BA Programme Philosophy, Politics and Economics, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom
The BA PPE at the University of Liverpool is a three-year undergraduate programme. It is administered within the Philosophy Department, but it is quite heavily economics-focussed in the first two-years (50% economics in year one and year two). In the third year students have the option of dropping one of the three subjects. Students are also able to extend their degrees into a four-year programme, during which they spend their third year in a work-placement (this is the BA PPE with a Year in Industry). Once a term we have an optional policy-insights event for students, where someone who works in policy (very broadly-construed!) visits the students and talks about what they do.
BSc Programme Philosophy, Politics and Economics, London School of Economics
Description: The LSE BSc in Philosophy, Politics and Economics is a four-year undergraduate degree. It aims to develop students’ ability to tackle pressing social questions in a manner that imaginatively and rigorously integrates insights from all three disciplines. To this end, unlike many other PPE degrees, students take all three disciplines up to advanced undergraduate level throughout their degree. Moreover, it provides rigorous training in mathematics, statistics, and logic, as well as empirical methods in the social sciences. Finally, students take five bespoke tri-disciplinary courses, including a PPE research seminar in their second and third year, and in the final year, a Capstone research project for an external client, and individual research project and an integrative course that looks at policy-making, PPE Applications.
BSc Programme Philosophy, Politics and Economics, University College London (UCL)
The Philosophy, Politics and Economics BSc (PPE) aims to provide breadth and depth in understanding social and political phenomena and the principles informing, and consequences following, policy choices. Teaching across UCL’s highly regarded Departments of Philosophy, Political Science, and Economics combines an education in social sciences and philosophy with a comprehensive grounding in research methods.
In year one, students take modules introducing the three disciplines and the principles of social and political analysis. In years two and three, students choose modules in two disciplines (politics and philosophy or politics and economics concentration) and in research methods. A limited number of study abroad placements may be available (subject to first-year grades and a successful application) for students who wish to study abroad in year three, transferring to a four-year programme at the end of the second year. The final year includes a dissertation or independent research project and includes a number of optional and elective modules depending on the concentration and stream.
A sustained policy and methods focus distinguishes the UCL PPE and, for students wishing to specialise, there is a separate Quantitative Methods (QM) stream, provided by the UCL Q-Step Centre.
BA, BSc Programme PPE, Department of Political Economy, King’s College London
We have an undergraduate BA/BSc degree in PPE administered by ourselves in liaison with the philosophy department. All modules in the first year are compulsory, with one compulsory gateway module in the second year, and then total freedom of choice over modules from the political economy department and from the philosophy department. The nature of our department is such that the majority of modules overlap at least two of P, P, and E. We also have a PPE Research Group that has a regular seminar. In the past we have held PPE conferences and plan to restart that again soon in collaboration with the US-based PPE Society that holds an annual conference in New Orleans. We have close connections with our department’s other Research Groups such as Political Theory, Global South, Quantitative Political Economy, Public Policy, Politics of the Environment, and Historical Political Economy, as well as PPE-oriented researchers in the philosophy department and the law school at King’s. Our student PPE Society has established a forum for students on PPE related programmes at other universities in London and around the United Kingdom. Our department also houses the Centre for the Study of Governance and Society that holds regular public lectures and thematic conferences spanning PPE. We also offer UG and PG programmes in political economy, public policy, etc.
BA, BSc Programme Philosophy, Politics and Economics University of Warwick UK
PPE at Warwick is delivered collaboratively by the philosophy, politics and economics departments, led by a dedicated academic director who is supported by the PPE administrative team and a team of PPE specific academic staff. We offer an undergraduate programme that recruits students from a range of academic backgrounds (our only subject specific requirement for entry is adequate mathematics preparation) who are then trained in their first year in P, P and E as well as maths and stats. Our honours level programme is very flexible, allowing students to focus on mostly two subjects or all three, as well as allowing students to major in economics (which leads to BSc rather than BA degree). Our graduates have gone on to further study in P, P, E and many other disciplines at excellent universities around the world. Students take some PPE specific modules in their final year, and fill the rest of their programme with modules from P, P and E. Social sciences at Warwick is particularly interdisciplinary in orientation, so many of those modules make use of theories and methods from across P, P and E. Our students and staff benefit from access to the many P, P and E related research centres housed in Warwick’s philosophy, politics and economics departments.
School of PPE, University of York
The School of PPE at the University of York was founded in 1986 runs the second-oldest (to my knowledge) PPE programme in the UK. We offer 5 undergraduate degrees (a BA in PPE, a BSc in PPE as well as degrees in Philosophy and Politics; Economics and Philosophy and Economics and Politics.) Although not fully independent (our budget comes from the three departments), we have our own Head of School as well as a core administrative team. Teaching is primarily delivered by the three departments, though we do offer a range of specialist PPE modules in second and third year which are run by academics from one or two of the contributing departments who do have a bit of a PPE-y background. We recruit around 100 students a year into our programmes, and we’ve got an excellent record of students going onto graduate level work or into PhDs. All three contributing departments have, moreover, a large number of people who are interested in at least two of the three subjects (many of them in the York Centre for Political Theory).
PPE Network in Europe 