Master in History

The Master in History is taught by the Sciences Po School of Research through the Centre d'histoire de Sciences Po, and it is a research degree in the proper sense — the point is to train you to do history, not to survey it. The two years combine high-level theoretical and methodological training in how historical inquiry is actually constructed, specialisation in one of a wide range of fields and periods, seminar work in small groups, and a substantial dissertation built on primary archival research. Sciences Po's own historical strengths are in political, international, economic, social and contemporary history, with particular depth in twentieth-century Europe, decolonisation, war and memory, and the history of political ideas.

The degree is explicitly a pathway rather than a terminal qualification. It feeds the Sciences Po PhD in History and, in the French system, the agrégation preparation classes — but it also routes graduates into the public service, heritage, libraries and archives, publishing, the press, the cultural and audiovisual industries, and non-profits. The Centre d'histoire's research seminars, visiting scholars and Paris location put you inside one of the densest concentrations of archives in the world: the Archives nationales, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the diplomatic archives at La Courneuve, and the specialist collections of the grandes écoles.

You must be clear-eyed about one thing before applying: the Master in History is taught in French. This is not a programme where French is a nice-to-have for daily life — the seminars, the reading, the assessment and the dissertation are all in French, and the entry bar is genuine fluency, normally evidenced at C1. That makes it a realistic target for a specific kind of Sri Lankan applicant: someone who has taken French seriously through the Alliance Française de Kotte or Colombo to DELF C1 level, or who has already studied French at Kelaniya or Colombo. For that applicant it is one of the strongest history degrees in Europe, on French public-university-adjacent means-tested fees, with the Émile Boutmy scholarship available on top. If your French is not there yet, the honest advice is to spend a year getting it there rather than applying and being screened out.