School of Social Sciences

International Relations MA

Year of entry: 2026

Course Length: 12 months Full-Time | 24 months Part-Time

About the course

Increasingly, our world is seeing global crises that threaten to redefine borders, alliances, and power structures. Our MA in International Relations gives you the tools to make sense of the delicate forces at play, and shape what comes next.

With support from our expert academics, you’ll conduct your own research into pressing global issues such as global ethics, environmental politics. foreign policy and justice, and more. You’ll gain specialist knowledge of the norms, actors and structures shaping international affairs. By studying this course, you’ll join one of the largest and best-known politics departments in the UK. Our research route is particularly suitable if you’re thinking of progressing to PhD study. Explore our International Relations courses:

Join one of the UK's Top 10 Universities For Politics and International Studies

(Times Higher Education World Rankings 2025)

Study at one of the UK’s largest and most prestigious politics departments, situated in a uniquely political city

Graduate from one of the UK’s most targeted universities by top employers with the skills needed for a meaningful career

(High Fliers, The Graduate Market Report 2024)

Compulsory Units

Research Design and Skills;
Graduate Seminar in International Relations Theory;
Critical Approaches in International Politics;
Dissertation.

Optional Units

Governing in an Unjust World: Justice and International Relations;
Global Governance;
Human Rights in World Politics;
Critical Environmental Politics;
Gender War and Peace.

Course units vary by pathway. These are examples of units offered in 2024/25 and are subject to change.

Where will your course take you?

Today's turbulent world is in increasing need of graduates with unparalleled expertise on issues of international relations.

Our courses allow you to develop a variety of both subject-specific and transferable skills suited to a wide variety of roles, such as critical thinking, legal analysis, research, problem-solving and communication.

Most of our recent graduates have gone on to work with leading organisations such as local and central government agencies, international and supranational institutions such as the UN and the EU, think-tanks or research institutes, NGOs, consultancy firms, and more.

Many graduates also continue their research by studying a PhD in Politics, either at Manchester or at another leading university, where they expand the boundaries of our knowledge and pursue careers in research or academia.

Sara Giorgi

International Relations MA Graduate

"The course benefits from being very broad; it gives you the skills to work in very different areas, but at the same time you can specialise in the areas that really interest you.

I loved the English university system (I’m Italian) but I also fell for Manchester – both as a university and a city. It’s got a very high number of students, a truly multicultural environment, great opportunities and a good international ranking in league tables."