Arts and humanities at Birkbeck are ranked fifth best in London, 18th in the UK and 87th globally in the 2019 Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject. In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), History at Birkbeck was ranked sixth in the UK for the percentage of our research deemed world-leading or internationally excellent. Of our eligible staff, 94% submitted research, and we achieved 100% for a research environment supporting world-leading and internationally excellent research. Eric Hobsbawm Scholarships are available for Home, EU and Overseas Master’s students in the Department of History, Classics and Archaeology. Our Department is home to thriving student societies and a number of affiliated research centres that actively run seminars, conferences and other events where some of the world's best scholars present their latest research. These include the Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism, the Raphael Samuel History Centre and the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities.

To be considered for direct entry to a Master's degree at Birkbeck, you will normally be required to have successfully completed a Bakalavr/Specialist Diploma from a recognised university with a minimum final grade of 3.5 for programmes requiring a UK 2:2