IGNOU's Master of Arts in History (MAH) provides an excellent educational opportunity for students who want to study the field further. IGNOU's Master's in History would be of particular interest to teachers in education, personnel working in institutions related to history and culture (museums, archives, archaeological surveys, etc.), and new graduates aspiring to get a MAH degree.
According to IGNOU's 'openness' and flexibility policy, MA history admission is available to all graduates from all streams, regardless of whether they studied history at an undergraduate level or not. Access to IGNOU's Master of Arts in History (MAH) is not subject to any entrance test.
Two years is the minimum time needed to complete the Programme. There is, however, flexibility, and students have a maximum time frame of five years to finish the programme.
IGNOU follows the credit system. You will need 64 credits to earn a MA in History. They are spread out over two years. You must choose 32 credits each year. One credit consists of 30 hours of academic study. To complete an eight-credit course, a student will need to dedicate about 240 hours of study.
Programme fees are payable yearly. There is a fee of Rs.5600 in the first year and Rs.5400 in the second year.
English and Hindi mediums are available for the IGNOU's MA History programme.
Rather than focusing on traditional specializations in Ancient, Medieval or Modern History, IGNOU's MA History programme takes a thematic approach. The course provides students with an opportunity to understand significant developments in Indian and World History. The IGNOU's learning material highlights the continuity of the economy, political forms, social structures, ideology, and behaviour over time and the changes and transitions occurring at different periods. Course materials have also been updated to include the most recent research.
Below is the list of course offered:
| Course Code | Course Title | Course Type | Credits |
| First Year | |||
| MHI-01 | Ancient and Medieval Societies | Compulsory | 8 |
| MHI-02 | Modern World | Compulsory | 8 |
| MHI-04 | Political Structures in India | Optional | 8 |
| MHI-05 | History of Indian Economy | Optional | 8 |
| Second Year | |||
| MHI-03 | Historiography | Compulsory | 8 |
| MHI-06 | Evolution of Social Structures in India Through the Ages | Optional | 8 |
| MHI-08 | History of Ecology and Environment: India | Optional | 8 |
| MHI-09 | Indian National Movement | Optional | 8 |
| MHI-10 | Urbanisation in India | Optional | 8 |
| MPSE-003* | Western Political Thought (From Plato to Marx) | Optional | 4 |
| MPSE-004* | Social and Political Thought in Modern India | Optional | 4 |
*Need to be taken together
You will receive 32 credits during the first year and the remaining 32 credits in the second year. Three of these courses are mandatory, and the rest are optional. Taking MHI-01 and MHI-02 as a pair, students will get a comprehensive understanding of World history from ancient times to the present. Learning about significant developments outside India will be a component of these two courses. These would enable learners to systematically assess changes and effects in India within the global context.
Note: For more comprehensive information on IGNOU's MAH course, get their complete Programme Guide here.
IGNOU's Master of Arts in History (MAH) degree's goal is to familiarize you with the process of writing history as a student of Postgraduate History. While many of you have read history, you may not be mindful of the intricate process that goes into constructing and writing history. Since history mainly focuses on the past, historians must rely on testimony and evidence gathered from those living in those periods. The evidence and testimony they collect serve as sources. It is impossible to write history without these sources. These legacy materials come in many forms, such as archaeological findings, artefacts, chronicles, court records, travelogues, religious and semi-religious texts, government reports, private diaries, newspaper articles, popular songs, and famous memoirs. From these sources, historians reconstruct society, economy, politics, belief systems, lives, and behaviour of past generations. This is what we experience as history and run into trouble. History consists of the evidence and experiences of the past people, which come to us in fragmented form. Because of this, it is impossible to recreate the past exactly.
Furthermore, historians get affected by the ideas, viewpoints and concerns of the current era in which they live. Due to these influences, they often select specific evidence and ignore others or examine the evidence from angles that differ from other historians. Thus, different historians have written about the same events in different ways. Interpreting the past can be challenging at times. IGNOU's study materials aim to present various points of view prevalent among historians in the light of this. In this way, you will have the opportunity to learn about multiple opinions and evaluate them critically to arrive at your conclusions.