Politics, Philosophy and Economics

Politics, philosophy and economics is one of the most prestigious and intellectually demanding degree combinations in UK higher education. It brings together three disciplines that are individually rigorous and collectively powerful, each asking different questions about how the world works and what it should look like. Politics examines how power is organised and contested, how governments function and how collective decisions are made.

Philosophy asks the foundational questions about knowledge, ethics, mind and the nature of reality. Economics provides the formal models and empirical methods for understanding how people and institutions allocate resources and make decisions.

At Loughborough, this four-year full-time programme includes a year abroad, giving you international academic experience alongside the depth of a programme that develops genuine expertise across all three disciplines. You will engage with political theory and institutional analysis, philosophical argument and ethics, and economic modelling and empirical investigation, developing the ability to approach complex problems from multiple disciplinary perspectives. PPE is particularly well suited to students who want the foundations for a distinguished career in public life, though its alumni work across an extraordinarily wide range of fields.

You will develop analytical rigour, clear and precise writing, the capacity to construct and evaluate arguments across different frameworks, and the breadth of knowledge to engage with the major challenges facing contemporary societies.

Graduates of PPE programmes move into the civil service, government and politics, banking and finance, management consulting, the legal profession, journalism, international organisations, policy research and academia. The combination of analytical depth and interdisciplinary breadth is valued by employers across virtually every competitive and intellectually demanding sector. Postgraduate study in politics, economics, philosophy, law or public policy is a natural option.