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Politics and international relations is an exciting, fast-changing, broad-based discipline.
Overview
Our programmes are extremely flexible and offer extensive module choice, reflecting the research interests of our staff, including conflict resolution, federalism, comparative politics, European integration, ethnic conflict, terrorism, the theory of international relations, political theory, and the politics of countries such as China, Japan, Russia and the USA.
This single honours BA degree is one of our most popular programmes. In addition to providing you with a foundation in Politics, it allows you also to focus on the international and global dimension of contemporary world politics.
This programme aims to develop students’ capacities to think critically about political and international events, ideas and institutions while acquiring knowledge and understanding in political and international relations theory and analysis in a supportive and responsive learning environment.
Independent rankings
In the National Student Survey 2015, 92% of Politics students were satisfied with the overall quality of their course. Kent was ranked 5th in the UK for politics in The Guardian University Guide 2017. In The Times Good University Guide 2016, Politics at Kent was ranked 10th in the UK for graduate prospects.
Course structure
The course structure below gives a flavour of the modules that will be available to you and provides details of the content of this programme. This listing is based on the current curriculum and may change year to year in response to new curriculum developments and innovation. Most programmes will require you to study a combination of compulsory and optional modules. You may also have the option to take ‘wild’ modules from other programmes offered by the University in order that you may customise your programme and explore other subject areas of interest to you or that may further enhance your employability.
Teaching and assessment
Our main teaching methods are lectures, seminars, working groups, PC laboratory sessions and individual discussions with your personal tutor or module teachers. Assessment is through continuous feedback, written examinations, assessed essays and oral presentations.
Politics Open Forum
We hold a weekly extra-curricular Open Forum organised by our School research groups, where students and staff have the opportunity to discuss and debate key issues of the day that affect higher education and politics in the world today.
Programme aims
The programme aims to:
- place questions of political and international order and decision-making at the centre of social-scientific analysis
- provide knowledge of political and international relations theory and analysis within a supportive learning environment
- enable students to grasp the concepts, approaches and methods of politics and international relations, and to understand their contested nature
- encourage students to think critically about political and international events, ideas and institutions
- enable students to relate the academic study of politics and international relations to questions of public concern
- provide a curriculum supported by scholarship and a research culture that promotes wide-ranging intellectual enquiry and debate
- enable students to develop cognitive and transferable skills relevant to their vocational and personal development.
Learning outcomes
Knowledge and understanding
You gain knowledge and understanding of:
- key concepts, theories and methods and how to use them to analyse political ideas, institutions, practices and issues in the global arena
- the structure, institutions and operation of different political systems
- the social, economic, historical and cultural contexts of political institutions and behaviour
- the political dynamics of interaction between people, events, ideas and institutions
- factors accounting for political change
- the contestable nature of many concepts and different approaches to the study of politics and international relations
- the normative and positive foundations of political ideas
- the nature and significance of politics as a global activity
- the origins and evolution of the international political system, including contemporary changes
- different interpretations of world political events and issues.
Intellectual skills
You gain intellectual skills in how to:
- gather, organise and deploy information from a variety of primary and secondary sources
- identify, investigate, analyse, formulate and advocate solutions to problems
- develop reasoned arguments, synthesise relevant information and exercise critical judgement
- reflect on and manage your own learning and make use of constructive feedback to enhance your own performance and personal skills.
Subject-specific skills
You gain subject-specific skills in:
- understanding the nature and significance of politics as a human and global activity
- the application of concepts, theories and methods to the analysis of political ideas, institutions, practices and issues in the global arena
- how to evaluate different interpretations of world political events and issues
- the ability to describe, evaluate and apply different approaches to collecting, analysing and presenting political information
- the contending and comparative approaches to politics and international relations
- understanding the nature of conflict in relations between and within states.
Transferable skills
You develop transferable skills in how to:
- communicate effectively and fluently in speech and writing
- use communication and IT for the retrival and presentation of information, including statistical or numerical data
- work independently, demonstrating initiative, self-organisation and time-management
- collaborate with others to achieve common goals.
Careers
Through your study, you acquire many of the key qualities that graduate employers expect, including: the ability to plan and organise projects; to analyse and summarise complex material, and to express your opinions coherently and with sensitivity. Those students who choose to take advantage of our study abroad options find it gives them a definite advantage in the employment market.
Recent graduates have gone into areas such as teaching, publishing, practical politics, local and central government, the diplomatic service, EU administration, financial services, non-governmental organisations, journalism, international business or international organisations. Many have also gone on to postgraduate study.
Entry requirements
Home/EU students
The University will consider applications from students offering a wide range of qualifications, typical requirements are listed below, students offering alternative qualifications should contact the Admissions Office for further advice. It is not possible to offer places to all students who meet this typical offer/minimum requirement.
| Qualification | Typical offer/minimum requirement |
|---|---|
| A level | BBB |
| Access to HE Diploma | The University of Kent will not necessarily make conditional offers to all access candidates but will continue to assess them on an individual basis. If an offer is made candidates will be required to obtain/pass the overall Access to Higher Education Diploma and may also be required to obtain a proportion of the total level 3 credits and/or credits in particular subjects at merit grade or above. |
| BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma (formerly BTEC National Diploma) | The university will consider applicants holding BTEC National Diploma and Extended National Diploma Qualifications (QCF; NQF;OCR) on a case by case basis please contact us via the enquiries tab for further advice on your individual circumstances. |
| International Baccalaureate | 34 points overall or 15 points at HL |
International students
The University receives applications from over 140 different nationalities and consequently will consider applications from prospective students offering a wide range of international qualifications. Our International Development Office will be happy to advise prospective students on entry requirements. See our International Student website for further information about our country-specific requirements.
Please note that if you need to increase your level of qualification ready for undergraduate study, we offer a number of International Foundation Programmes through Kent International Pathways.
English Language Requirements
Please see our English language entry requirements web page.
Please note that if you are required to meet an English language condition, we offer a number of pre-sessional courses in English for Academic Purposes through Kent International Pathways.
General entry requirements
Please also see our general entry requirements.
Fees
The 2016/17 annual tuition fees for this programme are:
| UK/EU | Overseas | |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time | ||
| Part-time |
For details of when and how to pay fees and charges, please see our Student Finance Guide.
The Government has announced changes to allow undergraduate tuition fees to rise in line with inflation from 2017/18.
The University of Kent is currently considering whether to increase its regulated full-time tuition fees for all returning Home and EU undergraduates from £9,000 to £9,250 in September 2017. This would be subject to us satisfying the Government's Teaching Excellence Framework and the access regulator's requirements. The equivalent part-time fees for these courses might also rise by 2.8%.
For students continuing on this programme fees will increase year on year by no more than RPI + 3% in each academic year of study except where regulated.* If you are uncertain about your fee status please contact information@kent.ac.uk
Funding
Kent offers generous financial support schemes to assist eligible undergraduate students during their studies. Details of our proposed funding opportunities for 2016 entry can be found on our funding page.
General scholarships
Scholarships are available for excellence in academic performance, sport and music and are awarded on merit. For further information on the range of awards available and to make an application see our scholarships website.
The Kent Scholarship for Academic Excellence
At Kent we recognise, encourage and reward excellence. We have created the Kent Scholarship for Academic Excellence. For 2016 entry, the scholarship will be awarded to any applicant who achieves a minimum of AAA over three A levels, or the equivalent qualifications as specified on our scholarships pages. Please review the eligibility criteria on that page.