Politics and Manangement

Politics and management is a combination that reflects the deep and practical connection between understanding how political and governmental systems work and developing the organisational capabilities to operate effectively within them. Politics provides the analytical tools to understand power, institutions, policy-making, ideology and the relationship between governments, markets and civil society. Management develops the practical knowledge of how organisations are run, strategies are developed, people are led and resources are allocated.

Together they produce graduates who are both analytically sophisticated and organisationally capable.

At the University of Exeter, this three-year degree offers one of the strongest academic environments in the UK for both politics and management, with a genuinely international student body and strong research activity in both disciplines. The programme includes a sandwich year, a year abroad and work placement opportunities, providing structured routes to develop professional experience and international perspective alongside your studies. You will study political theory, comparative politics and international relations alongside strategic management, organisational behaviour, finance and marketing, developing the intellectual range to work across the political and commercial dimensions of contemporary life.

The combination is particularly valuable for careers in the public sector, policy and advocacy organisations, political consultancy, the civil service and the management of non-governmental organisations, where political understanding and organisational capability are both directly relevant. The sandwich year and work placements give Exeter graduates direct professional experience that strengthens their position in competitive graduate labour markets.

Graduates go on to careers in government, public affairs, policy analysis, management consultancy, third-sector management, business development, international organisations and education. Further study in politics, management, public policy or related disciplines is also a common route.