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Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Placement Year)

Entry requirements


A level

A,A,B

Access to HE Diploma

D:36,M:9

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

35

with 16 points from the best 3 Higher Level subjects

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

DDD

UCAS Tariff

136

We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.

About this course


Course option

4years

Full-time | 2024

Subjects

Philosophy

Economics

Politics

**Why Lancaster?**
- Study in a department that combines expertise in Politics and Philosophy, as well as the Department of Economics in our quadruple accredited Management School

- Study philosophical ideas with experts in both Western and non-Western traditions

- Learn from inspiring academics who research challenges such as the politics and economics of climate change, global health, peace and conflict

- Expand your experience with an internship or join an overseas study trip to the US, India or China

- This degree can lead to a career in many areas, including the Civil and Diplomatic Services, international development work, journalism and the media

Our BA (Hons) Philosophy, Politics and Economics lets you explore the events and ideas that make up our world today. How are societies and political institutions influenced by economic forces? What difference do ideas and ideologies make? How do international treaties and conflicts shape people’s lives?

**Three ways to explore the world**
In this course, you’ll explore philosophical arguments, analyse political structures, and engage with economic models. You’ll gain a better understanding of our world, as well as developing your critical and reasoning skills and abilities to communicate clearly and articulately.

The broad scope of our department means you can study ethics and society, political institutions and financial markets. You can explore Indian philosophical thought as well as Western approaches. You also have the option of adding an International Relations element to your politics studies to develop a truly global perspective.

**Tailor your degree**
With the support of your supervisor, you’ll have the freedom to define the topic of your dissertation in your third year. Previous students have researched a range of subjects including bitcoin and crypto currencies, long-termism and sustainability, and the justification of war.

Want to add experience to your CV? Apply for one of the internships offered every year by the Richardson Institute for Peace Studies, based in our department. These are research projects in external organisations such as NGOs, think tanks, charities and faith-based organisations. We’ll also support you in finding placement opportunities in a range of organisations, from roles in arts and heritage organisations, to media and marketing agencies.

The University usually runs short, overseas study trips to give you the chance to experience a different culture. In the past these have included Malaysia, India, Ghana, China and the US, where we visited the J.F.K Presidential library, the United Nations and the 9/11 Memorial Museum.

**Your Placement Year**
Sometimes known as a year in industry, your placement year will take place between your second and final year of study and this will extend your degree to four years.

You'll spend your third year in a paid, graduate-level position, where you’ll work for between nine and twelve months in the type of role that you might be considering for after you graduate. A very wide range of companies and organisations offer placements across all sectors.

Our Careers and Placements Team will help you to secure a suitable placement with expert advice and resources, such as creating an effective CV, and tips for applications and interviews.

The university will use all reasonable effort to support you to find a suitable placement for your studies. While a placement role may not be available in a field or organisation that is directly related to your academic studies or career aspirations, all offer valuable experience of working at a graduate level and gaining a range of professional skills.

If you are unsuccessful in securing a suitable placement for your third year, you will be able to transfer to the equivalent non-placement degree scheme and continue with your studies at Lancaster, finishing your degree after your third year.

The Uni


Course location:

Lancaster University

Department:

Politics, Philosophy and Religion

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.

87%
Philosophy
78%
Economics
81%
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
93%
Staff are good at explaining things
88%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
48%
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

79%
Library resources
95%
IT resources
88%
Course specific equipment and facilities
67%
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?

89%
UK students
11%
International students
50%
Male students
50%
Female students
87%
2:1 or above
12%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

A
A
A

Economics

Teaching and learning

69%
Staff make the subject interesting
85%
Staff are good at explaining things
72%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
59%
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

86%
Library resources
88%
IT resources
85%
Course specific equipment and facilities
77%
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?

77%
UK students
23%
International students
72%
Male students
28%
Female students
79%
2:1 or above
6%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
A
B

Politics

Teaching and learning

85%
Staff make the subject interesting
88%
Staff are good at explaining things
84%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
65%
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
95%
IT resources
87%
Course specific equipment and facilities
73%
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
57%
Male students
43%
Female students
89%
2:1 or above
4%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
B
B

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.

£18,000
med
Average annual salary
95%
med
Employed or in further education

Top job areas of graduates

16%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals
14%
Teaching and educational professionals
11%
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.

£23,000
med
Average annual salary
98%
high
Employed or in further education
66%
low
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

31%
Business, finance and related associate professionals
22%
Business, research and administrative professionals
6%
Other administrative occupations

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.

£20,000
med
Average annual salary
96%
med
Employed or in further education
61%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

16%
Business, finance and related associate professionals
11%
Public services and other associate professionals
8%
Welfare and housing 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.

£18k

£18k

£25k

£25k

£24k

£24k

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.

£25k

£25k

£31k

£31k

£42k

£42k

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.

£20k

£20k

£26k

£26k

£29k

£29k

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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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?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here