Acting and Politics (Hons) Liverpool Hope University

Overview

The Acting and Politics (Hons) BA programme from Liverpool Hope University provides students with knowledge and understanding of the history and practice of acting, and the skills to apply this knowledge to real-life settings across different disciplines, as well as acting for stage and screen.

Politics affects all of us. It is central to human life and human affairs. It is fundamental to how we organise and govern ourselves and to how we resolve conflicts. The decisions we make as political communities, who makes them and how, have consequences for how we live, from questions of war and peace, the distribution of wealth, our rights, freedoms, responsibilities, our access to education, transport and health care.

In this rapidly changing world, new challenges are constantly arising – from climate change to new technologies, from identity politics to Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic – and the study of politics needs to respond. At Liverpool Hope, therefore, we seek to engage with politics and political issues in the real world as they evolve and change over time. In doing so, we actively encourage free and open debate and discussion amongst our students, encouraging a stronger awareness and appreciation of different points of view.

On this programme of study, you will explore key ideas, institutions and politics in an international, national and local context. You will be taught by staff who are experts in their fields, who will teach you to engage with political research and develop the capacity to be an independent, critically-minded scholar. The course also aims to equip you with transferable skills to take into the world of work.

Liverpool Hope can also offer work placement opportunities. In Politics we’ve also organised a Practitioners in Politics series of events, in conjunction with our Careers Office, where individuals including MPs, the Mayor of Liverpool and the Merseyside Commissioner for Crime and Policing have come to advise students on pathways into political careers and the skills needed to get there. 

Career opportunities:

Careers available for Politics graduates include those in government, in international organisations and in policy work. Teachers with politics skills are also in demand. Many firms and companies look for the general skills that the study of politics at degree level gives you – such as conducting critical analysis, preparing reports, constructing arguments and making judgements.

We encourage both teamwork and independent learning, and to develop your communication skills throughout the three years of study. Many students move on to postgraduate Masters programmes and research degrees. We have graduates who work in the UK Parliament, in the field of communications, the civil service and with the NHS or voluntary bodies. In recent years, we have had students who have gone to work in the field of law, with think tanks and in journalism and in the UK diplomatic corps. Former students have also gone on to enter politics themselves, including running for office and winning elections. We have several former students who have been elected to council offices in Merseyside. We have also had an MP, a graduate from Hope, come to give a speech to students in 2023-24 regarding how his experience at Hope helped shape his political career.