English Literature and History Cardiff University

Overview

The historical expertise reaches an extraordinary breadth of periods, societies, and places, spanning the British Isles, Europe (east and west), Africa, Asia, and the Americas.  On the English Literature and History programme delivered by Cardiff University , you’ll develop the skills so advantageous in our digital age: creativity, empathy, critical thinking, persuasive communication skills and the ability to challenge and question. 

Key Features

In English literature, you won’t be restricted to studying the printed word: we are intrigued by the connections between literature and film, art, history, technology, language, and everyday life, and our teaching reflects these interests. The focus throughout the degree is on your becoming a careful and informed reader and writer who can communicate precisely, stylishly, and effectively. You’ll become a versatile, highly employable researcher who is both critically independent and collaborative.

Criss-crossing this wide range of time spans and perspectives, you’ll cultivate intellectual skills such as the ability to assess literary and historical evidence critically, to evaluate different interpretations of the evidence, to construct arguments on the basis of evidence, and to express opinions cogently in speech and in writing. 

Our modules give you the opportunity to study both well-established areas, such as political, social, cultural and gender history, or explore areas that might be new to you, such as environmental history or digital history. 

Career prospects

The university encourages the students to think about life beyond university from day one, offering modules and support to give you a competitive advantage on graduating no matter what path they follow.

The degree equips you with a lively and critical understanding of the past, its enduring legacies, and how it connects to the present, and important skills which employers’ value from collaborative working and communicating with a wide range of audiences to critical thinking and finding new ways to address problems. We provide you with opportunities to attain and develop enterprise skills as you progress from pitching your ideas on global history on first year modules and working collaboratively on a project in year 2 to credit-bearing placements in year 2 and your final year. A range of optional modules extend these opportunities and support you to develop these skills further.

Training and careers events are delivered in and out of the curriculum with a focus on developing skills while in university and articulating those skills successfully in future applications. We work closely with Student Futures who not only deliver training and workshops on our core modules, but also offer a wealth of opportunities. Beyond your formal studies we run programmes that provide you with opportunities to engage with local schools and communities or work with local heritage organisations to develop your own skills and profile whilst allowing you to make a difference.

The graduates are versatile, collaborative, and critically independent individuals who are able to communicate complex ideas effectively to diverse audiences. They demonstrate personal and professional integrity, reliability, and competence, and they have the ability to motivate themselves and others in meeting agreed responsibilities.

These attributes mean the graduates progress into a wide range of careers, maximising the skills developed throughout their studies. Some choose to pursue professions that make direct use of their expertise in the discipline, while others enter the public or private sectors, from teaching to graduate-track management.