Bristol has an impressive reputation for teaching and research in politics and international relations and this course offers an enriching experience with exciting intellectual challenges.

You will study the politics of individual countries and governments and the relationships between states, communities and individuals.

The first year includes four compulsory units to ensure a solid grounding in the discipline. You will have greater choice as you progress through the course. The final year provides an exceptional range of units based on staff research interests, including political theory, international relations, political economy, UK politics, US politics, gender, security and conflict.

We emphasise research skills, with a compulsory unit in the first year and a dissertation in the final year. The dissertation enables you to conduct a piece of supervised political research on a topic of your choice.

You will have the opportunity to apply to spend half a year studying abroad at a partner university; see our Global Opportunities website for more information. 

Find out more about the course structure and units available for Politics and International Relations

A-level Standard offer	AAA including an essay based subject
A-level Contextual offer What is a contextual offer?	ABB including an essay based subject
International Baccalaureate Diploma Standard offer	36 points overall with 18 at Higher Level, including 6 at Higher Level in an essay based subject
International Baccalaureate Diploma Contextual offer What is a contextual offer?	32 points overall with 16 at Higher Level, including 5 at Higher Level in an essay based subject
Cambridge Pre-U offer	Requirements for principal subjects are as for A-level, where D1/ D2 is A*, D3 is A, M1/ M2 is B, and M3 is C.
Access to HE Diploma offer	Access to HE Diploma in Humanities, Social Sciences, Law or History (or similar titles). The 45 graded Level 3 credits must include: at least 30 credits at Distinction and 15 at Merit or above; and at least 12 credits at Distinction in essay-based subjects Mature students can contact mature-students@bristol.ac.uk to check the suitability of their Access course.
BTEC offer	DDD in any essay-based Applied General BTEC National Level 3 Extended Diploma
Scottish Qualifications Authority offer	Advanced Higher: AA including an essay based subject, and Standard Higher: AAAAB
Welsh Baccalaureate offer	Requirements are as for A-levels, where you can substitute a non-subject specific grade for the Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate at that grade.
European Baccalaureate offer	85% overall, with 8.5 in an essay based subject
UK qualifications	Further information about UK qualifications
International qualifications	Accepted international qualifications

Applicants must also meet these requirements

GCSE profile requirements	Profile: No specific subjects required. Further information about GCSE requirements and profile levels.
English language requirements	If English is not your first language, you need to meet this profile level: Profile C Further information about English language requirements and profile levels.