Politics and International Relations with a year in continental Europe
Entry requirements
A level
Access to HE Diploma
120 Tariff points from your IB Diploma, Typically H5, H6, H6 or equivalent
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Scottish Higher qualifications are considered on an individual basis.
UCAS Tariff
About this course
Politics is everywhere. It’s exciting, but also frustrating, messy and complex. This is your time to make a difference - reshape the world and your future in it. Bring your determination to us and we will give you the skills and confidence to make a change.
Overview
Make sense of the complex world of politics and international relations. Whether it’s climate change, the rise of tyrannical leaders, gender politics, or the misuse of artificial intelligence and big data, you will understand today’s political problems and gain the skills to pursue a career that can solve them.
Reasons to study Politics and International Relations at Kent
- Job-focused skills. Your course is designed in partnership with former graduates and employers to prepare you for the world of work.
- Grow yourself. As your interests grow, add a year abroad, a year in industry, or a year in journalism, data analytics, computing or a language.
- Your learning journey. Learn, develop and collaborate with our world-leading experts.
- We know you. A close-knit learning community with fantastic student support to help you achieve your full potential.
- Join a supportive and welcoming community on our Canterbury campus, in the heart of a historic city.
What you’ll learn
- You will leave Kent as a literate and numerate graduate, equipped with the skills to make a difference in the world. Our alumna Grace Couch recently received the "Rising Star" award in the Municipal Journal Achievement Awards 2022 for her work as Climate and Ecological Emergency Project Officer.
- Understand our world today and its key political challenges. Stay up to date with what's happening globally, regionally and at the University by reading our School’s blog.
- Make persuasive arguments - students in our Model United Nations programme practise diplomatic and public speaking skills by debating on world issues in the United Nation. This year, the KentMUN society hosted its own conference and attended conferences in Warwick, London and Brighton.
- Understand how data and evidence are used and misused by governments, journalists and even academics.
- Conduct independent research and become a knowledge creator. Specialise in your research after your undergraduate degree by studying a postgraduate research degree.
- Acquire the transferable graduate skills that employers want—problem-solving, teamwork, communication, and data analytics. You will also have access to the Careers and Employability Service for advice on job hunting and interviews.
Modules
You learn to explore the challenges facing the world, utilising the different concepts and approaches of political theory. You benefit from the expertise of staff who have advised governments and conducted conflict mediation exercises, deepening your understanding and developing solutions to a range of issues, from terrorism to the impact of the pandemic on politics, and political polarisation. Through the year abroad you gain added insight into the politics and culture of your host country.
Tuition fees
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The Uni
University of Kent
School of Politics and International Relations
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)
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.
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.
£20k
£26k
£34k
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.
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This is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.
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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.
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Course location and department:
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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?
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