Bachelor of Arts (Honours) - International Relations

The Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in International Studies allows students to study the world from different perspectives: political, economic, historical and legal. It enables them to understand the inter-connectedness of everything. A graduate in International Studies will have a sophisticated grasp of shared world and the flexibility to find solutions. This is an asset prized by major employers. A key feature of the global economy is the rapid adoption of new technology. Technology has proved to be an agent which encourages cooperation across national boundaries. Technological developments in transport, telecommunications and computing have encouraged economic changes such as the decline in barriers to trade, the internationalization of financial markets, the rise of global companies, and a massive increase in the volume of international trade in goods and services. These trends have been accompanied by political developments such as the rise of regional trading groupings of countries, international efforts to agree about common legal and technical rules to govern business dealings, arguments about ‘tax competition’ between countries, as well as increasing concern about the environmental consequences associated with world economic development. Enormous social tensions arise as these international forces come into conflict with long-established ways of doing things in every country. Political and social systems are in a continuous process of adjustment to an increasingly open world.

The Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in International Studies course at the University of Buckingham gives students an opportunity to learn about these fundamental problems. It is an ideal environment to learn about matters of international concern and to discuss them with people from differing cultural backgrounds.