Alexander Dawson BSc Politics and International Relations, 2015

Deputy Area Lead: North West - Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy

I chose Southampton because it’s a Russell group University, which I was looking for as I wanted to hear about new research as I learned – which I did. It’s also important for job hunting later and also gave me confidence in the value of my degree.

I chose Southampton because it’s a Russell group University, which I was looking for as I wanted to hear about new research as I learned – which I did. It’s also important for job hunting later and also gave me confidence in the value of my degree. It also had a strong line up of experienced, renowned academics along with new vibrant lecturers to learn from. I felt I was getting expert teaching and knowledge and only the most important analysis.

There were so many highlights during my time at Southampton. A field trip to Brussels and the EU really opened my eyes and made my EU Politics course easier to handle. I did a semester in Nanjing University in China which was hands down the funniest experience of my university career. I participated in female empowerment programmes in India which I later used in my interview for a Foreign Office job in India.

I really enjoyed my final year; things are starting to click, you’re researching your own interests, you’re in a routine, you’re looking at life after University. My degree from Southampton gave me two main things - confidence and capability.

Confidence - to talk about the things I’d learned in an economics or security related discussion, as well as the confidence to go on to complete a MSc in politics.

Capability - to work in a politics related job using my empirical case knowledge from my International Relations classes, as well as data analysis and research methods skills.