With 90 colleges and 87 departments, the Delhi University (DU) provides a plethora of courses. Some of these are constantly in high demand by students. In this series, DU Beat looks at some of these courses.
B.A. (Honours) History
What is the course about?
A highly popular course, History Honours is constantly in demand across colleges.
Its curriculum covers various aspects of both Indian and world histories in with respect to chronology, with core papers including History of India, Social Formations and Cultural Patterns of the Ancient and Medieval World, Rise of the Modern West, History of Modern Europe among others. The electives including History of the USA, History of the USSR, Gender in Indian History, Modern Southeast Asia and so on.
What are some top colleges for this course?
History Honours is offered at many colleges. Some of the most sought after ones include St. Stephen’s College, Ramjas College, Hindu College, Hansraj College, Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Miranda House, among others.
What are some good career options?
Many students choose History as their undergraduate course with an aim to clear civil service examinations. History is considered a very important and scoring paper for the highly coveted Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exams.
Others who are interested in the subject take it up to pursue museology, archaeology, academia and the like. Yet other options include law, journalism and media, art history, social service and policy making.
Are there any notable alumni?
Many former students who had studied History at DU have gone on to become accomplished personalities in multiple fields. Some of them include:
- Atishi, Politician
- Huma Qureshi, Actor
- Ranjan Gogoi, Chief Justice of India
- Ravish Kumar, Journalist
- Shashi Tharoor, Lok Sabha MP and former diplomat
What do students say about this course?
According to Nandini Pillai, a first-year History Honours student at Hindu College, “If you’re keenly devoted to the subject, it is one of those subjects that will make you an excellent researcher. Considering how we live in an era of fake news, gaslighting, post-truth politics, the significance of the skills that history as a subject equips you with, has increased.”
Sharvi Maheshwari, an outgoing student of Miranda House says, “The way the course is structured not only teaches us about what happened at a certain point in time, but also makes us understand why it is relevant in today’s times. Furthermore, History Honours in DU is a veritable multi-disciplinary course which combines principles of Sociology, Political Science, etc., and has non-generic papers to make the study more holistic.” Maheshwari also adds that the faculty takes special care to organise field trips and is very informed in their subject.
The 2018 cut-off lists for different colleges can be viewed here: Cut-offs 2018
Feature Image Credits: DU Beat Archives
Prateek Pankaj
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