BA Languages and Cultures and History including year abroad

History at SOAS offers students an immensely rich and challenging intellectual perspective that critically enhances knowledge of the fascinating histories of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East – from the Crusades to the contemporary Middle East; the Mughal Empire to Gandhi; slavery to Muslim societies in West Africa.

Our innovative BA History combined programme provides highly engaging treatments of not only historical events and historical periods in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, but also of the very practice of history as an academic discipline itself. The programme’s curriculum is embedded in a variety of powerful conceptual frameworks used by our academic experts and our students, such as postcoloniality and decoloniality. BA History combined at SOAS, therefore, fosters a critical, global perspective that expands and deepens the frontiers of historical knowledge.

Our BA History combined programme encourages you to develop your knowledge of the regional histories of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East from these regions’ local perspectives and in these regions’ own terms. In this transformative, decolonial way, you will be able to then link these histories to the history of the world, and make critical sense of past, present, and possible futures.

Why study History combined honours at SOAS?

• History at SOAS is ranked 12th in the UK (QS World University Rankings 2023)
• SOAS is ranked 6th in the UK for employment outcomes (QS World University Rankings 2023)
• BA History scored above sector in learning opportunities (NSS 2023)
• Our average 20/21 Graduate Outcome Departmental score is 82.85% (HESA)
• We eliminated racialised awarding gaps at undergraduate level

With specialised historical knowledge, an understanding of cultural sensibilities and skills in research and analysis, graduates from the Department of History are well respected by employers across private and public sectors.

Recent graduates have been hired by:

• Al Jazeera
• Amnesty International
• Bank of England
• BBC
• Blackstock PR
• Bonhams
• British Council
• British Library
• Dataminr
• Ernst and Young
• Goldman Sachs
• Google
• HSBC
• International Committee of the Red Cross
• KPMG
• Middle East Consultancy Services
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Cyprus
• Natural History Museum
• Publicis Media
• UNESCO
• United Nations Development Programme

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