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*The Sunday Times Best Places to Live Guide, 2026
Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Course overview
-
L27 -
City Campus -
Full-Time -
12 Months -
21 Sep 2026
Why study a master's degree in history?
Are you looking to work in the heritage or museum industries? Develop strong transferable skills to advance your career? Or perhaps you want to explore your personal passion for the past?
Regardless of your incentive, a master's degree in history equips you with an exclusive toolkit of skills to support you to excel in numerous careers, whether history-related or not. Our varied, global-facing MA in Modern and Contemporary History enables you to study unique and diverse topics, flexibly (full-time or part-time).
As part of this history degree, you'll:
- Explore modern and contemporary history - from the 18th century to more recent notable events
- Study an exciting range of topics taught by staff with specialist expertise, such as masculinity over time, food, life writing, wars, and public policy
- Take a global perspective to your studies, covering a rich variety of countries and cultures
- Gain strong transferable skills in communication, data analysis, research, writing for a range of audiences and formats, and utilising your natural curiosity
- Learn in an embodied way, bringing the topics you study to life, thinking differently about the past, and reinforcing your learning with varied, practical assessments
Gain a solid skill set
An undisputed benefit of studying a master's degree in a humanities subject is the variety of transferable skills you'll gain while studying something you enjoy. Notably, you'll become a proficient communicator, clearly being able to share ideas and knowledge with various audiences. Additionally, you'll hone your skills in research, data analysis, connecting ideas, independence, and impartiality.
Benefit from our links with industry
We have strong links with local industry partners, including Thackray Museum of Medicine, Leeds Libraries, the Leeds Library, and more. These links provide opportunities for you to take part in visits and networking events, as well as work experience.
Diverse assessments
An enticing aspect of studying MA Modern and Contemporary History at Leeds Beckett is the vast range of assessments we offer. Depending on the modules on offer each year, you could be doing anything from writing traditional essays to creating video content, a cooking project, or writing policy documents.
How you'll learn
You'll learn via a combination of in-classroom sessions - seminars, debates, and sharing ideas - and practical assignments, trips to museums and libraries, and guest lectures.
Be taught by experts
As subject experts, your teaching team aim to enhance your learning with their knowledge and passion, helping to bring topics to life. Across the team, we have significant interest in social, cultural, and political history, providing a real variety of topics for you to dive into that rotate each year.
Why study the MA Modern & Contemporary History course at Leeds Beckett University?
- Benefit from our close links with industry partners, including Thackray Museum of Medicine, Leeds Libraries, and many more museums and heritage organisations
- Gain strong transferable skills via a diverse mix of assessments, from essays to video content creation, and cooking projects to policy writing
- Choose from modules that reflect our teaching team's specialist research expertise
- Explore modern and contemporary history on a truly global scale
- Learn about history in an embodied way, fully immersing yourself in the topics you're studying
Everything you need to know
Discover all there is to know about the course, from entry requirements and fees to exploring the school you’ll be joining - we’ve got it covered.
Your future in our hands
There’s a lot to consider when choosing a course. Take a look at the team you’ll be working with, employability statistics and career prospects to help make up your mind.
Career Prospects
MA Modern and Contemporary History at Leeds Beckett enables you to follow your passion while building strong transferable skills that you can utilise in a range of contexts and environments.
By the time you graduate, you'll have developed into an independent, self-motivated professional, proficient in numerous areas. You'll be equipped with unique experiences and a truly varied skill set, meaning you could step into roles in:
- The museums, libraries, or heritage industries
- The cultural sector
- Local and national government, the civil service, or bureaucracy
- Marketing and content creation
- Teaching
- Writing, including as a journalist, editor, or author
- Business/management consultancy
- Research
Our MA in Modern and Contemporary History provides the perfect opportunity to learn about the past while preparing you for the future. You'll develop your historical knowledge and skills, while boosting your employability and career prospects. We'll delve into a range of exciting topics that have shaped the world we live in, from the local to the global, taught by an expert team of research-active historians, working in collaboration with our local partners."
Dr Kelly Hignett
Senior Lecturer
Dr Kelly Hignett
Senior Lecturer / School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Kelly Hignett is Lecturer in History. She specialises in the modern history of central and eastern Europe. Her research interests relate to crime, social deviance and dissent in communist and post-communist central and eastern Europe and the former USSR.
Dr Rachel Rich
Reader / School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Rachel Rich researches the history of food in modern Europe. Her current focus is the history of royal dining in Georgian England. She is the Co-Editor of Food and History, and the Course Director for BA (Hons) History and MA Social History.
Beckett Careers Team
Our careers service is not just there for undergraduates, we support our postgraduate taught and research students too.
Your postgraduate degree will boost your CV and help you stand out from the crowd. Whether you're just starting out on your chosen career path, changing careers or moving to the next level, we can provide you with expert advice and resources to help you take the next steps to achieving your goals.
Your Beckett experience
At Leeds Beckett your experience is important to us, find out more about what to expect from your time on this course and life at uni.
Experience Leeds Beckett
Our state-of-the-art facilities and learning environments give you everything you need to succeed – whether that’s completing your current studies or joining our cutting-edge research teams.
Thinking of staying at home for your studies?
It’s a great option for lots of our local students
