Certificate in Politics and International Studies
London, United Kingdom
DURATION
1 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2025
TUITION FEES
GBP 8,440 *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* for overseas student fees | home student fees: GBP 4,075 per year
Introduction
This one-year course provides a substantive and comprehensive introduction to the politics of Africa, Asia and the Middle East. It is designed for two types of students:
- Those keen to pursue a master's degree but who do not have a background in the relevant subject area, and who seek academic foundations for more advanced studies
- Professionals or mature students with an interest in furthering their knowledge of (international) politics, but who do not wish to embark on a full three-year undergraduate degree or a master's degree.
Students enrolled in the Certificate programme will study concepts and approaches that are foundational for analysing politics and international relations, and they can choose from a range of disciplinary and regional modules that enable them to design a programme tailored to their specific interests. This programme does not involve writing a dissertation.
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Admissions
Curriculum
Structure
Students have to take 120 undergraduate credits from those that are available to full-time undergraduate students, with whom they also attend lectures and tutorials. Course expectations are the same as for full-time students (attendance, coursework, essays, annual examinations, etc). Passing the certificate at an upper second class standard is normally deemed to make a student eligible for the taught Master's degrees offered by the Department of Politics and International Studies at SOAS.
Students normally choose 60 introductory credits and 30 EACH from the Disciplinary and Regional units. The following is a list of available modules - please note that not every module may be available every year.
Introductory Units
- Introduction to Political Analysis
- Introduction to Comparative Politics
- Introduction to International Relations
Disciplinary Units
- Political Parties and Elections
- Politics of Nationalism
- Performance and Politics
- Politics of development
- War and the International 1
- Religion and World Politics
- International Institutions and World Politics
Regional Units
- Government and politics of South Asia
- Government and politics of the Middle East
- Government and Politics of Mainland Southeast Asia
- Government and Politics of Island Southeast Asia
- The state and politics in Africa
- African Political Thought
- Government and politics of China
- International Relations of East Asia
- International Relations of South Asia
- International Relations of the Middle East
- International Relations of Africa
Important notice
The information on the programme page reflects the intended programme structure against the given academic session.