MSc East Asian Development and the Global Economy
- MSc
Overview
East Asia sits at the dynamic heart of global production, trade, and finance. What happens in East Asia is shaping the future of global capitalism. Knowledge about the region is therefore crucial for governments, international organisations and businesses.
You will delve into an advanced, critical exploration of East Asia's transformation and its role in twenty-first-century world affairs. Examine how political, economic and social change across the region intersects with and reshapes global structures, uncovering the opportunities, challenges and strategic questions this interaction creates for governments, firms, and communities.
Core teaching grounds you in the region's historical and contemporary trajectories, enabling you to trace the forces that propelled rapid industrialisation, technological leadership and shifting patterns of welfare and inequality.
Engage with competing explanations of East Asian success and interrogate claims that global capitalism is entering a period of deepening crisis, using the region as a lens through which to test and refine wider theories of international political economy.
Focus on power relations to reveal how trade, finance, and investment flows knit East Asian economies together and connect them to other parts of the world. Explore emerging hierarchies within the region, changing relationships between East Asia and the Global North and South, and the strategic calculations that shape regional and international institutions.
Challenge commonly held Eurocentric assumptions about what development is and how it can be achieved, cultivating an informed, critical stance on policy debates that influence billions of lives.
Be inspired by internationally recognised scholars whose research animates seminar discussions and supervises individual enquiry. Lively classroom debate within a diverse postgraduate cohort equips you to articulate your own authentic scholarly voice while honing the analytical skills valued by governmental, inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations engaged with East Asia.
Write a dissertation through which you design and manage a substantial research project, apply theoretical frameworks to empirical evidence, and present findings to the highest academic standard.
Graduate with a nuanced grasp of East Asia's development experience, a rigorous command of international political economy, and the capacity to apply your knowledge to political, social and environmental challenges both within the region and across the world. With 94% of our postgraduate students reporting overall satisfaction with their education (PTES 2026).
Programme structure
You will take a combination of mandatory and optional taught units within the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies. Each unit is assessed by an essay (or equivalent form of written submission). The taught section of the programme is followed in the summer term by a dissertation.
Visit our programme catalogue for full details of the structure and unit content for our MSc in East Asian Development and the Global Economy.
Entry requirements
You will typically need a strong second-class honours degree (55% or higher) or an international equivalent in any discipline.
If you are currently completing a degree, we understand that your final grade may be higher than the interim grades or module/unit grades you have achieved during your studies to date.
We will consider your application if your interim grades are currently slightly lower than the programme's entry requirements and may make you an aspirational offer. This offer would be at the standard level, so you would need to achieve the standard entry requirements by the end of your degree.
We will also consider your application if your final overall achieved grade is slightly lower than the programme's entry requirement.
If your achieved grade is lower than our entry requirements, your application may be more likely to receive an offer if you have additional qualifications. If you have additional qualifications, please include your CV (curriculum vitae / résumé) when you apply, showing:
- a postgraduate qualification in any discipline.
See international equivalent qualifications on the International Office website.
Read the programme admissions statement for important information on entry requirements, the application process and supporting documents required.
If English is not your first language, you will need to reach the requirements outlined in our profile level E.
Further information about English language requirements and profile levels.
Fees and funding
- Home: full-time
- £16,400 per year
- Home: part-time (two years)
- £8,200 per year
- Overseas: full-time
- £32,400 per year
Fees are subject to an annual review. For programmes that last longer than one year, please budget for up to an 8% increase in fees each year.
More about tuition fees, living costs and financial support.
Alumni discount
University of Bristol students and graduates can benefit from a 25% reduction in tuition fees for postgraduate study. Check your eligibility for an alumni discount.
Funding and scholarships
Further information on funding for prospective UK and international postgraduate students.
Career prospects
Bristol graduates are in high demand and have an excellent record of employment following graduation. Students of our MSc programmes go on to pursue varied and interesting careers.
Many sectors - such as the civil service, NGOs and charity work - require an MSc and some volunteer/internship experience.
Graduates from our programmes have gone on to work for Refugee UK, Shelter, Barnardos, Amnesty International, government departments and the European Parliament, among others.
Contact us
- Contact
- Enquiries Team
- Phone
- +44 (0) 117 394 1649
- choosebristol-pg@bristol.ac.uk