At the Department of Political Science of the Université libre de Bruxelles, our objective is to educate students so that when they graduate, they master the various aspects of politics, lato sensu: how does a State work at national and European levels, how does a State work in its relation to power, public administration, and international relations, broadly.
In the three first years (the Bachelor), the student receives a general and broad training while starting to become more specialized. General lectures include an introduction to political science, as well as introductions to pivotal disciplines to understand and analyze political science: history, sociology, economy, law or geography. Most of these lectures count 24 hours and are mostly taught on a basis of 2h/week over a 4 months period (from mid-September to mid-December or from February to mid-May).
In the BA’s courses as well as in the MA’s, students attend several types of teaching: ex-cathedra classes, practical exercises or seminars, case studies, or simulations. Seminars’ objective is for the students to interact with the teacher or the teaching assistant. In these classes, the student is usually evaluated on the basis of a paper and sometimes, of an oral presentation. In BA, most of the exams are written exams but some of the exams are oral.
In the MA years, students are given the opportunity to take several options:
- All students have a common basis of classes: the basic module.
- Students are required to choose an orientation module that will lead to a specialization: for the International Relations module, they can opt for Security, Peace and Conflicts, or Globalization and Public Policies; for the General module: Politics and Public Management, Politics and Society in Europe and North America, Politics and Society in Central Europe-Russia-Caucasus, Politics and Society in Developing Countries, Didactics, In-depth. A MA in Public Administration also exists.
- Besides, our department proposes two one-year MAs: MA in Political Science (evening classes) and a MA in Political Science (full English program).
MA exams are more frequently oral exams than in BA. During the second year of the MA, students must present a MA thesis on a subject approved beforehand by the Jury of the Department.
As for languages, students learn English (level III*: being able to give a simple oral presentation about political science) and another language of their choice (level II*: passive understanding of a document about political science). Besides, for the willing students, the department has set up a BA bilingual program French-Dutch. In MA years, several lectures are given in English.
In BA and MA, students can submit a request to go study abroad for a semester or a year. Our department strongly favors student exchange, be it with European universities (in Great-Britain, France, Italy, Greece, Sweden, Poland, the Czech Republic, etc.) or international universities (Canada, Japan, etc.).
At the end of their 5-year studies, ULB Political Science students hold a highly valuable degree since it combines a vast general knowledge and the specialization they chose during their MA.
Our degree is broadly recognized for the aforementioned qualities. The variety in the education reflects in the wide range of career prospects than can be contemplated: secondary school or higher education teaching, diplomacy, journalism, careers in the Belgian or European public services, in international organizations, in think tanks on political, social and community life organizations, in the private sector, etc.
Moreover, PhD specialization programs are open to MA graduate students, depending on their interests. Several options, although they are not all mentioned here, exist such as the Certificate in Doctoral Training or the Master in International Law.
Of course, should you need any additional information, we will be glad to provide it.
Barbara Delcourt
Chairman of Department of Political Science