MPhil History
What an MPhil in History involves, research areas, careers in academia and research, and where to study it in Pakistan.
Quick Facts
| Degree Level | MPhil |
|---|---|
| Discipline | History |
| Offered By | 8 universities in our directory |
An MPhil in History is a two-year research master’s combining advanced historiography and methods coursework with original archival research and a thesis.
Research Areas
Common specialisations include colonial and post-colonial South Asian history, the Pakistan movement and partition, political and constitutional history, social and economic history, regional and local histories, Islamic history, and oral history.
Pakistan offers substantial unexplored archival and oral-history material, particularly regional and local histories and the recollections of partition-era generations — an area where original research remains genuinely possible and increasingly urgent as first-hand memory disappears.
MPhil or MS?
Pakistani universities use both titles for the two-year research master’s that follows a four-year bachelor’s, and HEC treats them as equivalent 18-year qualifications. MPhil is the more traditional and usually more thesis-weighted designation. Confirm which applies to your discipline and whether a thesis is compulsory, since that governs PhD eligibility.
Career Scope in Pakistan
University teaching is the primary destination, with an MPhil the minimum qualification for lecturing. Other paths include research institutes and think tanks, archives, museums and heritage organisations, documentary and journalism work, publishing and editing, curriculum and textbook development, and doctoral study.
Archival research capability and, where relevant, competence in Urdu, Persian or regional languages materially expand what a historian can work on and are worth developing deliberately.
Admission Requirements
A minimum of 16 years of education in a relevant discipline, plus the university’s subject test and usually an interview. Check the specific programme page for current requirements and deadlines.
Where You Can Study This
- 8 universities
- 6 cities
- 8 public
Fees are not shown here: we hold a published figure for 1 of these 8 universities, and comparing one against a blank column would be misleading rather than informative. Each university page carries its own fee where we have it.
| University | City | Sector | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Allama Iqbal Open University | Islamabad | Public | — |
| Bahauddin Zakariya University | Multan | Public | 2 years |
| Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan | Dera Ghazi Khan | Public | — |
| Government College University, Lahore | Lahore | Public | — |
| Quaid-i-Azam University | Islamabad | Public | 2 years |
| University of Gujrat | Gujrat | Public | — |
| University of Sargodha | Sargodha | Public | — |
| University of the Punjab | Lahore | Public | — |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between an MPhil and an MS?
Both are two-year research master's degrees treated as equivalent 18-year qualifications by HEC. MPhil is the more traditional designation and usually more thesis-weighted; MS is more common at newer and private universities.
What research opportunities exist for historians in Pakistan?
Substantial unexplored archival and oral-history material, particularly regional and local histories and partition-era testimony — an area where original research remains genuinely possible and increasingly urgent as first-hand memory disappears.