Politics with Foundation

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, bringing together like-minded students to think about the ‘big ideas’ within your discipline. 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 BA Honours degree over a further three years study.

Our Politics BA equips you with an understanding of the relationship between government and society in regions all over the world, from Europe, the Middle East and Asia to North and South America.

Studying for a politics degree will help you to understand and think critically about political events, the interplay of domestic and international politics, how resources and power are distributed in society; how decisions are made, and why political systems develop in the ways that they do.

You'll study political concepts, ideas, values and institutions, and explore the relationship between political theory and practice. Our graduates go on to work in a range of sectors, including the Civil Service, government, NGOs, international organisations, think tanks, teaching and research.

We are in the centre of one of the world’s greatest cities and we use this vibrant, multicultural setting to ensure that our students discover innovative solutions to the problems facing our world. In 2018, the University of Westminster was named the most diverse university in the UK, New Zealand and the USA, representing 170 nationalities (Hotcourses Diversity Index).

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, will be invited.

As a student on this course, you have the opportunity to spend either one optional year abroad or one optional year in a professional placement.

If you choose to go 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.

If you choose the professional experience option, you will have the opportunity to focus on preparing for a future career by working in a relevant organisation for an extended period. You can develop your understanding of the qualities and skills needed in high quality employment.

As a School, we also host the world-renowned Centre for the Study of Democracy. The centre undertakes research across a range of critical challenges to the theory and practice of politics, international relations, sociology and criminology. We have an innovative initiative called the Democratic Education Network, which facilitates dialogue and the sharing of knowledge between our students, international universities and diasporic communities in London.