in careers requiring high-level communication skills such as media work and teaching. Recent graduates have become school and college teachers, journalists, media researchers, and gained employment in fields as diverse as banking and finance, law, local government, public and social services, manufacturing and retail. 

There is also the opportunity to engage in further study and professional training, for example some of our graduates go on to study MA English Studies at postgraduate level where you have the opportunity to build your own bespoke masters experience, reflecting your interests in the further study of English. Alongside this we offer MA History/MA Public History & Heritage, giving you the opportunity to focus on the area of history that you feel most passionate about.