Politics and International Relations
Entry requirements
A level
Excluding General Studies and Critical Thinking.
Considered on a case by case basis.
Cambridge International Pre-U Certificate - Principal
GCSE/National 4/National 5
GCSE requirements: English grade 4/C required
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
Considered on a case-by-case basis alongside an A Level.
Considered on a case-by-case basis alongside two A Levels.
Considered on a case-by-case basis.
Please contact the school for further information.
Scottish Advanced Higher
Scottish Highers at AABBB are also required
Scottish Higher
Scottish Advanced Highers at AA are also required
Welsh Baccalaureate - Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate (first teaching September 2015)
A Levels at AB are also required.
UCAS Tariff
We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.
About this course
How do relationships between nations shape our world? Who holds the power? What are the political processes that impact our day to day lives?
On our BA Politics and International Relations, you’ll consider these questions by studying the core areas of comparative politics, political theory and international relations. You will sharpen your awareness of current affairs and your comprehension of the complex processes that underpin our society.
You can broaden your understanding of domestic and global politics and tailor your degree to your interests and career goals through optional modules. These explore diverse specialist areas such as social justice, global security and secret intelligence. You can also enhance your CV by studying abroad in locations like China, Europe and the USA.
You also have the option to take a specialised pathway that includes training in quantitative analysis, giving an extra dimension to your degree.
You will graduate with specialist knowledge and the transferable skills and confidence you need to stand out to employers as you start your career.
Modules
In year one, you will typically take modules which are designed to introduce you to key concepts and theories across the broad field of politics and international relations.
You will explore controversies in British politics, key political ideas and historical developments, and compare modern democratic states.
Year two covers core topics on elections and 20th century international politics. You will choose from range of optional modules from across the three core areas of political theory, comparative politics, and international relations.
In year three, you will have the option to write a dissertation based on a topic of your choice under the supervision of a member of staff.
You may also choose from a wide range of modules related to our research areas. You have free choice in this year and can tailor the course to your interests and career aspirations.
You can take a specialised pathway to graduate with a BA Politics and International Relations (Quantitative Methods) degree. This pathway includes training in the quantitative analysis of a range of datasets.
Tuition fees
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The Uni
University Park Campus
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.
£24k
£29k
£36k
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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Teaching Excellence Framework (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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