Welcome to the Warwick PPE Open Day

1. Welcome to the Warwick PPE Open Day Professor Mark Harrison, March 14, 2012

2. Introducing us • Three Professors in charge of PPE. • Me (Mark Harrison, Economics). • Began as an economist, became an economic historian. • Interested in Russia, wars, defence, and security. • And PPE director of studies. • Fabienne Peter (Philosophy). • Began as an economist, became a political philosopher. • Interested in justice, political legitimacy, and democracy • Will give the taster lecture at 3:00 pm. • Andrew Reeve (Politics and International Studies) • Began with PPE at Oxford, became a political theorist. • Interested in theories of property, exploitation and welfare. • And PPE senior tutor. • Maureen Tod (PPE Office) • Michael Youlton (Student Admission and Recruitment). • Katherine Shipton (PPE Society).

3. Our schedule today

4. What is PPE? • Philosophy, Politics, and Economics have been taught together in Britain since the 1920s. • First university to offer this course was Oxford; today PPE is offered by many excellent universities. • From UK, France, and Germany to North America, China, Japan, and Australia. • Among them Warwick.

5. What is PPE? • Philosophy, Politics, and Economics may be studied separately. • When you study PPE at Warwick, you follow them together. • Contrast the Oxford PPE, based on a pillar model with three independent elements. • Warwick follows a bridge model that seeks to cross gaps between P, P, and E. • To illustrate, Principles of Political Economy is core module of the final year. • Taught by members of staff from all three disciplines. • Integrates study of all three disciplines. • Focuses on the global political economy. • Topics have included global justice, development, globalization and international trade, global governance, and aid and humanitarian interventions.

6. Who takes PPE? • Across three years of study we now have 268 undergraduates (40% female) from 40 countries. • PPE is an international experience. • Top Ten by number (after UK): India, Singapore, China, Germany, France, Malaysia, Norway, Sweden, Pakistan, Denmark. • Demand for PPE is strong. • Annually we receive around 1,000 applications. • We make around 300 offers. • We fill around 100 places. • Candidates from outside EU are around one in four at all points in the cycle. • This year almost unchanged from last year. • Strong demand for places is tough for applicants. • But reflects the fact that Warwick PPE is a valuable qualification when you leave.

7. Where do they go? • PPE a highly respected degree. • Most posts open to any discipline, so Warwick’s reputation also counts strongly. • At our largest careers fair, 82% of employers recruited from any degree. • Warwick consistently among Top Ten universities targeted by graduate recruiters. • Association of Graduate Recruiters survey • Warwick the top UK university for careers advice. • International Student Barometer 2010, an independent survey of student opinion

8. Where do they go?

9. Where do they go? • Employers included: • BDO International; centre forum; Clinphone/Perceptive Informatics; Deloitte; Ernst & Young; Global Environment Institute; Goldman Sachs; HomeServe Plc; Investigo; JP Morgan; Kingston Smith; KPMG; Mayfield Asset Management; McQuarrie Capital; N M Rothschild; OHO Group; Oxford University Press; RBC Capital Markets; the Polish Ministry of Health; Royal Bank of Scotland; Singapore Tourism Board; Smith & Williamson; South Bank Employers Group; War on Want. • Median salary (18 respondents): £20k to 24.9k.

10. Where do they go? • Of those going on to further study: • Taught Master's programme: 60% • Postgraduate diploma: 20% • PG diplomas often lead to a taught Master's in a related subject. • Professional qualification: 10%. • Master’s programmes: • Either at highly ranked UK institutions (Imperial College London, London School of Economics, Oxford, University College London, Warwick). • Or overseas, e.g. Sciences-Po (Sciences Politiques de Paris). • Typically in: • Economics, development studies, finance, philosophy, history, management, international security, European or international political economy, political thought or political science, public administration, and public policy.

11. What does Warwick offer? • Three PPE Departments. • All strong in both research and teaching. • All run their own more specialized programmes too. • All three are large: • Well resourced administratively. • Support a specialized PPE Office. • Scope to cover all main fields of discipline. • All are close neighbours in the Social Sciences building. • We talk to each other a lot.

12. What does Warwick offer? • Year 1 is a qualifying year: Pass to proceed. • There are core (compulsory) modules. • Introduction to Philosophy. • Introduction to Politics. • Economics 1: micro- and macroeconomics. • Quantitative Techniques: maths and statistics. • Plus: • An optional subject.

13. What does Warwick offer? • Choose first-year option from a list. • Several provided within the three departments. • Philosophy: Introduction to Ancient Philosophy; Ideas of Freedom. • Politics: World Politics. • Economics: World Economy: History and Theory; The Industrial Economy; Mathematics for Economists. • Others provided by other departments in Social Sciences or Arts, including a language.

14. What does Warwick offer? • After the first year there are several pathways. • At Foundation (year 1) level, PPE combines all three disciplines. • At Honours level (years 2 and 3), you can focus: • On all three disciplines or, at a first approximation, drop one. • More or less on quantitative methods used in economics. • Six pathways: • Tripartite (all three). • Phil/Pol. • Phil/Econ. • Pol/Econ. • Econ major/Phil. • Econ major/Pol.

15. What does Warwick offer? • No one drops any discipline altogether. • The final year Principles core has three units: Phil/Pol, Phil/Econ, Pol/Econ. • In Principles, everyone must do two units out of three.

16. What does Warwick offer? • Academic support: Lectures. • Usually two per week in each module, attended by all students taking the module • Seminars. • Small discussion groups with a tutor, usually once per week or fortnight in each module. • Regular assessment. • Essays, tests, projects, exams, final-year dissertation. • PPE student-staff liaison committee. • Private study and self-motivation are vital. • University services. • Library and Learning Grid (24/7 space for group work). • Excellent careers advice and skills provision.

17. What does Warwick offer? • Study abroad: PPE students have access to links established by all three three PPE departments. • Erasmus programme (mainly Economics and Politics). • Adds a year of study abroad between Years 2 and 3. • Graduate after four years in “PPE with study abroad.” • Austria (Salzburg), Belgium (UFSI, Antwerp), France (IEP de Bordeaux, Grenoble, Paris; CU, Lille; Sciences Po, Paris; Paris Sorbonne), Germany (Jena, Konstanz, Munich), Italy (CU Milan; Pavia); Netherlands (Amsterdam), Norway (Bergen), Portugal (Nova, Lisbon), Spain (Autonoma, Barcelona; PompeuFabra, Barcelona; Carlos III, Madrid; UC, Madrid). • Exchange programmes (Politics and Philosophy). • Study abroad during Year 2, mirroring the Warwick Year 2 programme. • Graduate after three years. • Canada (Queen’s University Ontario), China (City University of Hong Kong), USA (Georgetown, Washington, DC; University of California; University of Wisconsin-Madison).

18. What does Warwick offer? • Pastoral support. • See your Personal Tutor at least once a term. • PPE director of studies and senior tutor also available. • PPE Society organizes student mentors. • University services. • Senior Tutor. • Student Counsellors. • Student Union advice service.

19. What qualities do you need? • A capacity for self-discipline and perseverance. • Set your own goals and work towards them. • Willing to take on new subjects. • Manage discomfort of unfamiliar ways of thinking. • If you’re not confused, you’re not learning. • Versatility: • Solving an economic model for equilibrium one week. • Parsing moral dilemmas the next. • Conceptualizing democracy the week after that. • Willingness to ignore intellectual boundaries. • Ultimately all knowledge is one. • Why Warwick is a university, not a multiversity.

20. What qualities do you need? • Numeracy as well as literacy. • No one takes pride in illiteracy. • But there are already lots of clever people that “don’t do maths.” • Why is maths useful in PPE? • Simplification. • Abstract thinking. • Logical proof. • What data do and do not show. • The maths is generally simple and we don’t require A-level. • But you do need to be comfortable with it. • Not to see solving simple problems as drudgery. • If maths is a drag or a barrier, PPE may not be for you.

21. Questions only you can answer • Do you want to study PPE? • If so, do you want to come to Warwick? • Some things to consider: • Numeracy as well as literacy. • PPE versus more specialized courses. • Campus university versus city university. • Midlands versus other regions. • Now I’m going to pass the baton to Katherine Shipton (PPE Society).

22. Lecture Series Socials The PPE Ball Mentor scheme, sports, the Exec, Fresher’s booklet, Social Media