History and International Relations BA

BA History and International Relations is an interdepartmental and interdisciplinary programme designed to develop your critical thinking and independence of thought about the past, and about the value of history for thinking about the key political and governmental challenges facing today’s world. King’s staff have advised the UK Government on a number of issues, and with this degree being based in London, you’ll have the unique opportunity to experience international relations as they happen. The strength of the two world-leading King’s departments offering this course - History and War Studies - ensures that you have access to a wide range of modules and the opportunity to study abroad for the second year.

Key benefits

• The degree is jointly offered by the History Department, ranked 4th in Europe in the QS World University Rankings by Subject (2021), and by the unique Department of War Studies, a world- leading centre for the study of international relations, conflicts and conflict resolution.
• We are ranked 2nd in the UK for our International Relations courses, according to The Guardian’s ‘Best UK Universities 2023’.
• This is a cutting-edge degree, drawing on the best of both departments, and also on specialist expertise in the Departments of European and International Studies, Political Economy, and the King's Global Institutes.
• Outstanding flexibility, enabling students to develop their specialist interests in a very wide range of areas, with support from experts on virtually all parts of the world.
• Our location in the heart of London offers unrivalled access to the museums, libraries, historical sites, archives and cultural resources of the capital.
• Excellent employment prospects. King’s is ranked 4th in the UK for graduate employability (Times Higher Education Global University Employability Ranking 2020). The combination of historical breadth with close engagement with contemporary world issues makes this degree an ideal preparation for careers in government, journalism, policy development, the NGO sector, and much more.
• Students have the option to study abroad at one of our partner institutions for the second semester of the second year. Current options include University of Sydney, Hong Kong University, University of Auckland, Peking University and the University of Oslo.

“I really appreciated King’s international focus which allowed me to study history from around the world and learn with students with different cultural backgrounds too. It meant that our discussions in class were always really interesting and I learnt to think about alternative perspectives. I also got to do a semester in Sydney during my second year, which taught me a lot about the world and myself. ”

Ellie, History and International Relations BAShow more