Economics and Politics
Economics and politics together form one of the most powerful combinations available at undergraduate level for anyone who wants to understand how the modern world works. Economics provides analytical tools for examining how individuals, firms, and governments make decisions under conditions of scarcity, how markets function or fail, and how economic policies play out in practice. Politics brings a complementary set of frameworks for understanding power, ideology, institutions, and the processes through which collective decisions are made.
Neither discipline fully makes sense without the other, and studying them in combination gives you a richer and more realistic picture of contemporary societies than either alone.
At the University of Kent, this three-year full-time programme gives you the modern tools that economists use to analyse real economic problems alongside the conceptual frameworks that political scientists use to understand how ideas and political systems shape what citizens, businesses, and governments do. You will develop strong analytical and data skills, learning to work with evidence and to evaluate arguments rigorously. You will also build communication skills that allow you to present complex ideas clearly, an ability that is prized across a wide range of professional environments.
Typical entry requires around 120 tariff points.
Graduates of economics and politics programmes go on to careers in a notably wide range of fields. The civil service and government departments, think tanks and policy organisations, financial services, journalism, international development, law, and management consulting are all common destinations. The combination of quantitative ability and political understanding is particularly valued in organisations that need people who can both analyse data and make sense of the institutional context in which decisions are made.
Postgraduate study in economics, public policy, international relations, or law is also a natural progression for many graduates.