Politics
University of Stirling
UCAS Code: L200 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Scottish Higher
over 1 sitting or AABBB over 2 sittings
UCAS Tariff
We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.
About this course
Politics permeates every aspect of people’s lives: shaping their opinions, informing their decisions, guiding their alliances and enabling their understanding of others’ beliefs and motivations at individual, organisational and societal levels. Studying this subject will increase your awareness of the different political systems, ideologies and policies, which impact people’s lives at regional, national and international levels. Our Politics division is highly regarded and students benefit from a strong research-led approach to teaching. Our Politics programmes are informed by a strong emphasis on research training and transferable skills, which will prepare you for the challenges ahead in the workplace and in the wider world. Politics can be studied at Stirling as a specialist four-year Single Honours degree in Politics or International Politics or taken in combination with another subject as part of a four-year combined Honours degree. Politics can also be taken as a component of the Honours degrees in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) or History, Politics and Professional Education. All Politics Students take both core and options modules. In Semesters 1-4 students take the following Core Modules: Politics of the British Isles; Political Concepts and Ideas; International Politics; Great Political Thinkers; and Comparative Politics: Power and Representation in the Western World. These Core Modules are usually taught by two lectures and one tutorial per week and provide students with a sound foundation of the key aspects of the discipline. All Single Honours Politics students and most Combined Honours students take Research Methods in Politics in Semester 6 and write a Politics Dissertation in their final year Semesters (7-8). Honours Option Modules are offered in Semesters 5-8 and provide Politics students with a choice of modules on political theories and concepts, aspects of international politics, and British and European politics. Modules on offer as Honours Option Modules can include (among others): Human Rights in International Politics; Global Political Economy; Global Environmental Politics; Politics of Justice, Equality and Rights; Religion and Politics Worldwide; Issues in International Politics; Scottish Politics and Government; and Middle East Politics. Assessment for all these modules is through a combination of coursework and examinations. Coursework includes essays, tutorial presentations, participation in tutorials, role-play exercises and case studies, political posters and book reviews. Exams usually account for 50 percent of the grade in each module. Stirling Politics students make extensive use of the Study Abroad opportunities offered at the University to study for a full semester or a whole academic year at participating universities in Australia, Canada, Europe, Hong Kong, Japan and the United States. The ERASMUS programme is particularly popular and Politics students participate in dedicated Politics ERASMUS exchanges with the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and Collegium Civitas in Warsaw, Poland.
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.
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.
Politics
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
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.
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.
Top job areas of graduates
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.
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.
£17k
£25k
£22k
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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Teaching Excellence Framework (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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