PPE – Philosophy, Politics and Economics – has a diverse curriculum which attracts students with a wide variety of interests and backgrounds. The PPE course balances breadth and depth, and it is consciously kept at the cutting-edge of research. It encompasses specialist and technical training in economics, philosophy, and politics, together with in-depth study of an increasingly diverse range of social and political ideas and history. The degree requires and develops in students an ability to grasp, analyse, and evaluate essential information rapidly. It rewards both technical and humanistic insight.

PPE is a highly flexible degree which allows you to shape your own path through it: you may choose to specialise in two branches at the end of the first year, or continue with all three. You can also explore a wide variety of disciplines under the overarching headings of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics – for example, you can specialise in Sociology or International Relations by choosing the relevant Politics options.

Univ admits one of the largest PPE undergraduate cohorts in the University. We offer exceptional teaching provision, with two permanent post-holders for each of the three disciplines. We provide you with a supportive and intellectually rigorous environment as you study here. Univ also teaches two of the component subjects of PPE in combination with other subjects. Politics can be studied alongside History. Philosophy can be combined with Maths, Computer Science, Physics, Russian, Czech, Psychology or Linguistics (correct for 2023 entry).

There is a wealth of information about the PPE course structure, possible option choices, and admissions criteria on the University of Oxford’s main website, available at ox.ac.uk

Any undergraduate degree at Oxford provides you with a wide variety of transferable skills and therefore Univ’s students progress to a diverse range of careers. For some, their undergraduate degree leads to academic research, industrial research or teaching. For many, their future career, for instance in business, government or the charitable sector, is defined less by the subject they studied and more by the skills they acquired. Oxford’s Careers Service provides destination statistics for graduates.

Resources

If you are considering applying for Philosophy, a number of resources you might find useful to explore beyond the school curriculum can be found on Univ’s Staircase12 pages, including the Reading Bank and Resource Hub.

Similarly the Staircase12 pages include Politics related book reviews and resources and Economics related book reviews and resources.

Watch past PPE student Alex talks about John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism in our video review here.