
Politics (Joint Honours)
What makes Politics at Worcester special?
Passionate about politics? Politics has never been so exciting! Our BA Hons Joint Politics course examines contemporary international political issues such as Brexit, EU membership, migration, anti-establishment politics, identity politics, globalisation, as well as Westminster politics.
BA Hons Joint Politics also analyses historical and contemporary national/international political systems in Europe, China, the Middle-East and the U.S. Our programme additionally explores classical, Enlightenment and contemporary political philosophies. You will learn how to evaluate political theory, to compare political systems across the globe, and to engage critically with a range of international political challenges.
Whether you are a Corbynista, a Conservative, a Liberal, a Remainer, a Brexiteer or of a different political persuasion, the Politics team welcomes applications from those passionate about political challenges across the globe.
For more information about this course, please follow our Politics Twitter account.
Key features
- Specialist careers advice and work-based learning that will increase your employability in a competitive jobs market.
- Pursue a career in academia, politics, teaching, journalism, media, the civil service, local government or the charity sector.
- A multi-disciplinary and flexible degree that is tailored around your specific interests and will provide you with adaptable employability skills.
- Fantastic research facilities at the University of Worcester’s award winning Hive library, which offers a diverse range of online resources and easily accessible archives.
- A wide range of optional / mandatory modules on British / European politics and international relations.

It's not too late to apply!
Entry requirements
What qualifications will you need?
104
UCAS tariff points
Entry requirements
104 UCAS tariff points
Other information
If you have any questions about entry requirements, please contact the Admissions Office on 01905 855111 or email admissions@worc.ac.uk for advice.
Further information about the UCAS Tariff can be obtained from http://www.ucas.com
Book your place at an Open Day
Want to know why so many students love living and studying in Worcester?
Our open days are the perfect way to find out.
Book your placeCourse content
What will you study?
Here is an overview of current modules available on this course. Regular updates may mean that exact module titles may differ.
Year 1 |
Mandatory
|
Optional
|
Year 2 |
Mandatory
|
Optional
|
Year 3 |
Mandatory
|
Optional
|
Teaching and Assessment
How will you be taught?
The University places emphasis on enabling students to develop the independent learning capabilities that will equip you for lifelong learning and future employment, as well as academic achievement. A mixture of independent study, teaching and academic support through the personal academic tutoring system enables you to reflect on progress and build up a profile of skills, achievements and experiences that will enable you to flourish and be successful.
Teaching
You are taught through a combination of workshops, interactive lectures, seminars, directed study, tutorials, and student-led sessions.
The Politics BA (Hons) Module Resource Lists will support your learning experience. You will have direct access to e-books, online journals, websites, newspapers, data, as well as media recommended by the tutors. Throughout your degree, our Politics Academic Liaison Librarian will offer friendly guidance and support specific to each student.
In addition, meetings with personal academic tutors are scheduled on at least 4 occasions in the first year and three occasions in each of the other years of a course. You have an opportunity to book one-to-one tutorials with the lecturers on all modules (to discuss approaches to forthcoming assignments, for example).
Contact time
In a typical week you will have around 9-12 contact hours of teaching. The precise contact hours will depend on the optional modules selected and in the final year you will normally have slightly less contact time in order to work on your independent study (dissertation).
Typically class contact time will be structured around:
- Lecturers
- Seminars
- Workshops
- Practical exercises
- Directed study
- Practice assessments
- Student-led learning
Independent self-study
In addition to the contact time, you are expected to undertake around 24 hours of personal self-study per week. Typically, this will involve directed reading in preparation for the following week’s seminars and independent researching and writing upcoming assessments.
Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, including the Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources (e-books, e-journals, newspapers, visual media, etc.).
Teaching staff
You will be taught by a highly qualified and experienced teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course.
Most teaching is directly related to the research and publications of the lecturers, and most course lecturers have a higher education teaching qualification or are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy. You can learn more about the staff by visiting our staff profiles.
Assessment
The course provides opportunities to test understanding and learning informally through the completion of practice or ‘formative’ assignments. Each module has one or more formal or ‘summative’ assessments which are graded and count towards the overall module grade.
Assessment methods include essays, source analyses, oral presentations, examinations, dissertation, literature reviews, learning journals, projects and portfolios.
The precise assessment requirements for an individual student in an academic year will vary according to the mandatory and optional modules taken, but a typical formal summative assessment pattern for each year of the course is:
Year 1
POLP mandatory module includes an essay and critical report.
POLP optional modules include essays, source/document analyses, portfolios, examinations, and a practical report.
Year 2
POLP mandatory module includes an essay and a report. You will also have the opportunity to engage in work-based learning/assessment (journal).
POLP optional modules include essays, document analyses, examinations, an individual article, news reports, a reflective journal, a policy briefing, a policy review paper, an individual/group presentation, and oral history interview.
Year 3
POLP mandatory module includes a discussion paper. You will also complete an independent study.
POLP optional modules include essays, a timed documentary analysis, projects, an examination, a news story, a document analysis, portfolios, a case study, and an article review.
Feedback
You will receive feedback on practice assessments and on formal assessments. You will also receive feedback on draft chapters of your dissertation. Feedback on examination performance is available upon request from the module leader. Feedback is intended to support learning and you are encouraged to discuss it with personal academic tutors and module tutors as appropriate.
We aim to provide you with feedback on formal course work assessments within 20 working days of hand-in.
Careers
Where could it take you?
Employability
In the second year of your Politics course, you will engage in subject-related work experience through the Politics Work Project (POLP 2105) module. You will spend time each week working within an organisation such as the local council, a political party (or MP) or a campaign group. Following your placement, you will then write a reflective assignment about your experience.
In addition, volunteering opportunities with local and regional organisations are regularly publicised to students. You will also receive regular careers advice from our Careers & Employability Service throughout your degree.
Graduates of University of Worcester have gone on to work in many different sectors including
- Political parties
- Teaching
- The police
- The probation service
- Housing
- The civil service
- Local government and planning
- Pressure groups
- Think-tanks
- Voluntary organisations
- Charities
- The media
- Journalism
- Social work.
Your BA (Hons) Politics degree will enable you to show employers your adaptability and multi-disciplinary subject knowledge of domestic and international politics. You will also develop transferable skills in written and verbal communication, research and data analysis, through interpreting a range of sources and perspectives. BA (Hons) Politics will also prepare you for further postgraduate study.
Meet the team
Here are a few members of the department who currently teach on this course:
Costs
How much will it cost?
Full-time tuition fees |
UK and EU studentsThe standard tuition fee for full-time UK and EU students registering in the academic year 2018/19 will be £9,250 per year. For more details, please visit our course fees page. |
International studentsThe standard tuition fee for full-time international (non-EU) students registering in the academic year 2018/19 will be £12,100 per year. For more details, please visit our course fees page. |
Part-time tuition fees |
UK and EU studentsThe standard tuition fees for part-time UK and EU students registering on this course in the academic year 2018/19 will be £1,156 per 15-credit module, £1,542 per 20 credit module and £2,313 per 30-credit module. For more details, please visit our course fees page. |
|
Additional costs |
Every course has day-to-day costs for basic books, stationery, printing and photocopying. The amounts vary between courses. |
|
Accommodation |
Finding the right accommodation is paramount to your university experience, and our welcoming student communities are great places to live and study. We have over 1,000 rooms across our halls of residence. With rooms to suit every budget and need, from our 'Traditional Hall' at £98 per week to 'En-suite Extra' at £159 per week. For full details visit our accommodation page. |
Apply
How do you apply?
Applying through UCAS
Politics BA (Hons) must be studied in combination with another course. The Joint combinations available are:
History and Politics BA - VL12
Journalism and Politics BA - PL52
Politics and Sociology BA - LL23
UCAS is the central organisation through which applications are processed for entry into full-time undergraduate courses in Higher Education in the UK. For the latest information, check the UCAS website at www.ucas.com
Read our How to apply pages for more information on applying and to find out what happens to your application.
Get in touch
If you have any questions, please get in touch. We're here to help you every step of the way.
Admissions office
01905 855111
admissions@worc.ac.uk