European civilization is among the oldest and most influential in the world. European political and social ideas, religion, philosophy, art, literature, and European science and technology have been of decisive importance in shaping our contemporary world. To understand Europe is hence to understand one of the main sources of modernity. The European Union has emerged as a major actor in world politics, while decades of ideological division between Eastern and Western Europe has come to an end and the continent is coalescing. The growth and development of the European Union will be of vital importance to world politics and economics.

The BSocSc (Hons) in European Studies is a four-year programme centred in the Department of Government and International Studies. Political Science provides the disciplinary core, underpinned by history and (cultural) area studies, and supported by business/economics or communication courses (as electives). Students also undergo intensive and rigorous training in (currently) either German or French. The aim of the programme is to give students a firm knowledge of the basic features of the European world so as to prepare them for a future professional or academic career in the fields of European-Asian relations. Knowledge of Europe is deepened by the Honours Project in the final year, a dissertation in which students conduct their own research into a particular subject related to Europe.

Within the main European Studies programme courses there is choice in the second and final years. There is also choice within the Complementary Courses that are offered.