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MA in International Relations - Learning Outcomes

Educational aims

The MA in International Relations is an exciting qualification that will equip you with the tools to analyse and interpret key global challenges. How the world responds to international division and the rise of new powers, national and global security threats, the rise of populism, and global ethical dilemmas, will be at the forefront of your learning. By focusing on these real-world issues you will gain a deep and comprehensive grounding in the core conceptual, empirical and theoretical debates in International Relations.

You will also develop your knowledge of research methods as you progress through the MA, culminating in the chance to do a piece of extended, independent research in your dissertation. You will extend and deepen a number of skills and attributes that are crucial to enhancing your career development and academic and professional research skills.

This MA aims to:

  • develop your knowledge and understanding of the origins and development of International Relations as an academic discipline
  • enable you to critically analyse and understand the historical development and contemporary makeup of the international system
  • give you insight into the plurality of theoretical approaches, concepts and scholarly debates key to understanding international relations
  • equip you with a range of research tools, skills and methods to undertake independent research at postgraduate level.

Learning outcomes

This qualification provides opportunities for you to develop and demonstrate knowledge and understanding, skills and other attributes in the following areas: 

Knowledge and understanding

On completion of this masters degree, you will have knowledge and understanding of the:

  • origins and development of International Relations as an academic discipline
  • historical development and contemporary makeup of the international system
  • plurality of theoretical approaches, concepts and scholarly debates key to understanding how the international system operates
  • ability to use a range of research tools, skills and methods appropriate to postgraduate study in International Relations.

Cognitive skills

On completion of this masters degree, you will have the ability to:

  • demonstrate a critical application of key International Relations concepts, models and theories in analysing real-world problems and global challenges
  • analyse complex situations, synthesise and critically evaluate different kinds of evidence and data from a variety of sources to develop detailed, reasoned arguments
  • critically compare and evaluate competing ideas, methods and theories used in International Relations
  • critically analyse the international system; its development and contemporary makeup
  • select and use appropriate methods and theories in developing an independently researched dissertation.

Practical and/or professional skills

On completion of this masters degree, you will be able to:

  • utilise a range digital and other resources in support of independent inquiry
  • apply methods and approaches in supported self-directed study and produce a range of outputs appraising both theoretical and policy-relevant issues, along with an extended piece of work demanding independent research
  • apply critical and analytical thinking to a variety of real-world issues and be able to draw conclusions/make recommendations arising from your analysis
  • work collaboratively with peers
  • use personal development planning to reflect on your own professional development.

Key skills

On completion of this masters degree, you will be able to:

  • communicate ideas effectively to academic and non-academic audiences in the form of postgraduate-level outputs including essays, reports and policy- oriented projects
  • use independent research to express and present complex ideas succinctly and clearly in written form in a coherent and organised manner to develop a logical, substantiated and sustained argument, with sources referenced appropriately
  • communicate effectively in the planning and writing of an independently researched dissertation, utilising the appropriate theoretical and methodological approaches from International Relations research and scholarship
  • use digital tools and applications to independently search for, access, critically evaluate and synthesise information from a range of sources.

Teaching, learning and assessment methods

You will be assigned a tutor and be part of a tutorial group. The bulk of the tuition will be delivered online with some additional phone or email support. There will be shared areas – i.e. asynchronous forums – for individual tutor groups and for the whole cohort for online discussion, messages and chats. As well as online tutorials we will also offer day-school events, including face-to-face sessions with other Politics and International Studies students.

Our assessment strategy takes a qualification-level approach which aims to build skills incrementally and cumulatively through both modules in preparation for the end-of-module assessment (EMA) in Part 1 and 12,000-word dissertation in Part 2. As we are placing a particular emphasis on research methods in our taught content, we will build this into each assessment point to give you a firm grasp of relevant methods before you embark on your Part 1 EMA, which ultimately provides the grounding for more advanced work towards the dissertation in Part 2.

We will also incorporate some employability-related elements in our assessments to help you build up your professional skills as you progress, including collaborative activities, policy briefings, and presentational skills. In addition to standard format essays, we ensure that there is sufficient variety in assessment, which will help cement some of the real world, transferable skills that we’re seeking to develop for our students.

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