Course summary

Our degree courses with Foundation year offer the opportunity to prepare you for advanced study before you progress onto a full honours degree at the University of Westminster. Whether you do not feel ready for degree-level study, don’t have the right qualifications, want to change your subject specialism or return to study after an absence from education, we aim to encourage a broad range of students to undertake our Foundation year in order to progress onto their full honours degree with us. The Foundation year is designed to give you the opportunity to explore new ideas, opening up new perspectives on the key debates within your chosen field. Core modules accelerate your academic and professional development and you will also take modules from areas closely related to your chosen field, giving you the chance to develop a cross-disciplinary perspective on your course. On successful completion of the Foundation year, you will be able to move on to study for the Politics and International Relations BA Honours degree. Our Politics and International Relations BA equips you to understand the comparative dimensions of politics at the local, regional, national and global level. You'll study political concepts, ideas, values and institutions, and explore the relationship between political theory and practice. While international relations shares these interests, it focuses on regional and global levels of political activity. You'll also focus on areas such as globalisation, patterns of conflict and co-operation between states, and the shift from 'anarchy' in the global sphere to co-ordination through intergovernmental organisations and non-state actors (such as corporations and groups based in civil society). Our course enables you to develop specialist knowledge of important political actors and key trends in international politics, and your critical and analytical skills in the understanding of political problems at both the national and international levels. We take full advantage of our location in the heart of London, which allows us to take you out of the classroom to visit places such as the Houses of Parliament, government departments, international organisations, NGOs, exhibitions and museums. We regularly invite high-profile speakers to our central London location for our well-established series of seminars, public lectures and conferences, to which you, as a student of politics and international relations, will be invited. We also enjoy excellent links with employers, and our graduates go on to develop careers in various sectors, including the Civil Service, NGOs, international organisations such as the EU or UN, policy and research, teaching, journalism, and politics. As a student on this course, you have the opportunity to spend one optional year abroad. You may complete a work or volunteering placement, both of which provide valuable opportunities to boost your employability. You may also undertake a study placement at one of our partner universities. Graduates with international experience are particularly valued by employers, and a one-year period of residence abroad enhances your language skills and gives you experiences, contacts and intercultural awareness that will be valuable in your career.