We welcome applications from students with a good undergraduate honours degree (upper second-class or higher) or equivalent. If you have a lower second-class degree, you may still be eligible for admission to one of our masters programmes if we are satisfied that there is sufficient evidence of upper second-class quality in your work (judged by the range of your marks, the mark awarded for your dissertation and/or the quality of your references).
Academic background
Entry is not confined to students who have studied politics or international relations before. Each year, we offer places to a number of students from other subject areas with the social sciences and humanities. We also admit some students from science backgrounds, although we may want to interview such applicants before offering a place on the course.
Applicants should have, or expect to have, a masters degree in a relevant subject (such as history, economics, sociology or philosophy) or equivalent. A good honours degree will also be considered.
Academic background
In most cases, applicants have a background in politics and international relations or a related subject (such as history, sociology, social policy or philosophy). However, applicants with backgrounds in other subjects may also be considered. The PhD entry requirements are normally a masters degree in a relevant discipline area, including coverage of appropriate research methodologies. If instead you hold a good honours degree, we will still consider your application and you may be required to complete an MSc as a preparation for the PhD.
If your first language or language of education is not English, we will ask you to show evidence of fluency in the use of English. For all of our postgraduate programmes, we require a level of English language: Band F, IELTS 7.0 overall, with a minimum of 6.0 in all components, taken within the last two years. For details of other English language tests which we accept, you will find a list of approved tests on the International students section of our website.
If you require further English language tuition before commencing your programme with us, you may apply for one of our pre-sessional English language courses which are run by the Centre for Language Study
It was the research training available which made Southampton the best place for my postgraduate study.