Introduction

The Certificate in Railway Studies (by Distance Learning) is a two-year course taught through supported distance learning by the Institute of Railway Studies & Transport History.

The Certificate in Railway Studies (by Distance Learning) makes its predecessor, a conventionally-taught course in York (now no longer available), more widely accessible, through the use of specially-prepared teaching units and tutor-marked assignments sent through the post. It is an introductory course designed to appeal to anyone who is interested in the history of railways and certain other modes of transport, and includes teaching about the social, political, economic and technological history of railways, their geographical development, and aspects of the history of railway management, policy, planning and operations.

Within the course are optional modules giving students the opportunity to study the history of urban transport (urban railways, tramways, buses, subways), inland and coastal navigation, and the representation of transport and transport history to the public, in the media and through museums and heritage railways.

The course is taught in terms, starting in October, and is organized in modular form. The first two modules are compulsory, and examine railway history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. On reaching the third module, you have a choice of optional modules focusing on other transport modes: among the options that should be available are
Putting Railways on Display, The History of Urban Transport, and The History of Inland and Coastal Navigation. During the summer vacation between the first and second years there will be a week-long residential summer school held in York, offering a period of concentrated study in which you will have the opportunity to follow up your own interests in transport history, work in groups with other students, benefit from personal contact with the course tutors, and visit some of the many sites of railway interest in and around York. The second year is devoted to individual project work, in which you will be able to work in depth on a chosen theme in transport history.

Assessment

You will write an essay of 1,500-2,500 words length for each of the modules you take, which will be marked and returned to you. The marks you get for this written work contribute to the final mark you achieve for the course as a whole. Your work in the summer and Easter residential schools, and the dissertation you produce during the final year will also be assessed and contribute to your final mark.

Tutorial support

Your tutors will be available to offer advice and assistance on any part of the course, and will guide and assess your work and comment on your progress. You will receive full details of how to keep in contact with your tutor if you are accepted on the course.

Opportunities

The Certificate in Railway Studies (by Distance Learning) is designed to be flexible and respond to your own particular requirements. Thus taking this course, or a part of it, will allow you follow up your own interest in railways and to gain valuable study skills. However, it could also be a gateway to further opportunities. If you pass the first stage of the Certificate at a high level, then (circumstances permitting) you may be able to transfer to the taught MA in Railway Studies instead of going on to the second part of the Certificate. If you pass with distinction or merit the whole Certificate (normally after two years of study) you are qualified to start the taught MA in Railway Studies; and in exceptional circumstances, you might be able to take an MA by research or by independent study and research.

Costs

The annual tuition fee for the Certificate in Railway Studies (by Distance Learning) is set at 30% of that for a full-time graduate student in the University. Details of fees may be found from the University Graduate Schools Office. Please note that the annual fee will be subject to increase in subsequent years.

Application

You do not need to have studied before at university or college to take this course. Nor do you need to have any formal educational qualifications. However, you do have to be able to show that you are capable of completing the course and of benefiting from it. It is also important to bear in mind that although help and guidance will always be available from the course tutors, a distance-learning course requires that you work a great deal in isolation, and demands considerable self-discipline and self-motivation.

Please contact the IRS&TH to register your interest if you wish to receive an information pack for the next intake, by completing this form (note that this is not an application form, merely an expression of interest in receiving more information about the course), or contacting us by telephone on 01904 432981/2, fax 01904 432986, or e-mail hist14@york.ac.uk.

For further information on all aspects of the Certificate programme, please contact:

Dr Barbara Schmucki
Institute of Railway Studies & Transport Studies
Department of History
University of York
Heslington
York
YO10 5DD

E-mail: bs16@york.ac.uk

The title and details of the optional module in the history of inland and coastal navigation are subject to approval by the Department of History and the University of York.

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IRS&TH / 23 Nov 09/CD