Programme Specification: MSc International Political Economy (Research)

1. Awarding Body / LSE
2. Details of accreditation by a professional/statutory body, e.g. ESRC; BPS etc / N/A
3. Name of final award / MSc
4. Programme Title / International Political Economy (Research)
5. Duration of the course / Full-time 11 months; part-time 23 months
6. Based in the Department/Institute: / N/A
7. Relevant QAA subject benchmark statements / N/A
8. Application Code / M1UJ
9. First written/last amended / December 2010/ 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;
  • provide access to the wider context of the social sciences;
  • enable students intending to pursue higher degrees to develop the necessary analytical and theoretical sophistication, and breadth and depth of understanding, within their field of study;
  • enable students who go directly into non-academic careers (eg government, the voluntary sector, international organisations, business and media) to become articulate, clear- thinking individuals, able to analyse critically complex bodies of material;
  • provide advanced post-graduate education and research training in the social sciences, of the highest standards;
  • provide specialist study opportunities to students with a first degree in a cognate area.

11. Programme outcomes: knowledge and understanding; skills and other attributes
Students completing master’s degrees should possess:
  • an advanced, critical understanding of the main theoretical and policy debates within the field of International Political Economy;
  • specialist knowledge of one sub-field of International Political Economy;
  • the ability to work independently, employing an empirical and analytical knowledge of International Political Economy in the planning and presentation of succinct, precise arguments, written and oral;
  • the ability to design and independently execute a dissertation on an approved subject of their own choice within the field of International Political Economy;
  • a detailed knowledge of the main findings and theories associated with the particular focus of their degree;
  • a critical understanding of the main methodological and philosophical problems involved in research in the field of International Political Economy;
  • knowledge of the skills appropriate to research 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
Teaching Strategies
Teaching is a mix of lectures, seminars and individual tuition. All courses at LSE work to a notional norm of a minimum of 40 contact hours per course. In addition, students are expected to undertake guided and independent study.
Lectures play an important role in teaching, providing as overview of the syllabus and supplementing/updating the literature on the subject. Most lecture series are associated with examination courses. Attendance is not compulsory, although students are strongly advised to attend lectures associated with their courses.
Seminars are a key feature of teaching. Normally, seminars have up to 15 students and meet for between 1.5 or 2 hours. Most seminars involve student presentations as a way of starting discussion and teaching students the art of presenting succinctly a body of complex material. Feedback on seminars in given to students via LSE4U. Seminars are compulsory; attendance and participation are recorded.
All MSc students have an academic adviser in the Department, who maintains an overview of their progress and offers advice on dissertations.
Students are expected to supplement formal contact hours by extensive unsupervised reading, preparation for seminars and essay-writing. Reading lists and course guides, and in many cases, lecture handouts, are provided in hard copy and on Moodle.
Assessment Strategies
Students are mainly assessed via conventional three-hour unseen examinations, which are seen as the most appropriate way of determining whether the objective of producing students capable of writing succinct, precise, lucid and analytical essays is being met. The Methodology papers are assessed by a combination of examinations and assessed course work. The fourth element of assessment is a 10,000 word unsupervised, independently-written dissertation on a topic approved by the students’ academic adviser. Students receive extensive help in formulating their topic and the planning of research and writing, but the dissertation is unsupervised in the sense that advisers reading and commenting on draft chapters.
Each IRD postgraduate course involves as a procedural requirement the writing of three formative essays, mostly of 2,000 words, which are designed to develop the capacity to write critical and succinct summaries of complex bodies of material that will be tested in a final assessment.
Students are required to make presentations to classes and seminars as a way of developing the oral skills they should possess.
Other formative assessments are conducted e.g. MSc students take a written, diagnostic test in early October.
13. Programme structures and requirements, levels, modules and awards
See the MSc International Political Economy (Research) programme regulations

Additional information

14. Criteria for admission to the programme
  • The programme is intended for graduates with a good first degree in politics, economics, history, international relations and other degrees with similar content;
  • A good 2:1 Honours or equivalent is required;
  • GPA of at least 3.5.

15. Indicators of quality
1. Buoyant demand by well-qualified applicants for the programme and high qualifications required for admission.
2. The high fees paid by students taking the programme.
3. Consistently good examination results and favourable remarks by External Examiners.
4. Student questionnaires and feedback via student liaison committees.
5. The LSE Careers Centre website provides data on career destinations of LSE graduates.
16. Methods for evaluating and improving the quality and standard of teaching and learning
  • Taught Courses Teaching Sub-Committee looks at teaching and assessment issues twice or three times a year and, when necessary, consults by e-mail. It reports to the Departmental Meeting;
  • Staff/Student Liaison Committee for all students meets once a term.This operates as a forum for discussion of any issues to do with teaching quality from the students’ point of view. Representatives for the MSc IPE and IPE Research are elected annually at the second or third lecture of the compulsory course IR450 in Michaelmas term. SSLC items are raised at the Departmental Meeting as required;
  • Taught Courses Teaching Sub-Committee considers proposals to change the degree and any proposals for new courses. It reports to the Department Meeting;
  • TQARO student surveys. The Head of Department analyses the scores and, when necessary, takes the advice of the Director of Teaching and Learning on the appropriate action where the surveys indicate a problem;
  • Peer appraisal of academic staff takes place on a regular basis;
  • The Teaching and Learning Centre is available to monitor and observe teaching and offers constructive advice on how to improve the standard of teaching and quality;
  • The Teaching Learning and Assessment Committee which regulates all aspects of teaching quality;
  • Internal IRD programme reviews every 5 years;
  • Departmental TLAC review once every five years;
  • The Graduate Studies Sub-Committee which oversees all graduate programmes and ensures that significant changes to programmes and courses pass through a sequence of formal stages, so that curricular changes are appropriate and compatible with other developments.