Students Have New MA History Degree Option
February 8, 2010
As the spring semester gets underway, students will begin thinking about plans for after graduation. Undergraduate students considering an advanced degree in history have a new option: a joint Master’s degree in Global History from Georgetown and King’s College London. The two-year program gives students the opportunity to study one year in Washington D.C. at Georgetown and one year in London at King’s College, gaining international experience as exceptional access to resources. 
“There is no other degree quite like it in the U.S.,” said Professor Bryan McCann of the Georgetown history department, who is heading up the program with Professor James Bjork, lecturer in history at King’s College London. “Georgetown has tremendous strength in [issues of] the Middle East, as King’s College has in Modern Europe. Students in the program will be able to study both.”
Bjork notes that those thinking about international careers, often of interest to Georgetown undergraduates, could benefit from the program. “Because this degree will be an immediately recognizable credential for academics and employers in both the U.S. and the U.K. (and elsewhere, particularly in the rest of the EU), we expect that it will give graduates an unusual degree of flexibility in pursuing opportunities on both sides of the Atlantic.”
McCann expects that most students who choose to apply for the program will have an interest in continuing to do a Ph.D., but also notes that the degree program will be ideal for students looking for a solid background in modern history for careers such as journalism, teaching, politics or work with one of the many think tanks in D.C. “There are all sorts of practical applications,” he notes.
The program focuses mostly on modern history, which gives students an advantage in an increasingly globalized academic world. Students will have individual contact and personalized attention with professors at both universities.
Georgetown and King’s College London are ideal for students of history: Washington D.C. has material for students in the Library of Congress and the U.S. National Archives, while students at King’s College will have access to such resources as the British Library and the U.K. National Archives, which is “a huge advantage for an historian,” said McCann. 
Aside from materials, there are other resources available to students. Notes Bjork, “each institution is part of a broader academic network: a consortium of local universities in the case of Georgetown, and the University of London and Institute for Historical Research in the case of King’s College. The latter regularly brings together historians from all over London—as well as visiting speakers from around the globe—and provides a wonderful opportunity for graduate students to see scholarly debate at the highest level. The broader cultural and social benefits of living in two of the world’s liveliest cities perhaps do not need further elaboration!”
The new joint Master’s program in Global History will be underway in the fall of 2010.
—Gabrielle Matthews
About King’s College
King’s College London is one of the oldest academic institutions in the United Kingdom, and is situated in the heart of London. For more information about King’s College London, click on http://kcl.ac.uk/about/.
Photos from top: Bryan McCann (by Claire Callagy), the Strand campus of King's College (image courtesy King's College London), the Maughan Library (courtesy King's College London)
