THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2025/2026

Timetable information in the Course Catalogue may be subject to change.

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DRPS : DPTs :  School of Social and Political Science DPTs
Jump to: Year 1, Year 2

Year 1 Academic year: 2025/26, Starting in: September

Compulsory courses

You must take these courses

Course options

Sustainable Development Pathway courses

Select exactly 40 credits of the following courses
Notes:
Geography pathway students must select Human Geography and Physical Geography.

Politics and International Relations pathway students must select exactly 40 credits - this must be PIR1A, and either PIR1B or Political Thinkers.

Science, Technology and Innovation Studies pathway students must select 40 credits - this must be Investigating Science in Society and either Technology in Society or History of Science 1.

Social Anthropology pathway students must select Social Anthropology 1A: The Life Course and Social Anthropology 1B: Anthropology Matters.

Sociology pathway students must select Sociology 1A: The Sociological Imagination Individuals and Society and Sociology 1B: The Sociological Imagination Private Troubles Public Problems

Courses selected as above will serve as your MAIN SUBJECT PATHWAY.
AND

Group A

Select exactly 40 credits in this group.

Level 8 courses in Schedules A-Q, T, W and Y

Select between 20 and 40 credits from Level 8 courses in Schedules A-Q, T, W and Y
AND

Challenge Courses: Engaging with complex problems through interdisciplinary collaboration

Select between 0 and 20 credits of the following courses
Notes:
Challenge Courses are designed to bring together students from different degree programmes to explore the complex issues facing the world today through interdisciplinary collaboration and creative thinking.

Working with each other and expert academics, students will gain new perspectives and develop important life skills highly valued by employers, such as teamwork, problem-solving and adaptability.

Year 2 Academic year: 2025/26, Starting in: August

Notes:
Entry to third year normally requires successful completion of the first two years of the curriculum.

Students who are planning on spending their third year studying abroad must successfully progress to honours before they can proceed on their Junior Year Abroad (JYA).

Compulsory courses

You must take these courses

Course options

Group A

Select exactly 80 credits in this group.

Courses from School(s) J - 2ND YEAR Sustainable Development MA (Hons) - Level(s) 8

Select between 40 and 60 credits of the following courses
Notes:
Please choose 40 credits from the MAIN SUBJECT PATHWAY that you focused your studies on during year 1, unless you are on the GEOGRAPHY PATHWAY in which case you will choose 60 Geography credits.

Geography pathway students choose 1 per semester from: Critical Approaches to Landscapes, Power and Society (Sem 1) OR Global Change (Sem 1) AND Geographies of Economies, Environment and Politics (Sem 2) OR Geomorphology (Sem 2). You must also select Fundamental Methods in Geography.

Politics and International Relations pathway students must choose two of: Comparative Politics in a Globalized World (Sem 1), Theories of IR (Sem 1), and Introduction to Political Data Analysis (Sem 2), although you can take all three if you wish. Students who wish to focus on Politics courses and do a more Politics-focused dissertation should take Comparative Politics in a Globalized World, and those who wish to focus on IR should take Theories of IR.

Science, Technology and Innovation Studies pathway students must select Environmentalism: Past and Present, and Data, Design and the City

Social Anthropology pathway students must select Social Anthropology 2: Key Concepts AND Ethnography: Theory and Practice.

Sociology pathway students must select Sociology 2a: Thinking Sociologically AND Sociology 2b: Researching Social Life.
AND

Level 7 and 8 courses in Schedules A-Q, T, W and Y

Select between 0 and 40 credits from Level 7 and 8 courses in Schedules A-Q, T, W and Y
AND

Challenge Courses: Engaging with complex problems through interdisciplinary collaboration

Select between 0 and 20 credits of the following courses
Notes:
Challenge Courses are designed to bring together students from different degree programmes to explore the complex issues facing the world today through interdisciplinary collaboration and creative thinking.

Working with each other and expert academics, students will gain new perspectives and develop important life skills highly valued by employers, such as teamwork, problem-solving and adaptability.

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