Programme Specification: MPhil/PhD International Relations

1. Awarding Body / LSE
2. Details of accreditation by a professional/statutory body, e.g. ESRC; BPS etc / LSE is an ESRC Doctoral Training
Centre. The MPhil/PhD International
Relations is part of the Political
Science and International Studies
group of accredited programmes for
ESRC 1+3 and +3 (MSc IR Research andIR MPhil/PhD) funding.
3. Name of final award / MPhil/PhD
4. Programme Title / International Relations
5. Duration of the course / 3-4 years. Minimum 2,maximum 4
6. Based in the Department/Institute: / International Relations
7. Relevant QAA subject benchmark statements / N/A
8. Application Code / M1ZR
9. First written/last amended / April 2003/December 2012
10. The programme aims to:
  • provide an academically-challenging education, in a research-active environment, to intellectually able students from a wide range of countries; to provide access to the wider context of the social sciences;
  • equip students with analytical and theoretical sophistication, and breadth and depth of understanding, within the field of International Relations;
  • enable students who go directly into non-academic careers (e.g. government, the voluntary sector, international organisations, business and media) to become articulate, clear- thinking individuals, able to analyse critically complex bodies of material;
  • equip research students to design, research and write a doctorate within a maximum of four years;
  • enable research students to go on to further research and/or to become an academic in the field of International Relations and cognate areas of the social sciences.

11. Programme outcomes: knowledge and understanding; skills and other attributes
Students completing a PhD degree should possess:
  • a critical understanding of the main methodological and philosophical problems involved in research in the field of International Relations and cognate social sciences;
  • knowledge in their field, set out in the ESRC’s Training Guidelines for Postgraduate Research.
For further information relating to careers.
12. Teaching, learning and assessment strategies to enable outcomes to be achieved and demonstrated
All research students have regular meetings with their supervisors during which they discuss their approach, progress and any problems they are encountering with their research. Every research student is allocated an adviser who provides generic guidance and support but will not be an expert in the student’s field. Advisers act as an additional point of contact in the Department for students and can take action, e.g. if there is a
problem with the student-supervisor relationship.
In their first year, research students attend the compulsory International Relations Research Methods seminar. The seminar provides an introduction to methodology and research methods relevant to undertaking a research degree in IR to first-year research students. The principal approaches to contemporary research in the main branches of International Relations will be addressed. These include: formal analysis, behaviouralism; quantitative and qualitative methods; comparative case study approaches; documentary and discourse analysis; and different modes of theoretical argument. In addition the course will introduce students to the background debates in philosophy of social science that underpin different methodological approaches. The purpose of the course is to help students identify the appropriate methodological approach for their project.
In addition, during their first and second years, research students will present outlines of their research project to the Research Design Workshop where their project is subject to the constructively critical observations of their peers and the workshop leader.
All research students attach themselves to one or more of the Department’s thematic research workshops. These afford an opportunity for research students to present research in progress and to hear presentations of work in progress by leading scholars in their field. Currently, the Departments runs thematic workshops in the following areas: international theory; foreign policy; European politics; north-south relations; international institutions; security, conflict and peace studies; middle-east; Asia-pacific; and political economy and public policy.
Each research student is assigned to a Research Panel comprising two members of staff excluding the supervisor but normally including the adviser and, where possible, those with cognate research interests. Advisers usually take the lead in the Research Panel process and act as liaison with the supervisor/s. The Research Panel meets to discuss the student’s progress during the summer term for all first and second year students (and in subsequent years if the supervisor considers it necessary). The function of the Research Panel is to encourage progress, identify problems and to suggest further initiatives to assist progress and completion of the thesis.
The Research Panel recommends upgrading from MPhil to PhD status, normally at the end of the second year of registration depending on submission of an introduction and two draft chapters considered of appropriate quality by the supervisor and approved by the Panel.
The final assessment of PhD students occurs when the supervisor considers the thesis ready for submission and an internal and an external examiner appointed by the LSE judge it of sufficient merit to meet the criteria for the award of a PhD degree, following a satisfactory viva voce examination on the substance of the thesis.
13. Programme structures and requirements, levels, modules and awards
SeeMPhil/PhD International Relations programme regulations.
AWARDS

ESRC +3 Studentships

The programme has ESRC accreditation. The Department anticipates receiving one ESRC award each year. Since the introduction of DTCs in the 2011/12 session, two students have been awarded +3 studentships.

LSE PhD Scholarships

Under the School’s new fully-funded PhD programme, the Department anticipates receiving

between three and six awards each year. In the 2010/11 to 2012/13 sessions, six IR research students have been awarded LSE PhD Scholarships.

The scholarships cover fees and living expenses each year for four years. They are available for Home UK/EU or Overseas students undertaking full-time research in any LSE discipline, with annual renewal subject to satisfactory academic performance at the School. Scholarships will be awarded on academic merit and research potential.
For further information about LSE PhD Studentships.

IR Department Named Awards

The Department offers named awards, as follows: Goodwin, Michael Leifer, Montague Burton and RJ Vincent Scholarships. Please see Department of International Relations awards.

Additional information

14. Criteria for admission to the programme
  • A master’s degree with an overall merit (at least 65 per cent) or its equivalent in a relevant field plus a strong merit in the dissertation or long essay;
  • A competent research proposal;
  • The availability of a suitable supervisor.

15. Indicators of quality
  • The School participates in the Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) which provides indicators of student satisfaction with various aspects of their research degree programme. Results from this survey have been positive for the School.
  • Examiners’ reports from viva examinations are considered centrally within the School and provide indicators on the quality of the research student experience and supervision quality.
  • The LSE Careers Centre website provides data on career destinations of LSE research graduates.
  • Buoyant demand by well-qualified applicants for the programme and high qualifications required for admission.
  • Monitoring of completion rates.
  • Student questionnaires and feedback via a staff-student liaison committee.

16. Methods for evaluating and improving the quality and standard of teaching and learning
  • Research Postgraduate Sub-Committee meets twice or three times a year and reports to the Departmental Meeting.
  • Staff-Research Student Liaison Committee (SRSLC) for all students meets normally once per term. Representatives for new research students are elected annually at the second meeting of IR501 Research Methods Training Seminar in Michaelmas term. Continuing research students are invited to volunteer for SSLC membership. The
Chair (the Director of Doctoral Programmes) takes actions as necessary and reports to the Department Meeting.
  • Research Panels act as a form of peer appraisal for supervisors.
  • Peer appraisal of academic staff takes place on a regular basis.
School mechanisms
  • TLAC review of the Department once every five years.
  • The Teaching and Learning Centre (TLC) runs the Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) and distributes results to departments. Survey results are considered by School Committees (Research Degrees Sub-Committee & Teaching, Learning and Assessment Committee) as well as within academic departments. Any issues arising from the PRES would be addressed by the appropriate body/department.
  • Taught courses on MPhil/PhD programmes are included in the School’s internal student satisfaction survey, where such courses are provided at the Masters’ level, as conducted by the Teaching Quality Assurance and Review Office.
  • Departments review their programmes according to their own system of periodic review.
  • The Department of Methodology offers methodological training across all MPhil/PhD programmes and transferable study skills training courses are offered by the TLC for all MPhil/PhD students.This central resource enhances the standard of teaching and learning for all research students across the School.