Postgraduate Prospectus

www.essex.ac.uk/government | Politics
Why study politics
at Essex?
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UK’s number one department
for the study of politics and
international studies
Part of the University’s accredited
Doctoral Training Centre of the
Economic and Social Research
Council (ESRC), with a number
of ESRC studentships available
for new postgraduates
A thriving, dynamic and active
department, which hosts the Essex
Summer School in Social Science
Data Analysis, welcomes
specialists to weekly seminars and
supports student-led focus groups
Significant grant awards
received for major projects such
as Disaggregating Civil Wars and
the British Election Study
Strong commitment to a study
of politics that is broad in scope,
rigorous in approach and open
to new ideas
Career prospects
Our graduates go on to enjoy
influential careers in British,
European and international politics.
This includes working as an MP,
being the Speaker of the House
of Commons and employment as
political lobbyists or staff assistants
to MPs and MEPs.
Our graduates also work in the Civil
Service and in local government,
hold posts with the World Bank, the
United Nations, NATO, YouGov and
YouGov America, work for the
armed forces or in finance and
business, or undertake further
research and teaching.
About our Department
We have steadily consolidated our
reputation as the best politics department
in the UK and in Europe, with an
outstanding record of teaching, research
and publication. We gained the highest
possible rating in all five UK Research
Assessment Exercises (RAE) and, in the
latest RAE in December 2008, were
judged to be the UK’s best politics
department. Our teachers and supervisors
are specialists in their fields, sharing a
cosmopolitan background and outlook
while publishing research that is
internationally recognised.
Current projects include the prestigious
British Election Study, funded by the ESRC,
which has been conducted at every General
Election since 1964. Lead researcher and
Head of our Department, Professor Paul
Whiteley, recently presented the latest
findings to MPs, Essex alumni and
government officials at Portcullis House
in London, demonstrating how televised
debates in the last UK election resulted
in changes to voting opinion.
We offer a full range of taught courses
and research degrees, all informed by
our world-class research excellence and
our commitment to rigorous, high-quality
political science analysis with a focus
on contemporary political problems.
Our postgraduates have access to
our outstanding academic staff and to
distinguished visiting scholars from abroad.
We form part of Essex’s interdisciplinary
Doctoral Training Centre, recently
designated by the UK’s Economic and
Social Research Council (ESRC) and one
of only 21 in the UK. This means some of
our courses have ESRC Doctoral Training
Centre accreditation, and a number of
ESRC studentships are available for new
students to begin an MSc or MA, followed
by a PhD, with us (1+3). We also award a
number of University of Essex Scholarships
to exceptional Masters and PhD students.
We participate in the work of various
centres and institutes within our University,
including the Centre of Theoretical Studies
in the Humanities, the Human Rights
Centre, and the newly established Institute
for Democracy and Conflict Resolution.
Our graduates acquire a wide range of
methodological, analytical and statistical
skills that make them highly adaptable and
attractive to employers. Our academic
reputation is illustrated by the fact that
many of our graduates now teach or
research at universities, colleges of higher
education and schools. For example, recent
graduates are now research fellows and
academic staff at Mannheim, Germany;
ETH Zurich, Switzerland; Duke University,
USA; NATO/SHAPE, Belgium; and
University of Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Taught courses
Our taught courses provide you with an
advanced understanding of contemporary
theory, research and methods, plus a
knowledge of either the politics of a
geographical area or an aspect of the
discipline. We offer MA, MSc and MRes
courses covering an array of research
fields, approaches and methodologies.
You undertake rigorous training in
analytical skills: qualitative and quantitative,
theoretical and empirical, and global, local
and comparative.
Our MA/MSc courses include a core
module in your course area and (for most
courses) a compulsory module in political
theory and in methods, plus up to two
optional modules in a relevant field.
Most of our taught modules comprise of
coursework and exams, although some are
100 per cent coursework. Your coursework
comes in the form of essays, simulations,
presentations and in-class tests, with a
dissertation required for all taught courses.
Our MSc is targeted at those who already
have a solid background in approaches and
methods employed in the different areas of
political science, and want to deepen skills
and knowledge in positive political
methodology, such as quantitative data
analysis and econometrics. This stronger
emphasis on political methodology will
enable you to understand political science
research published in highly prestigious
Postgraduate Prospectus 2012 | 177