Program Overview

Our four-year BA History and Economics (including foundation year), will be suitable for you if your academic qualifications do not yet meet our entrance requirements for the three-year version of this course and you want a programme that increases your subject knowledge as well as improves your academic skills in order to support your academic performance.

This four-year course includes a foundation year (Year Zero), followed by a further three years of study. During your Year Zero, you study three academic subjects relevant to your chosen course as well as a compulsory academic skills module, with additional English language for non-English speakers.

You are an Essex student from day one, a member of our global community based at the most internationally diverse campus university in the UK.

After successful completion of Year Zero in our Essex Pathways Department, you progress to complete your course with our Department of History.

How have historical events shaped the way we buy and sell goods and services? What impact have historical events had on political, social, economic and cultural contexts? Our course gives you a solid education in the history of Britain, Europe and the world from 1500 to present day, whilst also delivering a thorough grounding in economics.

Studying economics provides you with a greater understanding of the world around you; it teaches you how the economy functions, how people make decisions, why an economic crisis occurs and what the different solutions are. The historical content of the course aids this study through developing your ability to absorb, analyse and assess a wide variety of information and viewpoints. You work with us to break intellectual boundaries and pioneer new solutions to issues of global concern.

On this course you spend equal time studying history-related and economics-related modules, exploring topics including:

• Quantitative research methods
• Micro- and macroeconomics
• The history of world economics
• Colonialism and the British Empire
• Apartheid in South Africa