Arts - Politics & International Relations
Politics and International Relations can be taken as part of the UL Arts Degree as single honours or a joint honours combination and as part of the BSc Social Sciences degree. Review the subjects you can study with Politics and International Relations by looking by looking at the Subjects Taught section below.
| Award Name | Degree - Honours Bachelor (Level 8 NFQ) |
|---|---|
| NFQ Classification | Major |
| Awarding Body | University of Limerick |
| NFQ Level | Level 8 NFQ |
| Award Name | NFQ Classification | Awarding Body | NFQ Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Degree - Honours Bachelor (Level 8 NFQ) | Major | University of Limerick | Level 8 NFQ |
Duration
4 Years
Specific Subjects or course requirements
Min requirements: 2 H5 & 4 O6/H7
English: O6/H7
2nd language: O6/H7
Maths: F6/O6/H7
Note: Grade F6 in Foundation Mathematics also satisfies the minimum entry requirements. Foundation mathematics is not reckonable for scoring purposes.
Note: For certain subjects, additional special qualifications specific to individual subjects or disciplines may be determined by the respective departments in accordance with Academic Council regulations.
Leaving Certificate General Entry Requirements
Minimum Entry Requirements
Degree
At the time of an offer, an applicant is required to hold the Leaving Certificate (or equivalent), with a minimum of six subjects. Results must include:
• Grade H5 (Higher Level) or better in at least two subjects and
• Grade O6 (Ordinary Level)/H7 (Higher Level) or better in at least four subjects
Notwithstanding the above, an applicant must have a minimum of an F6 in Mathematics, an O6/H7 in English, and an O6/H7 in another recognised language. Applicants must also ensure that they meet course-specific entry requirements.
For the purpose of satisfying minimum entry requirements
• An F6 (Foundation Level) grade in Mathematics can be used as an alternate to an O6 (Ordinary Level) grade and can be used to satisfy the Mathematics subject requirement.
• Foundation Irish and the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (LCVP) are not recognised.
Special Mathematics Entrance Examination
The University holds a Higher Level Special Mathematics Entrance Examination in August each year for students who achieve sufficient CAO entry points and satisfy all other entrance requirements, but who do not achieve the requisite grade in Higher Level Mathematics in the Leaving Certificate for Faculty of Science and Engineering undergraduate degrees. Candidates who pass this special examination are deemed to have satisfied the Higher Level Mathematics entry requirement for all courses run by the Faculty of Science & Engineering. Further information and an application form is available from www.scieng.ul.ie
Specific Subject Requirements for Individual Courses
Specific subject requirements for individual courses are detailed above. It should be noted that candidates may continue to fulfill minimum and specific subject requirements from more than one sitting of the Leaving Certificate.
Competitive Entry
Due to the number and calibre of applicants, qualified candidates to all undergraduate degree courses who satisfy the minimum and specific entry requirements outlined above, are placed in order of merit based on a points system. The system operates as follows:
• Points are awarded for all Leaving Certificate Higher and Ordinary Level Subjects based on the grades achieved in each subject with the exception of the following subjects
• Foundation Mathematics
• Foundation Irish
• Points are awarded for the best six subjects.
• Where applicable the LCVP can be considered for points purposes provided the minimum entry requirements and specific subject requirements are satisfied.
• The six subjects must be taken at any one sitting of the Leaving Certificate.
• An additional score of 25 points is awarded for grades H1 to H6 in the Higher Leaving Mathematics. The additional scores apply only where it is included as one of the applicant’s best 6 subjects.
The following rules apply to combinations of subjects when computing an applicant’s point score. These rules also apply in fulfilling minimum entry requirements:
• Physics, Physics & Chemistry count as one subject.
• Chemistry, Physics & Chemistry count as one subject.
• Physics, Chemistry & Physics, and Chemistry count as two subjects.
• Home Economics (Scientific and Social), Home Economics (General) and Home Economics (Single course), any combination counts as one subject.
• English, English Composition count as one subject.
• Music, Music and Musicianship, Music and Musicianship A, Music and Musicianship B, any combination counts as one subject.
• Agricultural Economics, History, Economics, Economic History count as three subjects.
• Any two or three subject combination of: History, Economics, Economic History, Agricultural Economics, counts as two subjects except when Agricultural Economics and Economics are combined in which case they count as one subject.
QQI FET Applicants General Information
Careers / Further progression
Career Opportunities
Recent graduates of this programme are working as policy advisors, civil servants, researchers, elected representatives, data analysts, public relations officers, teachers, journalists.
Career areas open to you with a degree in Politics and International Relations include;
• Public Service
• European and International Agencies
• Business, Heritage and Tourism
• Education and Teaching
• Voluntary and Community Organisations
• Media, Journalism and Public Relations
• Training and Equal Opportunities
• Policy Evaluation Research
• Urban Planning and Rural Development
• Social and Market Research
Follow-On Study
• Graduate Diploma/MA in Public Administration
• MA International Studies
• MA Peace and Development Studies
• MA Politics
• MA in European Politics & Governance
Further information
Mature Pathways. Please refer to the course web page link below.
Average intake: 400
Entry 2024
Early online application (discounted): Fee €30 Closing Date: 20 January 2024 at 5pm
Normal online application: Fee €45 Closing Date: 1 February 2024 at 5pm
Late online application - restrictions apply (see page 3 2024 CAO Handbook): Fee: €60 Closing Date: 1 May 2024 at 5pm
Change of Mind - restrictions apply (see page 3 2024 CAO Handbook): Fee: Nil Closing Date: 1 July 2024 at 5pm
Exceptional online late application (see page 34 of the 2024 CAO Handbook): Fee €60 Closing Date: 22 July 2024 at 5pm
Be sure to complete any action well in advance of closing dates. You should avoid making an application close to a closing date. No extensions to closing dates will be allowed and all application fees are non-refundable.
LATE APPLICATIONS
Late Applications are those which are received after 5pm on 1 February 2024. The closing date for late applications is 5pm on 1 May 2024, subject to the restrictions listed on page 3 of the 2024 CAO Handbook. The online facility for late applications opens on the 5 March 2024 at 12:00 noon - a fee of €60 applies.
Exceptional Late Applications (Exception to the timetable)
The exceptional closing date of 22 July at 5pm applies only to applicants who are registered as an undergraduate student on 1 May 2024 in any year in any one of the participating HEIs (subject to the exclusions listed below). In order to avail of the Exceptional Late Application facility you must have entered the HEI through the CAO system. This is an exceptional late closing date and all steps must be completed by 5pm on 22 July. No changes may be made after this date.
If you did not enter your current course through the CAO system, you must first contact the Admissions Office of the HEI to which you wish to apply and they will inform you if you may submit an application direct to the institution.
Exclusions:
You may submit a late application only for entry to courses other than your existing course. If you wish to repeat the year in the same course you must arrange this within your HEI.
Mary Immaculate College Limerick, Marino Institute of Education, Trinity College Dublin, University of Limerick and Maynooth University have special procedures in place in the case of current or previous students who wish to apply for entry to another course in the same HEI. Such applicants must contact their Admissions Office to determine the application procedure. However, if you are a student in another HEI and you wish to apply to any of these five HEIs, you should apply through CAO.
Refer to page 34 of the 2024 CAO Handbook on how to make an Exceptional Late Application.
Restrictions
As a CAO applicant you may experience one or more of the following restrictions based on your course choices, your category of application, or restrictions imposed by the HEIs that you wish to apply to. Please read the section on 'Restrictions' on page 3 of the 2024 CAO Handbook carefully. This section includes information on:
General Restrictions
1. Making a late application
2. Making changes to your course choices
Restricted Courses
3. Applying for a restricted course
Mature Applicants
4. Mature applicants
Supplementary Admissions Routes
5. Applying for DARE and/or HEAR
LM002 / LM019 Politics and International Relations
Politics and International Relations can be taken as part of the UL Arts Degree as single honours or a joint honours combination and as part of the BSc Social Sciences degree. Review the subjects you can study with Politics and International Relations by looking by looking at the Subjects Taught section below.
About You
The study of Politics and International Relations is all about thinking critically and understanding how the world works. If you are interested in national or international current affairs; if you find yourself asking questions about why things are the way they are and how they might change; then Politics and International Relations at UL could be for you. You will learn how to research, how to study and develop your analytical and reasoning skills, and how to apply these skills to the real world. You will learn about Ireland and Europe, their place in the world; how political decisions are made and in whose interest; how states interact in the international system; about what makes a good society and about what doesn’t, and how we might tell the difference between the two.
Why study Politics and International Relations at UL?
In today’s globalised world, politics must be understood from the broadest possible perspective. Our staff have a particularly wide breath of expertise across the discipline, and the Politics and International Relations programme at UL stands out for the wide range of subject areas covered. As well as gaining a thorough understanding of Irish and EU politics, students will learn about the wider international system, and will have the opportunity to study the politics of different regions of the world. The deeper philosophical questions about how societies and governments should be organised are also addressed. In the final year, students have the opportunity to specialise in areas of politics that they are particularly interested in.
What you will study
In the first year, you will take introductions to the broad study of Politics and International Relations, whereas in the second year you separately take courses related to the main studies within the field (Irish Politics, European Politics, Political Theory, International Relations and Political Economy, and Public Administration). You then have a wide range of co-op/work placements before going on study abroad to a large choice of universities (including those in Malta, Czech Republic, Turkey, Iceland, France and Germany). In the final year, you can choose a number of electives that include looking at issues such as global justice, international organisations, Russian Politics, African Politics and issues around peace and conflict.
Why study a Bachelor of Arts at UL?
At the University of Limerick, we deliver an Arts Degree which is flexible and wideranging, offering 16 subjects in all. You can study a combination of subjects (as Single Honours or Joint Honours) from across the Faculty of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences: from familiar arts subjects such as English, French, German, or History, to newer subjects such as, Digital Culture and Communications or Linguistics with TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). The UL curriculum is unique as it includes cooperative education/work experience and a study abroad placement as compulsory elements of the degree. Students will spend one semester undertaking cooperative education/work experience and one semester studying abroad.
You may want to study Arts at UL because:
• You want to choose from a wide range of subjects at an institution where you can benefit from real-world work experience and can live and study in another country;
• You wish to communicate your own ideas effectively and persuasively;
• You want to engage critically and analytically with the world around you;
• You want to develop skills that will enhance your career and, in the broadest sense, your contribution to society.
Broadening and Skills Modules
Throughout this degree, you will take Broadening and Skills modules. Broadening modules allow students to study topics from outside of their subject choices. Skills modules will be provided to give students the skills required for academic study in University.
Off-Campus programme
In semesters 4 and 5 (year 2 Spring and year 3 Autumn) you will participate in an off-campus programme. Semester 4 is ordinarily dedicated to a period of cooperative education/work experience in a sector related to your field of study. Semester 5 is spent on study abroad in one of our many partner institutions across Europe, the Americas, and Australasia. UL’s dedicated Coop and Careers Office will help you find you the work placement that best suits your course of study and your aspirations, while our International Education Office will find you a place at one of our partner institutions most suited to your course of study in a part of the world that appeals to your intellectual and cultural curiosity.
Final Year Project
In your final year, you will complete a Final Year Research Dissertation in the subject(s) of your choosing. This is a unique opportunity to complete an extended piece of research and analysis in your chosen topic, designed with guidance and direction from an academic supervisor in your chosen subject. The Final Year Research Dissertation will develop your research and analytical skills with a view to employment or further study.
Year 1:
In the first year, you select a total of four subjects from the groups (1- 10) below, ensuring that no two are in the same group. When choosing your year 1 subjects, it is essential to have a least two subjects from the different year 2 subject groups bearing in mind that places in Psychology are limited from year 2.
Group 1:
• Psychology; or
• German; or
• Geography
Group 2:
• English
Group 3:
• Digital Culture and Communications
Group 4:
• Gaeilge; or
• Economics
Group 5:
• French
Group 6:
• Linguistics with TESOL†; or
• Mathematics
Group 7:
• Sociology
Group 8:
• Politics and International Relations
Group 9:
• Public Administration and Leadership Or
• Spanish
Group 10:
• History Or
• Music and Dance
German and Spanish are available at both beginners and post leaving certificate level.
French is available at post leaving certificate level only.
Year 2
During Spring Semester of year one, you will select two subjects to continue with and specialise in to degree level (years 2-4). Note – A limited number of subjects are available as Single Honours – this is where you will study one subject for the remainder of the degree. See the end of the table for subjects available as Single Honours. The table below displays the groups from years 2-4. Your selection is based on your year 1 subjects and you cannot choose two subjects from the same group. The table at the end of this section illustrates al the combinations available to degree level.
Group 1:
• Psychology^; or
• German; or
• Geography
Group 2:
• Politics and International Relations~; or
• English
Group 3:
• Digital Culture and Communications or
• Gaeilge or
• Economics
Group 4:
• Public Administration and Leadership~; or
• Spanish
Group 5:
• Sociology~; or
• Linguistics with TESOL†; or
• Mathematics
Group 6:
• History~; or
• French; or
• Music and Dance
~ Subject available as Single Honours from year 2 to degree level.
^ Places on Psychology are limited after year 1
† Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.
Course Director: Dr. Chris McInerney
Enquiries:
Email: arts@ul.ie
Tel: 00 353 61 213578
www.ul.ie/admissions-askus