MSc courses

The Department's MSc courses offer an intensive one-year research preparation Master’s degree. Our MScs are not accelerated MPhil courses, nor are they stand-alone courses. Our MSc courses are intended for students who would like to proceed directly to doctoral study in politics or political theory, at Oxford or elsewhere, but who must first obtain the necessary research training.

It is usual for applicants to have already undertaken some graduate work (e.g. to have completed a Master's in a related field) and thus are more advanced than those candidates applying to our MPhil courses listed above.

Graduate Stories

All in all, Oxford offers a great environment to pursue one’s graduate studies. The myriad extra-curricular opportunities can keep you so occupied that you may sometimes forget the ‘real’ world outside Oxford.

In the following video our academics share their opinions about why students should apply to postgraduate study at DPIR.

Why study at DPIR?