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History with French, Mandarin or Spanish BA (Hons)

Studying the past helps to inform our understanding and choices of the future. By combining your cultural, political and social awareness of global history with a modern foreign language, you can amplify your knowledge of the world around you. 

Overview

Our History programme is diverse, international in focus and innovative. Exploring primarily modern and contemporary history, this course will teach you the skills for effective research and analysis, helping to hone your ability to absorb, understand and communicate complex information.  

We cover British, South Asian, European and African and North and South American history and the more niche topics of photographic history, the history of sport and leisure, war and conflict, migration, ethnicity and racism, and employability.  

We use a mixture of year-long and half-year modules to allow you to study a wide range of different subjects and experience a variety of diverse teaching methods and types of assessment. As you progress through the course, we’ll challenge you with more in-depth explorations, and the subject matter will become increasingly complex.  You’ll be supported by a passionate teaching team who provide an interactive and dynamic learning environment.

At DMU, you can study History with a modern language (French, Mandarin or Spanish), from either beginner or post-GSCE level. You will choose 75 per cent of your options from our History modules and 25 per cent of your courses will be language options. 

Key features

  • You will take two 15 credit modules per study level in your chosen language, which will equate to three hours of language per week.  During your weekly language workshop, you will develop your language skills through the study of the country, the society, the culture and the people.
  • Specialise in distinctive areas such as photographic history, history of sport and leisure, war and conflict, migration, history and employability, ethnicity and racism.
  • Develop a wide range of transferable skills by learning how to research and communicate complex information effectively. Our graduates use these skills to forge successful careers across a range of professions including teaching, the law, marketing and the heritage and museum sector.
  • Our specificity is to cater for any language experience, meaning you will study at a level and pace that really suits you and your needs. Learning a new language with us will therefore not only provide you with linguistic skills, but will also enhance skills in your native language and develop your presentation, written and critical skills.
  • Benefit from expert teaching delivered by our team of renowned academics, as well as gain wider knowledge and insight through organised trips to archives and museums such as The National Archives in London.
  • Develop transferable skills by learning how to research and communicate complex information effectively and apply this to a real-world context through a placement. Previous students have gained professional experience at a large regional newspaper, Leicester’s award-winning King Richard III Visitor Centre, and taught at a school in Spain.
  • Enhance your studies through DMU Global, our international experience programme. History students have previously learned about Jewish immigrant life in New York, discovered Danish heritage in Copenhagen and explored the legacies of authoritarian rule in Berlin.

TwitterFollow us on our History Twitter account.

Scholarships:

DMU Global High Flyers Award
Our dedicated DMU Global High Flyers Award offers ambitious students a discount of up to £1,000 towards a DMU Global opportunity (terms and conditions apply).

More courses like this:

Creative Writing, English Language, English Literature and History courses

  • UK
  • EU/International

Institution code: D26

UCAS course code: 

History with French: V1R9 
History with Mandarin: V1T1
History with Spanish: V146 

Duration: Three years full-time, four years full-time with a placement. Six years part-time.

Fees and funding: 

2024/25 tuition fees for UK students: £9,250

Find out more about tuition fees and available funding.

Additional costs: Here at DMU we provide excellent learning resources, including the Kimberlin Library and specialist workshops and studios. However, you should be aware that sometimes you may incur additional costs for this programme.

Contact us: For more information, call us on +44 (0)116 2 50 60 70.

How to apply

Submit a study-related enquiry

Duration: Three years full-time, four years with placement.

Fees and funding: 

2024/25 tuition fees for international students: £15,750

Additional costs: Here at DMU we provide excellent learning resources, including the Kimberlin Library and specialist workshops and studios. However, you should be aware that sometimes you may incur additional costs for this programme.

Contact us: For more information, call us on +44 (0)116 2 50 60 70.

How to apply

Submit a study-related enquiry

Entry criteria

Typical entry requirements

  • 112 points from at least 2 A levels or
  • BTEC Extended Diploma DMM or
  • International Baccalaureate: 26+ Points

Plus five GCSEs grades 9-4 including English Language or Literature at grade 4 or above.

  • Pass Access with 30 level 3 credits at Merit and GCSE English (Language or Literature) at grade 4 or above.

We will normally require students to have had a break from education from full-time education before undertaking the Access course.

  • We also accept the BTEC First Diploma plus two GCSEs including English Language or Literature at grade 4 or above

Interview required: No

English language requirements

If English is not your first language an IELTS score of 6.0 overall with 5.5 in each band (or equivalent) when you start the course is essential.

English language tuition, delivered by our British Council-accredited Centre for English Language Learning, is available both before and throughout the course if you need it.

 

Structure and assessment

 

Course modules

Teaching and assessments

 

First year

  • Presenting and Re-Presenting the Past
  • The Making of the Modern World
  • Twentieth Century Europe
  • Language module

Second year

Students choose three year-long History modules, or the equivalent made up of a mixture of the full and half-year options listed below. 

  • Visualising the Modern World 1860-1950 (half-year option)
  • The Historian’s Craft: Sources and Methods in History
  • The Cold War (half-year option)
  • History in the Workplace (half-year option)
  • Histories of the Global South
  • Sport in Twentieth Century Britain (half-year option)
  • Divide and Quit: the closing days of imperial rule in India (half-year option)
  • The Origins of Multicultural Britain (half-year option) 
  • Language module (compulsory)

Third year

Students choose three year-long History modules, or the equivalent made up of a mixture of the full and half-year options listed below. 

  • Dissertation
  • Yugoslavia and Beyond (half-year option)
  • Photography and Conflict (half-year option)
  • Borders and Boundaries: Legacies of Colonial Rule: India and Pakistan since 1947 (half-year option)
  • Environmental History of the Americas (half-year option)
  • Jews in Twentieth Century Britain (half-year option)
  • History and Heritage (half-year option) 
  • Witchcraft, Magic and the Supernatural in Britain and Europe from 1500 (half-year option) 
  • Transatlantic Sport (half-year option)
  • Language module (compulsory)

Click here for more detailed module information


Note: All modules are indicative and based on the current academic session. Course information is correct at the time of publication and is subject to review. Exact modules may, therefore, vary for your intake in order to keep content current. If there are changes to your course we will, where reasonable, take steps to inform you as appropriate.

The course will be divided into 75 per cent History and 25 per cent Modern Foreign Language

Overview

Our teaching is interactive, informal and enjoyable. We encourage you to develop your own thoughts, ideas and viewpoints and you will build the skills you need to be effective in both historical study and the modern workplace.

The modules are all designed to improve your skills as an effective historian from analysis and research to reasoning and evaluation. They are also constructed to help you develop aptitudes and characteristics that will improve your employability such as initiative, teamwork and communication.

You will be taught by experts in their field, the people who are writing the books you are reading. Our history staff are renowned nationally and internationally for the quality of their teaching and research.

We work hard to ensure that the student experience is lively, dynamic and stimulating, and regular guest lecturers and speakers address both curriculum-related topics and topics of broader historical interest.

The curriculum for History at DMU is diverse, international in focus and innovative. We use a mixture of year-long and half-year modules to allow students to broaden out their studies and to experience a variety of different teaching methods, module structures and assessment patterns. 

Contact hours
You will be taught through a combination of lectures, tutorials, seminars, group work and self-directed study. Assessment is through coursework (presentations, essays and reports) and usually an exam. Your precise timetable will depend on the optional modules you choose to take, however, in your first year you will normally attend around 10 hours of timetabled taught sessions (lectures and tutorials) each week, and we expect you to undertake at least 27 further hours of independent study to complete project work and research.

Facilities and features

Placements

Library and learning zones

On campus, the main Kimberlin Library offers a space where you can work, study and access a vast range of print materials, with computer stations, laptops, plasma screens and assistive technology also available. 

As well as providing a physical space in which to work, we offer online tools to support your studies, and our extensive online collection of resources accessible from our Library website, e-books, specialised databases and electronic journals and films which can be remotely accessed from anywhere you choose. 

We will support you to confidently use a huge range of learning technologies, including the Virtual Learning Environment, Collaborate Ultra, DMU Replay, MS Teams, Turnitin and more. Alongside this, you can access LinkedIn Learning and learn how to use Microsoft 365, and study support software such as mind mapping and note-taking through our new Digital Student Skills Hub. 

The library staff offer additional support to students, including help with academic writing, research strategies, literature searching, reference management and assistive technology. There is also a ‘Just Ask’ service for help and advice, live LibChat, online workshops, tutorials and drop-ins available from our Learning Services, and weekly library live chat sessions that give you the chance to ask the library teams for help.

More flexible ways to learn

We offer an equitable and inclusive approach to learning and teaching for all our students. Known as the Universal Design for Learning (UDL), our teaching approach has been recognised as sector leading. UDL means we offer a wide variety of support, facilities and technology to all students, including those with disabilities and specific learning differences.

Just one of the ways we do this is by using ‘DMU Replay’ – a technology providing all students with anytime access to audio and/or visual material of lectures. This means students can revise taught material in a way that suits them best, whether it's replaying a recording of a class or adapting written material shared in class using specialist software.

Campus Centre

The home of  De Montfort Students' Union, (DSU) our Campus Centre offers a welcoming and lively hub for student life. Conveniently located at the heart of campus, it includes a convenience store, a Subway and a Starbucks. Here you can find the DSU-owned charitable accommodation service Sulets and DSU’s shop, SUpplies, selling art supplies, stationery and clothing, and printing and binding services. The building is also home to the DSU officer team. 

Opportunities and careers

Find the people who will open doors for you

DMU's award-winning careers service provides guaranteed work experience opportunities DMU Careers Team
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Placements

During this course you will have the option to complete a paid placement year, an invaluable opportunity to put the skills developed during your degree into practice. This insight into the professional world will build on your knowledge in a real-world setting, preparing you to progress onto your chosen career.

Previous students have taken up placements in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors, including some international posts. Students  Kayleigh Cardy and Cory Hancock  secured year-long placements as English language teaching assistants in Spain though DMU’s Erasmus+ programme.

Kayleigh said: “It’s been so much more than a placement. I’ve travelled, I’ve learned about a whole new culture and I’ve grown as a person. It’s highlighted what I can achieve when I set my mind to something and I feel better prepared for my final year of university as I’m more independent and confident.”

Our careers programme DMU Works can help to hone your professional skills with mock interviews and practice aptitude tests, and an assigned personal tutor will support you throughout your placement.

Students on the #DMUglobal trip to New York

DMU Global

Our innovative international experience programme DMU Global aims to enrich your studies and expand your cultural horizons, helping you to become a global graduate, equipped to meet the needs of employers across the world.

Through DMU Global, we offer a wide range of opportunities including on-campus and UK-based activities, overseas study, internships, faculty-led field trips and volunteering, as well as Erasmus+ and international exchanges.

While overseas DMU Global opportunities are not currently possible, DMU will continue to review government advice and if travel is permitted, we hope to offer a small number of extra-curricular opportunities in the summer of 2021.

Previously our History students visited one of the world’s leading cultural institutions, the  Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture  in New York. They listened to an inspiring talk from Mary Yearwood, the Director of Collections and Information services, who said: “History needs to be fought for, so go find the unsung heroes and sheroes.”

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Graduate careers

Our graduates have gone on to pursue successful careers in various professions including teaching, law, public relations, marketing, journalism, civil service and the heritage and museum sectors. Graduates also have the opportunity to undertake further studies such as Sports History and Culture MA at DMU.

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