Program Overview

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BA International Relations Combined Honours

Duration

3 or 4 years

Start of programme

September 2025

Attendance mode

Full-time

Location

Campus

Fees

• Home: £9,535
• International: £22,870

Entry requirements

• AAA-AAB
• Contextual: AAB-ABB
• See undergraduate entry requirements and English language requirements for international and alternative entry requirements.

Course Overview

The BA International Relations Combined Honours programme is designed to be an immersive experience that draws on the significant expertise of our diverse academic specialists in the study of Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Why study International Relations Combined Honours at SOAS?

• We’re ranked 6th in the UK and 28th worldwide for Politics (QS World University Rankings 2025)
• We're ranked 3rd worldwide for Academic Reputation (QS World University Rankings 2025)

Combined Courses

• BA East Asian Studies and International Relations
• BA History of Art and International Relations
• BA International Relations and Africa and Black Diaspora
• BA International Relations and Africa and Black Diaspora including Year Abroad
• BA International Relations and Arabic (Year Abroad)
• BA International Relations and Chinese (Year Abroad)
• BA International Relations and Economics
• BA International Relations and Global Development
• BA International Relations and History
• BA International Relations and Japanese (Year Abroad)
• BA International Relations and Korean (Year Abroad)
• BA International Relations and Law
• BA International Relations and Music
• BA International Relations and Social Anthropology
• BA International Relations and World Philosophies
• BA Languages and Cultures (Middle East, Africa, South and Southeast Asia) and International Relations
• BA Languages and Cultures (Middle East, Africa, South and Southeast Asia) and International Relations including year abroad
• BA Politics and International Relations

Teaching and Learning

The programme provides methodological and skills training throughout and allows final year students to undertake an independent research project, such as a dissertation, supervised by an academic member of staff.

Contact hours

Most of our modules are taught through a combination of lectures and tutorials. Lectures (50 minutes) provide broad overviews of the topic. They are accompanied by tutorials (50 minutes) that give students the opportunity to discuss readings and key issues in small groups. In the final year, modules may also take the form of two-hour seminars allowing for deeper engagement with more specialised topics.

Learning resources

Students also benefit from the vibrant learning environment SOAS provides more broadly. The SOAS Library is one of the world's most important academic libraries for the study of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, attracting scholars from all over the world. Moreover, every year there is a lively events programme that attracts renowned speakers from around the world, allowing students to engage with cutting edge debates on contemporary politics.

Fees and Funding

Fees for 2025/26 entrants per academic year

Programme	Full-time
Home students	Overseas students
BA, BSc, LLB	£9,535	£22,870
BA/BSc Language year abroad	£1,385	£11,430

See undergraduate fees for further details.

Employment

SOAS Politics and International Relations students leave SOAS not only with a knowledge and understanding of the complex political and cultural issues of our time, but also with a portfolio of widely transferable skills which employers seek in many professional and management careers.

Recent graduates have been hired by:

• BBC World Service
• Bloomberg
• British Red Cross
• British Council
• Center for International Peace Operations
• Channel 4
• Council for At-Risk Academics (CARA)
• Department for International Development (DfID)
• Eversheds LLP
• Financial Times
• Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO)
• Global Policy Institute
• Go East Consulting
• Grassroot Diplomat
• Palestine Red Crescent Association
• Save the Children
• UNICEF Ethiopia
• United Nations

Find out about our Careers Service.

Key Staff

Dr Maya Nguyen

Lecturer in International Relations

Research

PACT project

A ground-breaking multi-disciplinary research collaboration, PACT will create an advanced digital platform on the making of the Indian constitution (1950), one of the most influential in the global South.

Intergenerational Justice in Eastern Africa

This research will explore intergenerational justice across the social sciences and humanities.

Reframing Justice after Atrocity

Through historical and modern case studies in Latin America, Europe and Africa and the new conceptual framework of “arenas of accountability”, this project examines justice interactions that go beyond the linear international-to-national transmission of norms and practices.

Civic Infrastructures of Torture

The project is based on exclusive access this research team has been granted to the archive of PCATI, which documents torture practices implemented by Israeli security agencies.

Migration Governance and Diplomacy

This project investigates how migration governance has been influenced by “refugee crises” and how crises at large shape policy responses on migration.

Pan-African Frontiers and Identities

This multi-sited collaborative research project explores the diverse deployments of pan-Africanism as a geopolitical and policy framework both on the African continent and in the diaspora.

African State Architecture

Professor Julia Gallagher and a team of researchers lead the African State Architecture project funded by a major grant from the European Research Council.

Strategic Concept for Removal of Arms and Proliferation (SCRAP)

A comprehensive approach to realising global disarmament.

ACE: Innovative approaches to anti-corruption

Finding impactful anti-corruption strategies around the world.

Recognising the women who shaped the UN Charter

Recognising the key role of women of the Global South in establishing the equality of the sexes in the UN Charter of 1945.