Politics with a Year Abroad

Politics isn’t just about governments, it’s about power, ideas, and change. Our undergraduate Politics degree gives you the tools to explore big questions: Who makes decisions? How do societies work? What can you do to make a difference?

Politics is deeply connected to economics, history, culture, and identity (gender, race, class, and nationality) as well as to questions of values within society. Through our BA (Hons) Politics degree you can explore issues of democratisation and democratic decline, of equality and human rights, of norms and values that shape societies and individuals, as well as of how public policies are developed in Wales, Britain and beyond.

The opportunity to intern with a Member of the Senedd in our Senedd/Welsh Parliament module provides a chance to learn how parliaments and parliamentarians work. You can also participate in the British Parliamentary Studies module, partly delivered by expert staff from the Houses of Parliament. Our BA (Hons) Politics degree can open up a range of exciting career possibilities by helping you to develop research and analytical skills, as well as working collaboratively towards shared goals and equipping you with the graduate attributes highly valued by employers.

Join a vibrant community of thinkers and changemakers, dive into real-world issues, and develop the skills to influence tomorrow. If you care about how we govern ourselves as a society, how we deal with diverse perspectives, and how we can respond to global challenges, our BA Politics offers an exciting starting point for your intellectual and professional journey.

Our stunning Singleton Park campus will keep you grounded and offer the perfect environment for taking a break in the park and enjoying the views across Swansea Bay on the edge of the beautiful Gower Peninsula.

At Swansea, we offer varied course content that allows you to pursue your interests and shape your politics degree into the profile you wish to graduate with.

Topics include global challenges such as democracy and polarisation, inequality, racism, global human rights and environmental challenges; ethics and moral controversies in contemporary societies, or questions of identity and identity politics, as well as the changing role of the US for shaping political discourses over time.

Teaching is informed by our world-leading research, and you can attend extra-curricular events with high-profile guest speakers, political representatives, or alumni sharing their career journeys.

This course also offers you the opportunity to spend a Year in Industry, in the UK or overseas, enabling you to gain valuable workplace experience. The University advocates for paid-only placements, which on average have a salary of over £20,000. Unpaid placements are considered on a case-by-case basis.

This programme includes opportunities to undertake a Year Abroad, enhancing your learning and offering invaluable life experience.

The optional Foundation Year for this programme can give you an exciting introduction to higher education, setting you up with the skills, confidence, and knowledge that you’ll need to be successful in your undergraduate degree. It’s ideal if you need a little more support after further education, or are returning to education after a gap. Following successful completion of the Foundation Year, you will progress onto Year 1 of your BA.

In Year 1, you will typically study areas including: Politics and the People; Interpreting Politics: The Faces and Uses of Power; Foundations in Social Sciences Research and Academic Skills; Disinformation, Ideology, and Bias: Researching and examining political data; Freedom Justice and Equality: Key Debates in Political Philosophy; Forging a Nation: US History and Politics; The Colour Line: Race and Racism in World Politics; and Understanding Inequality: Capitalism, Money and Power.

In Year 2, you will typically study areas including: The State and Political Institutions; The History of Political Thought; British Politics and Public Policy; Disunited Kingdom? Class, Race, Gender and Social Division in Twentieth-Century Britain; Philosophy of the Enlightenment; Anarchy and Order: Theories in International Relations; Global Justice and Human Rights in the Age of Globalisation; America in Crisis: From the Tet Offensive to Trump; Global Summit Simulation; Contemporary Wars and Conflicts; and more.

In Year 3: Modules will be dependent on which partnership University you choose to study at.

In Year 4, you will typically study areas including: Researching Politics; Dissertation; Senedd Cymru/The Welsh Parliament; The Russian Civil War; Clear and Present Danger: America and Terrorism; The Rise and Fall of Wales? Politics, Culture and Society, 1847-1939; The Philosophy and Politics of Identity; Global Environmental Politics; and more.

We are proud to provide an outstanding educational experience, using the most effective learning and teaching approaches, carefully tailored to suit the specific needs of your course. Apart from a small number of online-only courses, most of our courses consist of in-person, on-campus teaching, enabling full engagement with your lecturers and fellow students.

Practical skills sessions, lab work seminars, and workshops predominantly take place in person, allowing for group working and demonstrations. We also operate virtual labs and Simulated Learning Environments which will facilitate greater access to training opportunities in the future. However, our approach also includes the use of some online learning to support and enhance traditional face-to-face teaching.

Online learning may take place ‘live’ using software such as Zoom, allowing you to interact with the lecturer and other students and to ask questions. Lecture recordings also allow for more flexibility to revisit material, to revise for assessments and to enhance learning outside of the classroom. Some modules have extra resources in Canvas, such as videos, slides and quizzes enabling further flexible study.

This course may offer some modules taught through the medium of Welsh or bilingually for students who consider themselves to be fluent Welsh speakers. For more details on the provision available see the Welsh Provision expander below.