About the Centre

Often described as a ‘jewel in the crown’ of the university, the Centre for History is regarded in UK-wide assessments of teaching and research quality as a leading Scottish university department in which to study and research Highland, Scottish and wider-world history.

Highland location

We are based in the cathedral town of Dornoch in Sutherland, from where our staff teach a wide range of undergraduate programmes to students in campuses across the university region, as well as five online masters-level courses to students across the world. Many of our PhD students also choose to base themselves in the Highland area and work closely with local communities here.

Innovative teaching

Live online teaching by video conference to a dispersed student community is something we have helped to develop since the Centre was established in 2005. Our undergraduates take part in live module classes each week, where they interact and discuss key issues with their tutors. Their student lectures and classes are supplemented by self-directed learning from an expansive and interactive range of online resources, specially created for each module and hosted on the university’s virtual learning environment. We've been successfully teaching this way for more than sixteen years and our students have thrived on the creative blend of online and face-to-face teaching.

Online masters

Over the last few years, we have seen a big increase in postgraduate students taking our MLitt masters’ programmes. Students join us online from all over the world, including Australia, Canada, the United States, China, Kenya, Romania, Italy and Germany, as well as from around the Highlands and Islands, Scotland and the UK. Our online discussion boards are lively places, with staff leading and advising students as they communicate with one another across geographical boundaries and time zones.

Vibrant research culture

We supervise a growing body of postgraduate research students working on aspects of Scottish, Irish, British and wider world history, many of them funded by PhD studentships. Our research staff participate fully in university and broader research structures, editorial boards and committees, as well as undertaking their own research. We work hard to build relationships beyond the university and our collaborative approach is inspiring a community-led, co-produced research model which is transregional and transformative.

Locally based, internationally recognised

We are proud to be a success story for the university and are looking forward to developing exciting new areas of research and teaching in coming years. As our reputation grows we are keen to make sure that our north Highland base and distributed nature continue to support and sustain our wider online and face-to-face communities, wherever they are.