International Relations BA Honours

Program Overview

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International Relations BA Honours

Overview

This course enables you to develop a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of the international system and to relate this to contemporary developments in international relations. It provides a theoretical framework for understanding the distribution of power at the global, regional and national levels.

Course Structure

Teaching and learning includes small group work, problem-based tutorials, review sessions, workshops, symposia, debates, Q&A sessions, document analysis sessions, and structured role-plays.

Assessment methods are wide-ranging on this course and include essays, exams, policy reports, project work, individual and group presentations, blogs, posters, and debates.

Year 1

Our teaching programme is structured to support your transition to higher education, with the first year designed to immerse you in key concepts, case studies and questions in politics, international relations and development studies.

• British Politics
• Critical Perspectives on Global Politics
• Democracy in Crisis
• Dilemmas of International Development
• Global Governance and Development
• Introduction to International Relations
• Political Ideas in Action
• The Politics of Migration

Year 2

In the second year, you will be encouraged to think about the global dimensions of international security, examining the contemporary challenges to states, citizens and the globe in the post-Cold War era. You will be encouraged to think imaginatively about ideas in international relations, especially as it relates to the geopolitics of states, regions and territories within world politics today.

• Democracy and Development in Asia and Africa
• Geopolitics
• Global Security
• Governance in Europe
• International Political Economy
• Learning in an International Environment
• Middle East Politics
• Political Research and Practice
• Politics and International Relations Internship
• Power and the State
• Rethinking Development
• Theorising Politics and International Relations
• The Politics of Killing

Placement Year

Students on this course have the opportunity to either spend one optional year abroad or one year gaining professional experience.

If you go abroad, you may complete a work or volunteering placement, both of which provide valuable opportunities to boost your employability and ground your studies in an experiential setting. You may also undertake a study placement at one of our university partners. You can also undertake a combination of both study and work.

Year 3

In your third year, you will examine the ways in which sovereignty has been transformed through recent debates about human rights, humanitarian intervention, ethics, and state responsibility within the new era of global politics.

• American Power in a Multi-Polar World
• Contested Sovereignty: Territory, Borders and Resistance
• Digital Politics
• Dissertation
• Equality, Justice and Citizenship
• Ethics, Morality and World Order(s)
• Foreign Policy and Diplomacy in a Changing World
• Gender and Politics
• Humanitarian Intervention and International Relations
• Learning from NGOs in an International Context
• Policy and Practice
• Politics and Development in the Middle East
• Postcolonial Politics and International Relations
• Radical Democracy
• Security and the Surveillance State
• Special Topic in Politics and International Relations
• The Global Politics of Climate Change: Security, Sustainability and Low-Carbon Transition
• The Politics of Protest: Social and Political Movements Today

Entry Requirements

• A Levels: BCC (104 UCAS Tariff points)
• T levels: 104 UCAS Tariff points
• International Baccalaureate: 104 UCAS Tariff points from all components of the Diploma Programme
• BTEC Extended Diploma: DMM
• BTEC Diploma: D*D
• Access: 104 UCAS Tariff points from the Access course

In addition to one of the above, you should have:

• GCSE English Language: grade 4/C – IB grade 4 Higher Level
• GCSE Maths: grade 4/C – IB grade 4

If your first language is not English, you will need an IELTS of 6.0 overall, with 5.5 in each component.

Fees and Funding

• UK tuition fee: £9,535 (Price per academic year)
• International tuition fee: £17,600 (Price per academic year)

Teaching and Assessment

• Scheduled hours: 28% (Year 1), 27% (Year 2), 1% (Placement Year), 24% (Year 3)
• Independent study: 72% (Year 1), 73% (Year 2), 0% (Placement Year), 76% (Year 3)
• Placement: 0% (Year 1), 0% (Year 2), 99% (Placement Year), 0% (Year 3)

Assessment methods:

• Written exams: 3% (Year 1), 2% (Year 2), 0% (Placement Year), 0% (Year 3)
• Practical: 11% (Year 1), 1% (Year 2), 60% (Placement Year), 6% (Year 3)
• Coursework: 86% (Year 1), 97% (Year 2), 40% (Placement Year), 94% (Year 3)