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Philosophy, Politics and Economics

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About this course


Course option

3years

Full-time | 2024

Subjects

Philosophy

Economics

Politics

Do you question what drives human actions and decisions? Are you curious about the ways in which government policies impact society? Or the ethics of global production and consumption?

Philosophy is the study of the important questions that arise in all areas of human life. By combining the study of philosophy, politics and economics you’ll gain insight into the thinking behind some of the big ideas that shape contemporary society.

This prestigious degree offers you the opportunity to explore these three important disciplines – their connections, influences and impact. You’ll gain an understanding of how and why they’ve been so inextricably linked historically, and the ways in which they’ve developed and diverged over the course of the last two centuries, both in content and in method.

Using a combination of academic theory and real-world practice, you’ll examine issues such as global politics, ethics and economic growth, gaining the knowledge and skills to pursue different lines of inquiry and the confidence to question your own thinking.

While the first year provides a foundation in all three areas, the choice broadens substantially in subsequent years. Across Years 2 and 3, you’ll study a minimum of two modules for each discipline, and you can tailor the remainder of your choices from a wide selection of option modules.

The course offers the opportunity to add a placement year or spend a year abroad, increasing the degree from three years to four. This extra dimension, coupled with the variety of option modules gives the degree the flexibility and eclecticism that are its defining characteristics.

The rigorous academic framework opens the door to a wide range of career options including policy making, journalism, the financial sector, the legal profession, consultancy, education and the civil service.

Modules

Year 1
Core modules:
Principles of Economics provides a sound foundation for modules in micro- and macroeconomics. You will cover areas including methodology of economics, supply and demand, consumer spending choices, competition and growth theories.

Economic Methods familiarises you with the use of mathematical and statistical tools in solving economic problems. You will look at equations, matrix algebra, calculus, statistics, distribution, confidence intervals and hypothesis testing.

Ethics and Values provides a structured introduction to moral philosophy, including applied ethics, by exploring key moral concepts and showing how they influence moral practices and theories.

Knowledge and Reality introduces philosophical problems in epistemology (the study of knowledge), and metaphysics (the study of reality and ourselves).

Examples of optional modules:
Researching Politics and International Relations
Introduction to Political Theory
Introduction to Comparative Politics
Introduction to International Relations
Perspectives of Political Economy.
Year 2
Examples of optional modules:
The Philosophy of Economics and Politics: Theory, Methods and Values
Political and Social Philosophy
Macroeconomics
Microeconomics
Economic Theory.
The fourth module is chosen from a wide selection of politics modules.

Year 3 (Year 4 if undertaking a placement or year abroad)
The Dissertation is a detailed and critical examination of a relevant area of either philosophy, politics or economics. It develops your ability to plan and manage your own learning and provides you with an opportunity to research a specific topic and present your findings and conclusions.

Plus four additional options from an extensive selection of modules across the three subject areas.

Assessment methods

Modules are assessed via a combination of examinations and unseen essay questions, essays and group projects.

The range of assessment methods is designed to assess your knowledge and understanding of the material, test your critical thinking skills, enhance your written and oral communication skills, and assess your ability to relate your learning to real-world issues.

The Year 3 dissertation, which should be based around a relevant philosophy, politics or economics topic of your choice, makes up one-third of your final-year marks.

The Uni


Course locations:

College allocation pending

Durham City

Department:

Philosophy

Read full university profile

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.

77%
Philosophy
77%
Economics
74%
Politics

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.

Philosophy

Teaching and learning

83%
Staff make the subject interesting
92%
Staff are good at explaining things
88%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
64%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

67%
Library resources
80%
IT resources
83%
Course specific equipment and facilities
63%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

81%
UK students
19%
International students
52%
Male students
48%
Female students
99%
2:1 or above
5%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

A
A*
A

Economics

Teaching and learning

72%
Staff make the subject interesting
79%
Staff are good at explaining things
77%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
67%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

78%
Library resources
88%
IT resources
85%
Course specific equipment and facilities
65%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

62%
UK students
38%
International students
64%
Male students
36%
Female students
94%
2:1 or above
2%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

A
A
A

Politics

Teaching and learning

79%
Staff make the subject interesting
77%
Staff are good at explaining things
82%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
51%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

68%
Library resources
92%
IT resources
82%
Course specific equipment and facilities
47%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

71%
UK students
29%
International students
53%
Male students
47%
Female students
92%
2:1 or above
4%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

A
A
A

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.

Philosophy

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.

£24,000
high
Average annual salary
92%
med
Employed or in further education
69%
high
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

23%
Business, research and administrative professionals
16%
Business, finance and related associate professionals
12%
Other elementary services occupations

Although there aren't a lot of jobs around for professional philosophers, philosophy degrees are a relatively popular option, with more than 2,000 students graduating in a philosophy-related subject in 2015 - a little down on previous years, but still healthy. Nearly a quarter of philosophy graduates take a postgraduate qualification, and it's a relatively common subject at both Masters and doctorate level — so if you think academic life might be for you, think ahead about how you might fund further study. For those who go into work, philosophy grads tend to go into teaching, accountancy, consulting, journalism, PR, housing, marketing, human resources and the arts while a few go into the computer industry every year, where their logical training is highly rated.

Economics

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.

£29,000
high
Average annual salary
97%
med
Employed or in further education
88%
high
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

35%
Business, research and administrative professionals
29%
Business, finance and related associate professionals
7%
Functional managers and directors

This is a degree in demand, as business increasingly needs workers who can examine and explain complex data. And yet the number of economics graduates fell by nearly 10% last year, which means demand is even greater. As so many economic grads go into banking and finance, it's not surprising that over half of all 2015's economics graduates who did go into work were working in London. And don't think it's just the finance industry that's interested in these graduates - there's a significant number who enter the IT industry to work with data as analysts and consultants. It's quite common for economics graduates to go into jobs such as accountancy and management consultancy which may require you to take more training and gain professional qualifications - so don’t assume you won’t have to take any more exams once you leave uni. And the incentive to take them, of course, is better pay, which will be on top of an already healthy average starting salary of over £30,000 for graduates working in the capital.

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.

£25,000
high
Average annual salary
89%
low
Employed or in further education
83%
high
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

21%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals
14%
Business, research and administrative professionals
10%
Business, finance and related associate professionals

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.

Philosophy

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

£24k

£31k

£31k

£34k

£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.

Economics

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£30k

£30k

£40k

£40k

£58k

£58k

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.

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.

£26k

£26k

£34k

£34k

£47k

£47k

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.

Explore these similar courses...

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Higher entry requirements
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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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