Strategy, Intelligence and Security
Entry requirements
A level
The University welcomes undergraduate applications from students studying the Access to Higher Education Diploma, provided that relevant subject content and learning outcomes are met. We are not able to accept Access to Higher Education Diplomas as a general qualification for every undergraduate degree course.
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
UCAS Tariff
Aberystwyth University welcomes the Welsh Baccalaureate as a valuable qualification in its own right and considers completion of the Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate to be equivalent to an A level grade.
About this course
In an increasingly interconnected, contested and complex world, international actors face a range of security challenges. These include inter-and intra-state conflict, international terrorism, cyber threats, nuclear proliferation, global health pandemics, transnational crime, population displacement, natural disasters, and climate change.
The BSc in Strategy, Intelligence and Security Studies at Aberystwyth University will draw on ideas from strategic, intelligence and security studies to understand and analyse these challenges from different perspectives and explore innovative and holistic responses to them. Studying Strategy, Intelligence and Security studies will enable you to discover the following: analyse a multitude of threats, risks and challenges affecting the global, regional, national, societal and individual levels; explore the multi-faceted nature of global challenges by adopting strategic, intelligence and security perspectives; apply historical and theoretical insights to real-life case studies in order to understand the nature of contemporary strategic, intelligence and security challenges in international politics.
During the duration of your course, will have the opportunity to participate in our renowned ‘Crisis Games’; a three-day role-playing exercise in political, economic and diplomatic manoeuvre, developing negotiation and communication, critical thinking, teamwork, and problem-solving skills. The Department operates a prestigious Parliamentary Placement Scheme, enabling you to gain valuable experience working alongside an MP (House of Commons, Westminster) or an AM (Welsh Assembly, Cardiff) for a period of 4-6 weeks during the summer. During this time you will write reports and speeches, undertake research projects, and respond to constituency issues. There may be further opportunities for you to get involved in elections and various international issues. The Department also has an International Student Exchange Programme based on close links with carefully selected universities in Europe, Asia, North America and Australia, offering you an excellent opportunity to expand your academic and social horizons by spending a part of your university experience abroad.
Intelligence Studies: modules on intelligence studies explore the complexities of how intelligence is gathered and assessed before it is disseminated to decision-makers, and you will examine how this process and its products influence responses to security threats. You will also get an opportunity to evaluate the importance of information, secrecy, and surveillance while considering the ethical, moral and legal implications that arise from engaging in intelligence activities through historical case studies.
Strategic Studies: modules on strategic studies will enable you to situate intelligence dilemmas within the framework of the key strategic concepts that shape our understanding of war and peace. Through an examination of the nature and character of war, you will learn how various actors, technology, geography, and ideology bring about change or create continuity within the international system.
Security Studies: modules on security studies will enable you to identify and understand the range of threats, risks and challenges to an international, national and individual security. A key feature of this scheme is the emphasis on innovative teaching approaches such as strategic gaming and role-plays. These innovative activities explore the process of decision-making and develop your analytical and problem-solving abilities.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
Extra funding
Aberystwyth University offers a valuable package of scholarships and bursaries to support students. Our long-established Entrance Examination competition means you could get up to £2,000 a year towards your living and study costs. You can combine that with any or all of our other awards, to make your financial package more valuable. Our awards include Sport and Music Scholarships, Bursaries for Care Leavers/Young Carers/Estranged Students and a range of department specific awards. Please visit our website for full details.
The Uni
Main Site (Aberystwyth)
Department of International Politics
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Politics
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
Social policy
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Politics
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
The numbers of people taking politics degrees fell sharply last year and we'll keep an eye on this one - it can't really be because of graduates getting poor outcomes as politics grads do about as well as graduates on average. Most politics or international relations graduates don't actually go into politics - although many do, as activists, fundraisers and researchers. Jobs in local and central government are also important. Other popular jobs include marketing and PR, youth and community work, finance roles, HR and academic research (you usually need a postgraduate degree to get into research). Because so many graduates get jobs in the civil service, a lot of graduates find themselves in London after graduating. Politics is a very popular postgraduate subject, and so about one in five politics graduates go on to take another course - usually a one-year Masters - after they finish their degrees.
Social policy
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
Just over 1,600 students graduated in social policy in 2015, which makes it one of the smaller social studies subjects. This is a popular subject at Masters level — 750 Masters in social policy were awarded last year - and so a lot of the more sought-after jobs in management and research tend to go to social policy graduates with postgraduate degrees. For those who leave university after their first degree, then jobs in social care (especially community and youth work) and education, the police, marketing and human resources and recruitment are popular — along with local government, although there are fewer of those jobs around than in the past. This degree is a bit less reliant on London for jobs than other similar subjects, so if you'd like to work outside the capital, it might be worth considering - although the jobs still tend to be in big cities.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Politics
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£19k
£22k
£27k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
Social policy
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£17k
£21k
£23k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
Explore these similar courses...
This is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Course location and department:
This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):
We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).
This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.
You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Post-six month graduation stats:
This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.
It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Graduate field commentary:
The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
Have a question about this info? Learn more here