The DPhil in Politics is a full-time, three-year course of doctoral study which is intended for students who would like to undertake detailed research in preparation for an academic career in political science or political theory. If you are admitted to this degree, you will conduct your own research under the guidance of a University supervisor. You must be prepared to work on your own a good deal, and will need considerable personal motivation. You are required to have a good general knowledge, to master's level, of the field within which your research falls and of the methods appropriate to the study of this field. Graduate work in politics will prepare you for an academic career in the field, either in Oxford or elsewhere, but the department also celebrates the substantial number of its graduates working in government, in diplomatic services, and in senior positions in the private sector.