Politics and International Relations
The Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR) at Oxford is an internationally-renowned centre of excellence for teaching and research. The study of these disciplines at Oxford has a long and distinguished history and the DPIR is now one of the largest in the field in the UK. DPIR is ranked first for research overall in the most recent THES global university rankings for Politics and International Studies and second in the 2022 QS World University Rankings.
The department's large community of academic staff work in research areas that extend in geographical scope across the globe, cover both historical and contemporary sources, and address technical, practical, and philosophical problems in networks that extend beyond the DPIR to other departments, universities, and global and local organisations.
Graduate students have access to an unrivalled range of expertise and activity in the fields of government and politics, political theory, and international studies. Teaching is based on the most rigorous contemporary scholarship and students are trained in the highest standards of critical analysis, and in the understanding and use of rigorous research methods and techniques.
The department’s graduate courses include both taught master's degrees (one-year research preparation MSc and two-year MPhil) and three- to four-year doctoral research degrees (DPhil). However, all taught degrees involve a research element, and all research degrees will involve some taught components, including quantitative and qualitative research methods. The DPIR graduate community currently numbers just over 300, with 150 students studying the taught courses and around 170 undertaking doctoral research.