The Department of History at the Faculty of Arts and Letters, Catholic University in Ruzomberok was founded in 1996. It is a respected institution with a number of successful graduates. The department offers degree programmes at all three levels. At the bachelor (BA) and master (MA) level students may choose a teacher training programme teaching of history (in combination with another subject), a single major study programme in history or a double major study programme in history combined with either English and American studies, German studies, philosophy, political science or Slovak language and literature. At the doctoral (PhD) level, students may study history (with a focus on Slovak history) within a full-time or part-time study.

The faculty members specialize primarily on cultural and ecclesiastical history but also on the history of late Antiquity and history of Czechoslovakia in the period of 1918 – 1939. These and similar topics serve as a basis for successful cooperation with other institutions in Slovakia and abroad. One of the results is publication of the peer-reviewed journal Cultural History, which became both authoritative and popular journal in the area of history.

Graduates of history study programmes achieve a complex overview of both world and Slovak (national) history as well as background in the basic methods and methodology of historical work. The main goal, however, is to educate responsible human beings with advanced critical and analytical skills. A more specific goal is to prepare independent and well-educated historians and teachers of history who can find careers in the area of research and education. Graduates are able to find their job at the research or higher education institutions (universities, Slovak Academy of Sciences etc.), secondary schools, institutions focusing on preservation and promotion, publishing houses but they may be employed also at administration, various governmental or non-governmental institutions. The department attempts to prepare graduates who are flexible and able to easily acquire new knowledge and skills.