History at Glasgow

Glasgow University has taught history since 1897, when the Chair in History was founded. Chairs in Scottish History and Literature and in Medieval History followed. Around 1500 students take History courses each year, from our Level 1 courses on ‘The Making of Europe’ through Honours to our postgraduate programmes. There are over 100 research and taught postgraduate students.

We have long-standing student and staff exchanges with universities in the United States, Australia and Europe. Research in the subject of History is among the best in the United Kingdom. In the last UK-wide assessment of research (RAE 2008), 60% of our research was rated as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’. All permanent staff are active researchers. For more information about staff research interests, follow the links to the staff pages. The RAE rated our research environment highly, thanks to a very active programme of research seminars, lectures and collaborations.  As one would expect, Scottish History is a particular area of strength, and is leading the Paradox of Medieval Scotland project (jointly with staff in Celtic and Gaelic, and at Edinburgh University and Kings College London). History has a range of funded research projects, with support from the British Academy, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Economic and Social Research Council. and the Wellcome Trust.

The review panel was ‘impressed with the clear commitment of History staff ... and found the students with whom it had met to be a credit to the subject area.’  They reported, ‘Undergraduate and postgraduate students agreed that one of the major strengths of History was its staff, who were committed, enthusiastic and approachable, and who inspired students to be passionate about their subject.’

History places the teaching and learning of students at the heart of its mission, and believes in the importance of research led teaching, so that students benefit from engaging with topics at the cutting edge. The quality of its teaching was most recently confirmed in a University Review of Teaching, Learning and Assessment in 2008.