Programme introduction

The European Union is a rapidly growing influence on all aspects of public policy in the UK, across the EU's Member States and in global politics. Understanding supranational governance is therefore increasingly important for any student of public policy in the twenty-first century. Our MSc in European Public Policy is designed to equip students with the empirical knowledge, transferable skills and research experience necessary to analyse and evaluate the complex challenges facing European policy-makers today.

The programme provides an in-depth and systematic understanding of the EU’s institutions, political processes and policies. It covers executive, legislative and judicial politics in Europe; introduces public policy-formulation and decision-making; and discusses key questions of contemporary European governance. By the end of the programme, students will have

• acquired an in-depth knowledge of the EU's institutions, including the Commission, the Council of Ministers, the European Parliament and the Court of Justice;
• gained a systematic understanding of policy-making in the EU, including the legislative process, interest representation and the implementation of European law;
• discussed topical questions of European governance, such as EU foreign policy, lobbying, regulation and citizenship;
• learned how the EU impacts on the political systems and policies of its Member States;
• gained transferable skills for the analytical study of politics and policy-making.

Pooling the Department’s expertise in Public Policy, International Relations, Comparative Politics and Political Theory our teaching on the EU is interdisciplinary and offers a wide variety of optional courses to accommodate students’ personal interests. We train our students in the rigorous academic analysis of European Public Policy, but we also attach great importance to equipping them with skills that are transferable to a non-academic environment and to giving them practical insights into the EU policy-process. As part of the programme, we therefore organise a study-trip to Brussels (PDF); we organise policy-simulations; and we invite both academics and practitioners to our departmental seminar series. Four of our optional courses have also been recognised by the European Commission as Jean Monnet Modules.

Most students choose the MSc as the foundation for a career in European affairs—in the EU’s institutions; in central, regional or local government; in NGOs, business, lobby groups and public affairs consultancies.

The Department’s Research Agenda

Our Department engages in high quality research, addressing key empirical puzzles and normative questions faced by the European Union and its Member States. Our research focuses on three topics in particular: 1) the European polity and its normative foundations; 2) lobbying and regulation in Europe; 3) EU decision-making and institutions. Please visit our research webpages for further information.

The European Union at UCL

As a leading international centre for the study of European politics, UCL offers a stimulating learning environment for anyone interested in the European Union. In October 2010, UCL launched a new European Institute, and in addition to courses run by our Department, students can take seminars and attend events organised by the Centre for European Studies, the Centre for Law and Governance in Europe, and the School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies. The School also hosts the offices of the University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES), who publishes the Journal of Common Market Studies (JCMS), organises conferences and coordinates a network of researchers (including graduate students) working on European issues. The Department is also affiliated to the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR), of which Richard Bellamy is a past Academic Director.

The programme is made up of the following elements, to total 180 credits:

1.   You are required to take the following four compulsory modules:

• The European Union: Institutions and Politics (30 credits)
• Public Policy Economics and Analysis (15)
• Introduction to Qualitative Methods B (15) OR Advanced Qualitative Methods (15)
• Introduction to Quantitative Methods B (15) OR Advanced Quantitative Methods (15)
• Dissertation - 10,000 words (60)

2.   Choose at least one of the following two modules (the other remains an option to choose in step 3):

• Policy-Making & Regulation in Europe (15)
• The European Union, Globalisation and the State (15)

3.   Choose any two further modules worth 30 credits in total (the following is a list of all courses available within the department):