The Department of History offers courses of study and research leading to M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. The Department offers both a two year thesis M.A. program and a one year non-thesis M.A. program. The graduate program requires attendance at formal courses and the presentation and defence of a thesis or dissertation. A minimum of 6 units (4 one term courses) of course work is required for the M.A. thesis degree, 9 units (6 one term courses) for the M.A. non-thesis degree and 7.5 (5 one term courses) units for the Ph.D. Students are normally admitted for study in September. Courses will reflect both student interest and the diversity of the discipline.

Enquiries concerning graduate studies should be addressed to the Department's Graduate Director or the Graduate Secretary.

Here is some information on current Graduate students and their research.

Recent Graduates and Selected Current Dissertations

Admission to the Department graduate programme is subject to the admission requirements of the Faculty of Graduate Studies. A minimum TOEFL (TWE included) score of 600 on the paper-based test is required of all international students whose first language is not English. Admission to the M.A. programme normally requires a Bachelor's degree with a minimum overall average of B+ (6.00 G.P.A.), or a Bachelor's degree with a minimum average of A- (7.00 G.P.A.) in the final year's work. Admission to the Ph.D. programme normally requires a Master's degree with a minimum average of A- in graduate courses. A candidate with background deficiencies in history may be required to register for a year as an unclassified student before being admitted to the M.A. programme. A one page statement of research interest must be included in the application. The suggested deadline for application is February 1. See application procedures below.

The thesis M.A. program should normally be completed within two years, the non-thesis M.A. program within one year (12 months) and the Ph.D. within four years. Both M.A. and Ph.D. programs may be completed on a full-time or part-time basis but the M.A. degree must be completed within five years and the Ph.D. degree within seven.

A reading knowledge of French or some other second language acceptable to the department is necessary for graduation.

M.A. students must complete History 500 (Historiography) and an additional 4.5 units (3 one term courses) comprised of 1.5 or 3 units of field courses in a geographical area relating to the student's thesis topic and 1.5 or 3 units of topical field courses. At least 1.5 units must treat a geographical area outside that covered in the thesis. Geographical field courses focus on the history of a particular country, while topical field courses are thematic courses of a comparative transnational nature (e.g. gender history, military history). The thesis length is between 70 and 120 typed pages. Facilities are available for graduate work in Canadian, European, British, American, Middle Eastern, Japanese and Chinese history, and on a wide range of themes, among them political history, aboriginal history, military history, gender history, social history, cultural history, diplomatic history, intellectual history, comparative/world history, labour history, history of science and historical demographics. Depending on geographic concentration, the department covers periods ranging from the medieval to the modern. Specialists covering Europe, Britain, the Middle East and East Asia can supervise topics from the medieval to the modern eras.

Unit Values: History 500 1.5

Geographical Field Courses 1.5

Geographical Field Course or Topical Field Course 1.5

Topical Field Course 1.5

Thesis 9.0

TOTAL 15

M.A. students must complete History 500 (Historiography). They are also required to take an additional 7.5 units of coursework. 1.5 units will be a directed reading historiographical and research methods course (Hist 550) taken with the supervisor of the major research paper. 3 units will normally be taken in their geographical field of interest. The other three units will include at least 1.5 units of a topical field. At least 1.5 units must treat a geographical area outside that covered in the major research paper. Geographical courses focus on the history of a particular country, while topical field courses are thematic courses of a comparative transnational nature (e.g. gender history, military history). Students will also complete a major research paper. This paper will normally be based on primary research and will emerge from a paper written for a graduate course other than History 500 or 550. The major research paper must be 40-45 typed pages and will be written in the form of a journal article. It will be graded by the supervisor and an additional faculty member and will not be subject to oral defense. Facilities are available for graduate work in Canadian, European, British, American, Middle Eastern, Japanese and Chinese history, and on a wide range of themes, among them political history, aboriginal history, military history, gender history, social history, cultural history, diplomatic history, intellectual history, comparative/world history, labour history, history of science and historical demographics. Specialists covering Europe, Britain, the Middle East and East Asia can supervise topics from the medieval to the modern eras.

Unit Values: History 500 1.5

History 550 1.5

Topical Field Course 1.5

Geographical Field Courses 3.0

Geographical Field Course or Topical Field Course 1.5

Major Research Paper 6.0

TOTAL 15

Please Note: - HIST 550 is a course for students enrolled in the non-thesis program only. Students will register in HIST 550 in April, in consultation with their supervisors.

This interdisciplinary program is open to selected MA students in English, History, Political Science and Sociology. Students must meet the core graduating requirement of the individual departments. The Graduate Director in each department should be consulted for details. To complete the CSPT program in History, a student must complete:

1. 3 units of CSPT 500

2. 15 units as required in the History MA program (including HIST 500 and the Master's language requirement)

The MA thesis (HIST 599) must be in the field of CSPT.

Admission to the CSPT program is subject to the written approval of the Program Director. Applicants must already have been accepted into the MA program in History.

The requirements for the program in the Departments of English, Political Science and Sociology differ from those in History.

Course requirements: The equivalent of 7.5 (5 one-term courses) units of graduate courses, including History 500. A student who has completed History 500 or its equivalent at the M.A. level may be excused from History 500. Each student will take one thee-unit "geographical" field course. The geographical field courses are designed to cover major historiographical issues over a broad chronological period, within the various geographical areas: Canadian, British, American, European and Asian. Students may then opt to take an additional 1.5 unit geographical field course, and a 1.5 unit "topical" field course.

Topical field courses examine secondary literature on a significant topical theme such as social, military, intellectual/cultural, gender/women's, First Nations, religious, world or business history and cover various geographical areas and chronological periods. They relate to the particular themes that the student will pursue in his/her Ph.D. disseration.. Alternatively, students may opt to take two topical field courses of 1.5 units each, in addition to the three unit geographical field course. The courses taken help to prepare students for the comprehensive written and oral examinations.

Once students complete their required slate of geographical and topical field courses, they are required to register in HIST 693, which covers the preparation and completion of the comprehensive exams.

Courses taken are closely related to the fields to be prepared for comprehensive examinations. Faculty members who have taught particular field and topical courses will, in consultation with the students involved, compile comprehensive reading lists in the general subject area of the course that extend beyond the readings covered by the course itself. Students therefore can choose to take two geographical field courses (one 3 unit course and one 1.5 unit course) and one topical course of 1.5 units. For example, such a student might take 3 units of Canadian history, which is his/her major field, 1.5 units of American history and 1.5 units of military history.

The fields for this student's comprehensive examinations would then be Canadian history as the major field, and American history and military history as the minor fields. Alternatively, students can choose to take one geographical field course (a 3-unit course) in addition to two 1.5-unit topical courses. For example, such a student might take 3 units of British history, 1.5 units of religious history and 1.5 units of cultural history. The fields for this student's comprehensive examinations would then be British history as the major field and religious history and cultural history as the minor fields. If students only take one topical course and two geographical courses the topical course (and ultimately the comprehensive reading list emerging from the course) can overlap in geographical scope with the geographical fields (i.e. if the topical field is in women's history and the two geographical fields are Canadian and Asian history the women's history course can include significant content in Canadian and or Asian women's history). However, if a student chooses to take two topical fields and only one geographical field, then in order to ensure breadth in the student's course of study one of those topical fields must involve a course whose subject matter is largely or entirely outside of the student's major geographical field. The comprehensive reading list for this topical field should be largely outside of the student's major geographical area. In the case of the second topical field there could be more overlap with the major geographical area.

Unit Values: History 500 1.5

Geographical Field Courses 3.0

Field Course or Topical Field Course 1.5

Topical Field Course 1.5

HIST 693 3.0

Thesis 27.0

TOTAL 37.5

Applicants are encouraged to contact faculty members who share their interests. Application forms for admission, which include the indication of need for financial assistance, can be obtained directly from the Graduate Admissions and Records office or by accessing the printable application materials.

The History Department requires the following documents for admission:

To be considered for funding, the deadline for application to Graduate Studies is February 1. Applicants are required to submit ALL UVIC required documents in one package to the Graduate Admissions and Records office either in paper or electronically (PDF) but please make sure that ALL required documents are submitted together. Choose only one of these methods for submission or delays may occur in processing your file.

Please see the Graduate Admissions and records website at (http://www.uvic.ca/students/grad/admissions/) for instructions on how to apply to Graduate Admissions.

Students are encouraged to apply early as not all qualified applicants can be accepted.

The Faculty of Graduate Studies awards a limited number of University Fellowships on a university-wide competitive basis. Fellowships were worth $15,000 (M.A.) and $18,000 (Ph.D.) for the 2010-11 academic year. The Department also awards scholarships on a competitive basis. No special form is required but students seeking a Fellowship are advised to submit their completed application by January 15th. Graduate students are encouraged to apply for grants and fellowships from a number of other agencies including Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council; Maritime Awards Society of Canada Graduate Fellowships; Commonwealth Scholarships; Department of National Defence Scholarships. Detailed information on these and other awards are available from the Faculty of Graduate Studies. Students entering UVic with a SSHRC or other external award valued between $15,000-$25,000 will automatically receive an additional $4000 President's Research Award for each year in which the award is held. The Department employs a number of teaching assistants.

For current fees, please see Graduate Studies. Tuition and Other Fees by following the links at: http://web.uvic.ca/calendar2011/GRAD/TaOtF/index.html or at http://web.uvic.ca/gradstudies/fund/index.html