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International Relations of the Americas MSc

London, Bloomsbury

This is the programme information for 2026/27 entry

If you require details of the previous year's programme, International Relations of the Americas MSc (2025/26), click here

UK students International students

Study mode

UK tuition fees (2026/27)

£16,800

£8,400

Overseas tuition fees (2026/27)

£35,400

£17,700

Duration

1 calendar year

2 calendar years

Programme starts

September 2026

Applications accepted

Applicants who require a visa: 20 Oct 2025 – 26 Jun 2026

Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Applicants who do not require a visa: 20 Oct 2025 – 28 Aug 2026

Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Apply for this course

Entry requirements

Normally an upper second-class Bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline from a UK university or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard. A basic reading competence in Spanish, French or Portuguese is useful but not essential.

The English language level for this course is: Level 4

UCL Pre-Master's and Pre-sessional English courses are for international students who are aiming to study for a postgraduate degree at UCL. The courses will develop your academic English and academic skills required to succeed at postgraduate level.

Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.

Equivalent qualifications

Country-specific information, including details of when UCL representatives are visiting your part of the world, can be obtained from the International Students website.

International applicants can find out the equivalent qualification for their country by selecting from the list below. Please note that the equivalency will correspond to the broad UK degree classification stated on this page (e.g. upper second-class). Where a specific overall percentage is required in the UK qualification, the international equivalency will be higher than that stated below. Please contact Graduate Admissions should you require further advice.

About this degree

This is a unique MSc programme in the UK owing to its hemispheric approach to studying the Americas. The course encourages students to acquire critical thinking skills to comprehend and assess the issues currently facing governments, societies, and policy makers in the Americas. Students will also develop a systematic understanding of the international relations of the Americas, understood both as the relations between the countries and societies of the Americas and the relations of governments and societies in the Americas with the rest of the world. You will study a broad range of issues including political and historical dynamics; geopolitics; human rights; climate change and environmental issues; tackling financial inequalities; and societal issues such as the war against drugs and criminal cartels.

Who this course is for

This programme is suitable for students who wish to develop their understanding of International Relations in the Americas for further research or a career in this field.

Read about what it takes to study for a Master's at UCL

What this course will give you

The UCL Institute of the Americas offers the largest teaching portfolio for the study of Canada, the Caribbean, Latin America and the United States in the UK. Being multidisciplinary, you will be taught by leading experts on social sciences and modern history all under one roof.

Students in the Institute benefit from teaching by world-leading scholars at the cutting edge of research that was ranked 1^st in Area Studies and Impact in the REF 2021.

The Institute actively maintains and builds ties with cultural, diplomatic and business organisations with interests in the Americas, and provides resources to the wider academic community, serving and strengthening national networks of North Americanist, Latin Americanist and Caribbeanist scholars.

Read about what you'll get out of a graduate programme

The foundation of your career

Upon completing this degree, you will have skills well suited for jobs in sectors such as:

policy and governments
NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations)
business and financial services
media and journalism
academia and education.

"UCL Americas provided me with the confidence and skills to advance my career in ways that I didn’t expect. I would strongly recommend this programme to anyone passionate about comparative politics, international relations, and human rights in the region."

Natalia Koper, MSc International Relations of the Americas, 2015–16.

Employability

Graduates will have acquired transferable skills attractive to employers in a wide range of businesses and sectors:

theoretical and critical analysis
writing and communication skills
time management.

You will also learn to solve problems and issues and to build positive working relationships.

Networking

The institute runs seminar series and events with invited speakers from academia, government, and NGOs. They also host career talks with returning alumni from different organisations and professions.

Our central London location gives students access to networking activities and events across the capital. You will be able to attend events in the high commissions and embassies of the Americas in London.

Finally, UCL student union societies can also further develop your interests and experiences. You may wish to consider joining:

Mexican Society
Women and Politics Society
African Caribbean Society
Diplomacy Society
Government and Politics Society.

Teaching and learning

The programme is delivered through a combination of seminars, lectures, presentations, independent reading and research.

Assessment is carried out through written assignments including essays and primary source analysis, presentations, podcasts, policy briefs and a dissertation.

Contact time takes various forms:

lectures
seminars
fieldwork (optional)
dissertation/project supervision
assessment feedback sessions
student meetings with tutors and lecturers.

For full-time students, typical contact hours are around 7–8 hours of lectures, seminars, workshops and tutorials per teaching week per module. Outside of lectures, seminars, workshops and tutorials, full-time students typically use their remaining time for self-directed study and completing coursework assignments (20–25 hours).

In Term 3 and the summer period students will be completing their own dissertation research, keeping regular contact with their dissertation supervisors.

Modules

To ensure study of the entire Americas regions, you will take two compulsory modules in subjects such as International Politics of Latin America, and Post-Cold War US Foreign Policy. This will set the foundation for the whole Master's, preparing you for further topics and for your research dissertation.

In Term 1, you will start a research skills module which provides guidance for undertaking the research dissertation in Term 3. You will be exposed to concepts of research design and research methods, thus gaining the necessary knowledge to develop your research dissertation.

In Terms 1 and 2 you will select three modules of further substantive-subject options from a broader range of modules. These modules further develop key concepts learnt in the compulsory modules, in addition to adding new topics. During term two, you will also prepare your research project proposal, giving continuity to activities in your research skills module.

In Term 3, you will fully develop your research dissertation in consultation with a specifically designated dissertation supervisor. Many of our Master's students undertake fieldwork in order to carry out research for their dissertation projects.

Part-time students will split the taught modules between Year 1 and Year 2. The core modules will be taken in Year 1, the research skills module is usually taken in Year 1, the dissertation is taken in Year 2.

All part-time students must complete a minimum of 60 credits in Year 1. These include any core modules that need to be taken in Year 1.

Compulsory modules

Dissertation

Post-Cold War US Foreign Policy

Researching the Americas

The International Politics of Latin America

Optional modules

The Caribbean from the Haitian Revolution to the Cuban Revolution

The Politics of Human Rights in Latin America: Challenges to Democratization

Latin American Economics

From the New South to the Modern South: The (Re)Making of an American Region

The Latin American City: Social Problems and Social Change in Urban Space

Challenging the Straight State: Regulation Repression, and Resistance in US Sexual Politics

States of Exception: US State-building through its Exceptional Geographies

The Making of the Modern U.S. Presidency

The United States at War: Decolonial Perspectives, 1898-present

International Development: Theory, Policy, and Practice

Environment and Development in Latin America: Revisiting the Open Veins

Politics of US Foreign Policy

Gender, Politics, and Public Policy in Latin America

(In)Security in the Americas: Transnational Challenges

Environment and Science in the Making of Modern Latin America

State and Society in Latin America: Ethnographic Perspectives

The Making of Modern Latin America: History, Politics and Society

Please note that the list of modules given here is indicative. This information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability are subject to change. Modules that are in use for the current academic year are linked for further information. Where no link is present, further information is not yet available.

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits. Upon successful completion of 180 credits, you will be awarded an MSc in International Relations of the Americas.

Fieldwork

Many of our Master's students undertake fieldwork in order to carry out research for their dissertation projects.

Accessibility

The department will endeavour to make reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities, including those with long-term health conditions, neurodivergence, learning differences and mental health conditions. This list is not exhaustive. If you're unsure of your eligibility for reasonable adjustments at UCL, please contact Student Support and Wellbeing Services.

Reasonable adjustments are implemented on a case-by-case basis. With the student's consent, reasonable adjustments are considered by UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services, and where required, in collaboration with the respective department.

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble. Further information about support available can be obtained from UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services.

For more information about the department and accessibility arrangements for your course, please contact the department.

Visit us

All open days and events

14 November 2025

Online - Open day

Graduate Open Events: Institute of the Americas (AM)

09:00 — 10:00

Discover how postgraduate study at UCL Institute of the Americas can prepare you to tackle today’s most pressing regional and global challenges. This online session will introduce you to our interdisciplinary approach and show how our research excellence shape our teaching. The session will cover all our PGT programmes and will conclude with a live Q&A, where programme directors, the department’s admissions tutor and current students will be on hand to answer your questions.

26 November 2025

Online - Open day

Graduate Open Events: Institute of the Americas (PM)

17:00 — 18:00

Fees and funding

Fees for this course

UK students International students

Fee description	Full-time	Part-time
Tuition fees (2026/27)	£16,800	£8,400
Tuition fees (2026/27)	£35,400	£17,700

Postgraduate Taught students benefit from a cohort guarantee, meaning that their tuition fees will not increase during the course of the programme, but UCL reserves the right to increase tuition fees to reflect any sums (including levies, taxes, or similar financial charges) that UCL is required to pay any governmental authority in connection with tuition fees.

The tuition fees shown are for the year indicated above. Where the course is offered on a flexible/modular basis, fees are charged pro-rata to the appropriate full-time Master's fee taken in an academic session. Further information on fee status, fee increases and the fee schedule can be viewed on the UCL Students website: ucl.ac.uk/students/fees.

Additional costs

For full-time and part-time offer holders with a fee status classification of UK, a fee deposit will be charged at 2.5% of the first year fee.

For full-time and part-time offer holders with a fee status classification of Overseas, a fee deposit will be charged at 10% of the first year fee.

Further information can be found in the Tuition fee deposits section on this page: Tuition fees.

Students can choose to do fieldwork-based projects in the UK or in the Americas for their dissertation. This may entail conducting archival and/or library-based research, and/or carrying out interviews and/or participant observation. The choice to take a fieldwork-based approach is optional and can entail additional costs, including travel, accommodation and living costs, which students must cover themselves. These costs can vary greatly, depending on the location and duration of fieldwork. The institute has limited funds available to students to help towards the costs of fieldwork. These funds are awarded on a competitive basis on the criteria of academic performance to date, the quality of the research proposal, and the importance of fieldwork for completing the research.

For in-person teaching, UCL’s main teaching locations are in zones 1 (Bloomsbury) and zones 2/3 (UCL East). The cost of a monthly 18+ Oyster travel card for zones 1-2 is £119.90. This price was published by TfL in 2025. For more information on additional costs for prospective students and the cost of living in London, please view our estimated cost of essential expenditure at UCL's cost of living guide.

Funding your studies

Funding opportunities at the Institute of the Americas can be found here.

For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website.

See all the ways you can fund your studies

: Aziz Foundation Scholarships in Social and Historical Sciences

Value: Full tuition fees (equivalent to 1yr full-time) (1 year)

Criteria Based on financial need

Eligibility: UK

Next steps

Students are advised to apply as early as possible due to competition for places. Those applying for scholarship funding (particularly overseas applicants) should take note of application deadlines.

There is an application processing fee for this course of £90 for online applications. Further information can be found at Application fees.

Together with essential academic requirements, the personal statement is your opportunity to illustrate whether your reasons for applying to this programme match what the programme will deliver.

When we assess your application we would like to learn:

why you want to study International Relations of the Americas at graduate level
why you want to study International Relations of the Americas at UCL
what particularly attracts you to this programme
how your academic and professional background meets the demands of this programme
where you would like to go professionally with your degree.

Please note that some funding schemes have an earlier application deadline; please view the Funding section for further details.

Please note that you may submit applications for a maximum of two graduate courses (or one application for the Law LLM) in any application cycle.

This course requires two references. Further information regarding references can be found on this Selecting your references page.

Choose your programme

Please read the Application Guidance before proceeding with your application.