History is not just a lot of facts and dates. History is about understanding the past, because the past is the starting point for understanding the present and the future.
If we want to know where we are going, we must first know where we came from. That is why the History Programme encompasses the entire period for which we have written evidence – that is, from about 3000 BC to the present – but with a special focus on European history.
History is made up of events, but it's not only about events; rather, historians investigate the connections between events. History is about human beings, their actions, their ideas, their daily lives and their environments. Like the universe, the past is without limits, and it is continually expanding as each day adds another 24 hours to human history. Out of the limitless mass of information about the past, the historian's tasks are to identify the connections, to interpret the information, to obtain an overview and to create a narrative that makes sense of the past to a modern reader or listener.
Within the Masters Programme, you can select courses, themes and periods that you find especially interesting – e.g., Ancient Rome, the German occupation of Denmark, women's conditions under Absolutism or the United States in the 1990's – and write your Masters thesis on a topic of your own choice. 'The past is a foreign country' where you can strike out your own path and go where you want to go. The University of Southern Denmark offers two versions of the Masters Programme: a short one (three semesters, equalling 105 ECTS points) and a longer one (four semester, equalling 120 points).
In the course of your studies, you will learn to find, assess and systematize data about past events and persons, to take a critical approach to sources (such as texts, artefacts, and pictures), to think analytically and to present your findings in a way that is accessible and interesting to others. These are key skills for a history teacher, a museum curator or an archivist, but equally important for being a successful television reporter, scriptwriter, political analyst, development worker or business manager.