Studying history – the story of humanity through the ages – develops your knowledge of the past and gives you a better understanding of the present. Throughout your studies you'll receive excellent training in areas such as problem-solving, communication, research methods and interpretation. Our classes cover some of the most important and interesting historical periods at home and abroad, including Scotland’s ‘Highland Problem’ in the 16th century, Slavery in World History and Cold War Europe, 1945-1991. Social policy is a theoretical and applied subject which draws on many different disciplines - such as history, sociology, anthropology, economics, law, psychology and politics - to improve our understanding of how different societies organise their resources to meet individual and social needs and how they measure progress in these areas. This new social policy degree programme gives you the opportunity to learn more about the social and economic challenges facing Scottish society and enables you to place these in a broader international and comparative perspective. It also addresses some of the major questions of our time, such as how should social policy adapt to a changing global, digital, connected and information-rich world? How can we adapt social policies to the needs of a more diverse society? And how should resources be distributed, not only between generations, but also within them?

Many History graduates progress to careers in education, social welfare, the Civil Service and the Scottish Government or in areas such as finance. Some graduates work in teaching, museums or heritage, while others find satisfying careers in library and information science, arts management and administration or journalism. Many students expand their knowledge of history by taking further postgraduate study. The most common employment destinations for social policy graduates include: local & national government policy development and research regional & urban development business administration & management third sector/charity research & policy development children’s services education health & social welfare protective services