The Aims and Learning Outcomes of the School of Government and International Affairs
Aims
The School aims to provide teaching programmes within the diverse range of Politics subdisciplines that will enable well qualified undergraduate students to learn and develop academically within an educational framework informed by the specialist expertise and research activities of its staff.
Within this overall aim the School seeks for its undergraduate students:
- to provide high quality and progressive study routes in Politics within a range of Politics degree programmes.
- to provide high quality taught components in Politics, with progression through study routes where appropriate, to be chosen by students on other undergraduate degree programmes within the University or outside.
- to operate a teaching and assessment system which ensures that students acquire the knowledge and skills appropriate to their field of study.
- to prepare students for further study or progression to suitable careers
Learning Outcomes
On completion of a B.A. Single Honours degree students should have:
- acquired a substantial body of subject-based knowledge and understanding of Politics from the structured programme of study in the core modules offered in three broad areas of the discipline, political institutions and processes, international relations, political thought, and in their chosen options.
- demonstrated the ability to take responsibility for their studies and work independently to appropriate standards on topics within the field of Politics.
- developed a range of intellectual and personal skills applicable to further study and to a variety of careers.
On completion of the B.A. Politics (Year Abroad) degree students will also have gained personal skills from adapting to study in a different academic and cultural environment. On completion of the B.A. International Relations students should also be able to describe and comment critically upon work at the forefront of present knowledge and possess skills in research design and conduct to deploy appropriate techniques and forms of analysis in their own work. B.A. Joint Honours and Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) students share the first three objectives, subject to the recognition that:
- they acquire subject based knowledge and understanding of Politics to the same depth but from a smaller number of modules in levels 2 and 3.
- their development of intellectual and personal skills will also be informed by their progress in the partner subject.
Students registered in other undergraduate degree programmes should gain and demonstrate similar levels of knowledge and understanding of Politics in the appropriate modules, which should also contribute to their overall development of intellectual and personal skills.
