FHEQ level

This course is set at Level 6 in the national Framework for Higher Education Qualifications.

Course Aims

The IR programme;
1. Enable students to understand the importance of International Relations in the contemporary world.
2. Ensure that students acquire knowledge and understanding in appropriate areas of theory and analysis.
3. Enable students to understand and use the concepts, approaches and methods of the discipline and develop an understanding of the contested nature and problematic character of inquiry in the discipline.
4. Provide students with the opportunity to combine the insights and methods of the two discipline.
5. Develop students' capacities to critically analyse events, ideas, institutions and practices.
6. Provide students with opportunities to develop their intellectual, personal and interpersonal skills so as to enable them to participate meaningfully in their societies.
7. Provide a curriculum supported by scholarship, staff development and a research culture that promotes breadth and depth of intellectual enquiry and debate.
8. Provide students with a supportive and receptive learning environment.

Languages
1. Students will be given advanced language and communication skills, as well as skills in intercultural mediation such as translation and interpreting.
2. Intellectual skills, including the ability to garner appropriate knowledge, to analyse and evaluate cultural products of various kinds, to make comparisons between different areas of intellectual and cultural concern and the approaches that characterise them, and to express arguments and ideas effectively in both English and the target languages.
3. The opportunity to reflect on the global importance of cultural awareness and intercultural competence.
4. The ability to compare and contrast, both linguistically, culturally and socially, the languages studied.
5. The cross-cultural experience of a year spent studying or working abroad, skills and adaptability which gives excellent preparation for future professional life.
6. The opportunity to develop autonomy in the essential linguistic and cultural skills of communication, analysis and research via the Internet, audio/visual media.

Course Learning Outcomes

The programme provides opportunities for students to develop and demonstrate knowledge and understanding, skills, qualities and other attributes in the following areas:

A. Knowledge and Understanding

International Relations
Undergraduates should achieve a basic but rigorous grounding in International Relations. This means graduates will be able to:
1. Understand the core concepts and questions which define the discipline of IR.
2. Demonstrate awareness of the major practical, political and moral challenges facing contemporary global society;
3. Demonstrate familiarity with the key theoretical traditions of IR as an academic discipline;
4. Demonstrate a basic knowledge of the history of modern international relations;
5. Understand the significance of the world economy for the nature of the international system.
6. Demonstrate flexibility in utilising a variety of intellectual approaches as required by the multifaceted character of the subject.
7. Demonstrate in-depth knowledge and understanding of a specialist area within the discipline.

Languages
1. Function at near native speaker level in the languages studied in a variety of situations, both social, academic and in the world of work.
2. At ease in the society of the chosen countries, having studied the language, culture, society and political systems of those countries.
3. Be conversant with the theory and practice of translation and interpreting
4. Demonstrate a knowledge and awareness of cultural difference.

Assessment

International Relations
A range of assessment modes will be employed:
1. Unseen examinations, which will test students ability to respond concisely to questions within a time-bound context.
2. Essays, including coursework essays, which allow the student to define intellectual problems which they can address though papers of varying length.
3. Dissertations which allow student to define intellectual problems and address these through extended research and written work.

Languages
1. Unseen examinations - to show competency in comprehension and use of language.
2. Language oral examinations and oral presentations - to show competence in the spontaneous use of language .
3. Essays/ take away papers/ coursework/portfolio/project - to show the ability to select and use appropriate and authentic linguistic, social and cultural sources both orally and on paper.

Teaching and Learning Methods Used to Enable Outcomes to Be Achieved and Demonstrated

International Relations
A range of teaching modes will be employed as appropriate to each stage of the programme:
1. Lectures, which will be used to relay a broad range of information.
2. Seminars, which will be based on groups of students allowing them to advance intellectually through discussion and making presentations.
3. Individual supervision, which will be used especially to provide students with guidance in researching and writing their dissertations.

Languages
1. Workshops
2. Language seminars - Oral work will be an essential part of the course. A variety of exercises will be set to indicate progress - such as summarising, essay writing, oral presentations, drills and grammar work.
3. Autonomous learning
4. Integrated study skills.

B. Intellectual Skills

Graduates in the IR programme will be able to:
1. Read effectively and take meaningful notes.
2. Apply a range of skills in the retrieval and use of primary and secondary sources including basic statistical and numerical information.
3. Present concise, critical and cogently structured argument, both orally and in writing.
4. Reflect upon and take responsibility for their own learning, making use of constructive feedback.
5. Work independently.

Languages
1. Take part in problem solving activities in an appropriate register in the target languages
2. Conduct in-depth research using documentation and electronic media in the target languages
3. Analyse and synthesise social, political, cultural and literary texts both orally and in writing in the target languages.

Assessment

International Relations
A range of assessment modes will be employed:
1. Unseen examinations, which will test students ability to respond concisely to questions within a time-bound context.
2. Essays, including coursework essays, which allow the student to define intellectual problems which they can address though papers of varying length.
3. Dissertations which allow student to define intellectual problems and address these through extended research and written work.
The diverse modes of assessment help to ensure the acquisition of these varying practical skills.

Languages
1. Unseen examinations - to show competency in comprehension and use of language
2. Language oral examinations/ presentations - to show competence in the spontaneous use of language .
3. Essays/ take away papers/ coursework/portfolio/project - to show the ability to select and use appropriate and authentic linguistic, social and cultural sources both orally and on paper.

Teaching and Learning Methods Used

International Relations
A range of teaching modes will be employed as appropriate to each stage of the programme:
1. Lectures, which will be used to relay a broad range of information.
2. Seminars, which will be based on groups of students allowing them to advance intellectually through discussion and making presentations.
3. Individual supervision, which will be used especially to provide students with guidance in researching and writing their dissertations.
The diverse modes of teaching and learning help to ensure the acquisition of these varying practical skills.

Languages
1. Workshops
2. Language seminars - Oral work will be an essential part of the course. A variety of exercises will be set to indicate progress - such as summarising, essay writing, oral presentations, drills and grammar work.
3. Autonomous learning
4. Integrated study skills.

C. Practical Skills

Graduates in the IR programme will be able to:
C1. Deploy a range of communication and information technology skills.
C2. Communicate effectively with others both orally and in writing.
C3. Co-operate with others to achieve common goals.
C4. Meet deadlines under pressure.

Languages
1. Be sufficiently proficient and autonomous in the target languages in order to live and/or work abroad.
2. Communicate clearly and precisely both orally and in writing, using a suitable range of lexis in the target languages.
3. Engage in discussion and debate with sensitivity to the social and cultural content.
4. Demonstrate a knowledge of the theory and practice of translation and interpreting across three languages
5. Take control of and reflect on language learning
6. Take control of and reflect on the appropriate use of language in a variety of situations.

Assessment

International Relations
A range of assessment modes will be employed:
1. Unseen examinations, which will test students ability to respond concisely to questions within a time-bound context.
2. Essays, including coursework essays, which allow the student to define intellectual problems which they can address though papers of varying length.
3. Dissertations which allow student to define intellectual problems and address these through extended research and written work.
The diverse modes of assessment help to ensure the acquisition of these varying practical skills.

Languages
1. Unseen examinations - to show competency in comprehension and use of language
2. Language oral examinations/ presentations - to show competence in the spontaneous use of language .
3. Essays/ take away papers/ coursework/portfolio/project - to show the ability to select and use appropriate and authentic linguistic, social and cultural sources both orally and on paper.

Teaching and Learning Methods Used

International Relations
A range of teaching modes will be employed as appropriate to each stage of the programme:
1. Lectures, which will be used to relay a broad range of information.
2. Seminars, which will be based on groups of students allowing them to advance intellectually through discussion and making presentations.
3. Individual supervision, which will be used especially to provide students with guidance in researching and writing their dissertations.
The diverse modes of teaching and learning help to ensure the acquisition of these varying practical skills.

Languages
1. Workshops
2. Language seminars - Oral work will be an essential part of the course. A variety of exercises will be set to indicate progress - such as summarising, essay writing, oral presentations, drills and grammar work.
3. Autonomous learning
4. Integrated study skills.

D. Transferable Skills

International Relations
1. Problem solving skills.
2. Time management skills.
3. Presentational skills.
4. Ability to present information in a range of modes.

Languages
Students graduating from this programme will have developed a range of transferable skills. These include:
1. Presentation and discourse skills
2. Interviewing skills
3. An ability to work in teams
4. Problem solving
5. Electronic retrieval of information from the internet
6. Translation and interpreting skills
7. Autonomous learning.

Assessment

International Relations
A range of assessment modes will be employed:
1. Unseen examinations, which will test students ability to respond concisely to questions within a time-bound context.
2. Essays, including coursework essays, which allow the student to define intellectual problems which they can address though papers of varying length.
3. Dissertations which allow student to define intellectual problems and address these through extended research and written work.
The diverse modes of assessment help to ensure the acquisition of these varying transferable skills.

Languages
1. Unseen examinations - to show competency in comprehension and use of language
2. Language oral examinations/ presentations - to show competence in the spontaneous use of language .
3. Essays/ take away papers/ coursework/portfolio/project - to show the ability to select and use appropriate and authentic linguistic, social and cultural sources both orally and on paper.

Teaching and Learning Methods Used

International Relations
A range of teaching modes will be employed as appropriate to each stage of the programme:
1. Lectures, which will be used to relay a broad range of information.
2. Seminars, which will be based on groups of students allowing them to advance intellectually through discussion and making presentations.
3. Individual supervision, which will be used especially to provide students with guidance in researching and writing their dissertations
The diverse modes of teaching and learning help to ensure the acquisition of these varying transferable skills.

Languages
1. Workshops
2. Language seminars - Oral work will be an essential part of the course. A variety of exercises will be set to indicate progress - such as summarising, essay writing, oral presentations, drills and grammar work.
3. Autonomous learning
4. Integrated study skills
5. On the year spent abroad, there will be opportunities to carry out independent research in the target language via the Internet and through personal contact established during that year.

Full-time course composition