The transition from school to university in history: a new hub resource

Dear HE Colleague,

In consultation with the Royal Historical Society and Institute of Historical Research, we are creating this HISTORY TRANSITION HUB on the Historical Association website, accessible to all.

The Hub aims to offer a one-stop shop providing a point of access to publicly available resources created by individual History Departments to support the transition to university. We are acutely aware that many departments have been working on resources to support applicants in what are likely to be difficult circumstances and hope the HUB can ensure we get these to as wide as possible an audience. The aim is to offer sector-wide support to ease the transition from school to university for History students, send out a more positive message about what is potentially available to those joining HE next year, bolster the HA’s existing resources to give those about to leave for university a taste of what is to come, and assist teachers’ own efforts to support their sixth formers in this transition.

We believe such a site will be of considerable value going forward, but in light of the Covid-19 situation will be an especially invaluable resource for schools aiming to encourage or support applicants for History in HE this year. As I know only too well as a working academic with friends in many other HEIs, there is currently a huge amount of uncertainty about what the first year for the next intake of History students will look like and how it will be delivered. At the same time the current cohort of soon-to-be school leavers have in many cases already effectively left, increasing the challenge which the transition to University normally represents. As a parent of one such student, I also know just how much discussion is currently occurring between parents, students and schools about what the best course of action for individual students might be – and decisions about choices of university, course and year of entry which may have appeared settled are once again up in the air.

We would therefore like to invite your department to submit to us URLs and short descriptions of any such resources you have created and would like to see highlighted on the HA website. Please complete and return the attached form (below) to enquiries@history.org.uk.

I realise you are all incredibly pressurised and we appreciate your support in this endeavour. 

Arthur Burns