International Politics and French BA (Hons)

What you'll study

Programme overview

Our BSc/BA degree programmes are designed to make sure that, along with your chosen specialisation, you get a full grounding in the discipline as a whole. In addition, we also take great care to provide you with a wide set of practical skills that will serve you well, whatever you decide to do after your degree.

Modules include a combination of those offered in our BSc (Hons) International Politics degree and those offered by the School of English and Languages. For the Combined Honours degree programmes in International Politics with Languages, students take two thirds of their modules from Politics and one-third from English and Languages. For the Joint Honours degree programmes in International Politics and Languages, students take an equal number of Politics and Languages modules. A selection of available modules is provided below.

Politics modules include:

• Introduction to Politics
• Introduction to International Relations
• Introduction to Study and Research Skills
• Introduction to European Integration
• Contemporary International History
• Comparative Politics and Government
• Approaches to Research
• Research Methods
• International Relations Theories
• International Organisations
• Foreign Policy Analysis
• Politics of the European Union
• Political Ideologies
• Security Studies
• Intermediate Social and Political Theory
• International Political Economy
• Applied Political Skills 1, 2, 3
• Dissertation
• Case Studies in Globalisation

English and Languages modules include:

• Introduction to TEFL
• Languages in Education
• Skills for Language Specialists
• Introduction to Sociolinguistics
• Translation Theory
• Professional Communication
• Multicultural Societies
• German Language 1, 2, 3
• Contemporary Germany 1, 2
• Translation German-English 1, 2
• Translation English-German 1
• Interpreting German-English-German
• The Arts in Germany
• German in a Business Environment
• Spanish Language 1, 2, 3
• Contemporary Spain 1, 2
• Translation Spanish-English 1, 2
• Translation English-Spanish
• Interpreting Spanish-English-Spanish
• The Arts in Spain
• Spanish in a Business Environment
• French Language 1, 2, 3
• The Arts in France
• French in a Business Environment
• Contemporary France 1, 2
• Translation French-English 1, 2
• Translation English-French 1
• Interpreting French-English-French
• Written English for Academic and Professional Purposes
• Oral English for Academic and Professional Purposes
• English for Legal and Commercial Purposes 1
• English for Political and Economic Purposes 1
• English Language 1, 2
• Contemporary Britain 1, 2

By the end of the programme, you have acquired a deep understanding of your chosen field and the skills to use that knowledge to best effect. With our broad range of learning and teaching strategies, you gain a well-rounded and coherent appreciation of the key questions and approaches to this vital and vibrant subject.

Year 1 (FHEQ Level 4)

In your first year, whichever degree you choose, you study a number of compulsory modules. These provide you with a solid background in political, international and policy studies, and in fundamental academic skills.

Year 2 (FHEQ Level 5)

In your second year of study, you build on the previous level by studying a number of compulsory modules, and you also choose a number of optional modules where you begin to develop your own interests.

Professional Training placement

For our four joint and four combined International Politics with/and Languages BA degrees (German, French, Spanish or English for International Communication), the placement year is a requirement and takes place at an institution in the country related to your focus of study.

Year 3 (FHEQ Level 6)

In your final year, you have much more choice in the modules you study and are encouraged to follow your own interests. You are required to undertake a compulsory dissertation and study compulsory modules related to your pathway.

Professional Training and placements

The distinguishing feature of our degree programmes is their applied nature. You are taught how to apply theoretical understandings of politics and international relations to world events and issues. Additionally, we endeavour to offer placements to all. The aim of our Professional Training placement year is to provide you with a chance to experience first-hand how politics operates in the ‘real world’, at a voluntary sector organisation, a government or local authority department, an MP or MEP’s office, or an international organisation.

Current and previous providers include Save the Children, IPSOS MORI, Cape Town Refugee Centre, Transport for London, GlaxoSmithKline, International School of Central Switzerland, and the Shadow Defence Secretary's Office, as well as a range of political parties (Conservative, Labour and the Socialist Workers Party).

Teaching

The School’s excellence in teaching has been recognised with a number of awards and fellowships. The most recent awards include the Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award (Maxine David, 2012) and the Higher Education Academy Nano-teaching Award (Simon Usherwood, 2012).

The School has been awarded a number of fellowships through initiatives promoting excellence in Professional Training and enhancing students’ experience through enquiry-rich approaches to develop negotiation-based learning (Simon Usherwood, 2007), to incorporate survey design in teaching political psychology and electoral behaviour (Tereza Capelos, 2008), to develop enquiry-based learning (2008) and to establish an enquiry-based learning group (Maxine David and Roberta Guerrina, 2008).

As part of the Teaching with New Technologies (TeNT) scheme – which encourages teachers to experiment with emerging technology – the School of Politics has received awards to work with interactive whiteboards (Simon Usherwood, 2007), to use Second Life to collect public opinion data (Tereza Capelos, 2008), to use social networking websites, and to develop a wiki for EU self-study (Roberta Guerrina and Maxine David, 2008).

Finally, we maintain an active involvement with social media as a tool for teaching and learning, and strive to apply innovative teaching methods through interactive learning, direct observation and simulation games. You benefit from inclusion in and engagement with research projects that our academic staff are currently undertaking.

Study placement and Erasmus

It is possible to spend your third year on study exchange with one of our European partner universities. These include: Aarhus University, Denmark; the University of Copenhagen, Denmark; the University of Cyprus; the University of Łódź, Poland; the University of Maastricht, Netherlands (partners offer courses or allow for directed study taught in English and have no impact on your overall degree classification). We also operate an exchange scheme with Seoul National University (South Korea) and the State University of North Carolina (USA). Additionally, we have Erasmus exchanges at Sciences Po Aix (France) for our Politics/French students and at Comillas (Madrid) for our Politics/Spanish students.

The advantages of participation in the Erasmus exchange scheme are numerous. They include exposure to a different culture and the challenges of living in a new country, and the opportunity to learn a new language and experience new teaching practices and approaches to political science/international relations.

These challenges and experiences ensure that you emerge from the Erasmus year with increased self-confidence and widened employment opportunities that derive from your improved language competencies and communication skills. You also acquire a fresh perspective on your subject matter that significantly improves performance in your final year.

Politics research seminars

The School of Politics sponsors a regular research seminar series, which meets every two weeks during term-time and brings together academic staff and postgraduate and undergraduate students from the University. The purpose of the research seminars is to provide a forum for the presentation of cutting-edge research papers and to increase awareness among our students about developments in diverse themes of research in the field today. Some of these seminars, as well as career sessions, are included under the Applied Political Skills modules.

We invite high-profile UK and international scholars to present their work and encourage discussions with the audience. All members of the University community are welcome to participate.

Student support advisor

You might be faced with any number or type of issues unrelated to your academic work, which nevertheless have repercussions for your academic performance. Our student advisor provides a listening ear, co-ordinates a response or puts in place a practical programme of action when necessary.

Personal tutors

Entering your first year at university and the prospect of starting a degree in a new environment may seem daunting. In a bid to ease this transition, you are allocated a personal tutor from amongst the permanent staff in the School during Induction Week. Most students see the same personal tutor throughout their degree programme. Your personal tutor builds a one-to-one relationship with you, offering appropriate advice and support regarding personal or work-related issues, and becomes a first point of reference for you.

Active in outreach

The School of Politics is engaged in several stimulating outreach projects and opens its doors to students of local schools and colleges.

Regular activities involve: giving research-related talks to secondary education institutions and neighbouring universities; contributing to the Education Liaison programme; hosting a politics conference for schools; AS and A2 revision lectures and a Question Time event, incorporating an essay competition with a prize; organising a Politics Month which includes a number of politics events; and launching a survey of British politics and electoral preferences in the wider Surrey community.

Graduate prospects

Graduates over the last few years entered employment in companies, organisations and public life such as:

• Houses of Parliament
• Deloitte
• Snapdragon Consulting
• City Year
• YMCA
• International Institute for Strategic Studies
• Surrey County Council

Research in the School of Politics

Members of the School of Politics conduct research and publish on a range of topics, covering areas such as citizenship and policy studies, defence and security, terrorism studies, international intervention, European politics, political communication and the media, political psychology, electoral behaviour, political theory and social exclusion. Your studies therefore incorporate the latest thinking and research, with teaching delivered by leading experts.

Professor Sir Mike Aaronson looks at why and how states intervene in the affairs of other states, Dr Ipshita Basu is a specialist in development politics and international intervention, and Dr Cristiano Bee is a specialist in European citizenship and public and political communication. Professor Marie Breen-Smyth researches political violence and international intervention, and co-directs the Centre for International Intervention with Professor Aaronson, while Dr Tereza Capelos researches on reputation management, political scandals and accountability, voting behaviour, mass media and civic competence. Dr Laura Chappell focuses on EU Common Security and Defence Policy, and Dr Maxine David is a specialist in foreign policy analysis, including research on EU-Russia relations and British foreign policy relations with Russia.

Dr Theofanis Exadaktylos focuses on EU external relations, EU public policy and the current euro-crisis, and Professor Chris Flood has carried out theoretical and empirical work on political ideology and mythology. Dr Roberta Guerrina is a specialist in European Union government and politics, while Dr Jack Holland examines foreign and security policy, specialising in American, British and Australian foreign policy during the War on Terror, and Professor Peter Jarvis investigates issues of European Union policy on lifelong learning, active citizenship and globalisation. Dr Malte Kaeding is a specialist in international politics, with a regional focus on East Asia and the Greater China region.

Professor Mark Olssen’s recent articles have addressed the political philosophy of liberalism, while Dr Simon Usherwood has published on various aspects of opposition to the European Union in France and the United Kingdom. Professor Alex Warleigh-Lack investigates issues of European integration, comparative regional integration and green politics. He is also the executive director of CRONEM (Centre for Research on the European Matrix), which generates and facilitates interdisciplinary collaborative research in European politics, hosts an annual conference and provides a venue for workshops and visiting scholars.

• Come to an Open Day
• Build your own prospectus

Come to one of our Open Days, when you can tour the campus, speak to students and academic staff, see our student accommodation and ask as many questions as you like. In the meantime, order a personal prospectus – tailored to only include the subjects that interest you.