This degree is designed to develop global awareness, an understanding of the complexity of contemporary international arenas, and a sense of how policies can address rapid, sophisticated change. The course offers you the opportunity to take part in an exciting contemporary discussion that not only focuses on core theoretical understandings, but also on contemporary and critical developments within the field. The course is grounded in theoretical debates and research methods, and has a strong policy focus on global governance, the link between political economy and security, and the transient nature of international political actors and phenomena. The course is delivered through workshops, lectures and small group seminars. Assessment on the course involves coursework, report writing, presentations and group work. There are also class tests, critical reviews, and critical bibliographies to prepare. To encourage and facilitate independent learning the course will take full advantage of NTU's online workspace (NOW). By nature, the International Relations subject aims to foster your global citizenship characteristics with the discipline’s focus on openness to the world, and its focus on sustainability issues. In addition, the knowledge and skills that you attain are generally those that employers in a variety of different sectors seek, which means that as an International Relations graduate you should have a good opportunity to promote yourself to suitable employers. As an International Relations graduate from this course you will have had the opportunity to reflect on the subject and transferable skills that you have learned while preparing coursework, and those include expertise in writing complex yet concise analytical pieces, developing and implementing projects, and the ability to present in-depth ideas with confidence. You will also have been helped and encouraged to articulate those skills in relation to particular occupations that you may be interested in pursuing. The course also focuses on developing the following skills: communication, time-management, team-working, and IT / modern technologies. Each module on this course is designed to engage you in developing these skills which often form part of assessed assignments. Alongside providing such transferable skills, we believe that the optional pathway through the Dissertation module will strongly enhance your employability skills and, more generally, the course's engagement with contemporary global issues will ensure that your knowledge and ‘openness' to the wider world is up-to-date and relevant. In addition to the expertise available within the School of Social Sciences, the University has a comprehensive careers service open to all students to assist in securing employment. Support is especially provided by the Career Development Centre as well as more specific aid from our careers consultants, experts for international students, and through various initiatives such as ‘Succeed in Social Sciences’ employability events.