Meet the deps 1400x700

Our departments and degree programmes

Discover our degree programmes

Our social science focus means that our students have the opportunity to study, debate and critically engage with real world global issues. Our academics are experts in their fields, with their research playing an important role in informing public debates and shaping the society we live in. An undergraduate education at LSE is informed and invigorated by the knowledge and expertise of our world-leading researchers.

Our commitment to helping students ‘understand the causes of things’ means that interdisciplinary study is a key feature of studying at the School. Most of our degrees allow you to combine study in more than one subject, such as our joint honours BSc International Relations and Chinese or our combined honours BSc Geography with Economics programmes.

Many degrees allow you to choose at least one “outside” option, which could be from another academic department or a language or literature course through the Language Centre.

See the information below to find out more about our study options:

Academic departments and their programmes

Department of Accounting

BSc Accounting and Finance

Department of Anthropology

BA Anthropology and Law

BA/BSc Social Anthropology

Department of Economic History

BSc Economic History

BSc Economic History and Geography

BSc Economics and Economic History

Department of Economics

BSc Economics

BSc Econometrics and Mathematical Economics

Department of Finance

BSc Finance

Department of Geography and Environment

BSc Environment and Sustainable Development

BSc Environment and Sustainable Development with Economics

BA Geography

BSc Geography with Economics

Department of Government

BSc Politics

BSc Politics and Economics

BSc Politics and International Relations

BSc Politics and Philosophy

Department of International History

BA History

BSc History and Politics 

BSc International Relations and History

Department of International Relations

BSc International Relations

Language Centre

BSc International Relations and Chinese

BSc Language, Culture and Society

LSE Law School

LLB Bachelor of Laws

Department of Management

BSc Management

Department of Mathematics

BSc Financial Mathematics and Statistics

BSc Mathematics with Data Science

BSc Mathematics and Economics

BSc Mathematics with Economics

Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method

BSc Philosophy and Economics

BSc Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method

BSc Philosophy, Politics and Economics

Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science

BSc Psychological and Behavioural Science

Department of Social Policy

BSc International Social and Public Policy

BSc International Social and Public Policy with Economics

BSc International Social and Public Policy with Politics

Department of Sociology

BSc Sociology

Department of Statistics

BSc Actuarial Science (and BSc Actuarial Science with a Placement Year)

BSc Data Science 

BSc Mathematics, Statistics and Business

Teaching and assessment

A typical undergraduate timetable will involve 9-15 hours of contact time a week, made up of lectures and classes. Lectures are attended by all students taking a course so the audience size can be large, particularly in the first year. Classes are typically made up of no more than 15 students.

Students can increase contact time with academic staff through appointments with their academic mentors, meetings with class teachers, lecturers and departmental tutors. All academic staff will also offer office hours, so you can take advantage of their academic expertise, even if they’re not teaching one of your courses.

Please visit our programme pages for specific information about teaching and assessment methods for individual degrees. A complete list of compulsory and optional modules can be accessed via the School Calendar, which can be found in the ‘Programme structure and courses’ section on each of the programme pages.

Students can also choose an outside option course from another academic department. 

LSE100

All first year undergraduates take LSE100, LSE's flagship interdisciplinary course, as a half unit across the Michaelmas and Lent terms of their first year. LSE100 aims to broaden the intellectual experience at the School, provide students with the opportunity to explore insights and ideas from across the social sciences and develop their analytical and critical thinking skills. Visit our LSE100 webpages to find out more. 

Additional information about teaching, assessment and examinations.

Study abroad

You can study abroad during your undergraduate degree, either as part of a programme-specific exchange or as part of our School-wide Global Opportunity (GO) LSE exchanges in partner institutions in Europe, North America and Asia. More information on the partner institutions where you can study abroad is available on the GO LSE destinations webpage.

All of our study abroad options are a full academic year in duration. We do not offer semester long exchanges.

Study abroad is compulsory on our BSc International Relations and Chinese and BSc Language, Culture and Sociery programmes, but for all other programmes you can apply for an exchange during the second year of your undergraduate degree.

Students return to LSE after their year abroad to study the final year of their undergraduate degree programme.

Programme-specific exchanges:

More information about our study abroad options

Language specialism

The following degree programmes give students the opportunity to receive a language specialism attached to their degree certificate and transcript:

Students on these degree programmes who have taken and passed a one unit language course in each year of their degree (i.e. 25 per cent of their overall programme of study) will be offered the opportunity to receive a language specialism attached to their degree certificate and transcript. Students must take all courses in the same language (French, Spanish, German, Mandarin or Russian) in order to qualify for the specialism. The three courses must also be consecutively harder in level, for example: beginner, intermediate and advanced. Students who choose to take language courses are not obligated to receive a specialism, but have the option if they wish. Degree certificates which include a language specialism will state the language in the title, for example: BSc Sociology (with French).

Research at LSE

The latest Research Excellence Framework assessment recognised LSE as producing a higher percentage of ‘world-leading’ research than any other UK university. LSE students are often taught by academics who are leaders in their field, who share their expertise and experience in lectures, seminars, and classroom discussions.

Visit our Research webpages to see what research is being undertaken at LSE and discover the impact our academics are having on society. Our LSE Player is home to research films, blogs and our award winning LSE IQ podcast. Research topics at LSE are diverse, ranging from happiness and wellbeing to asylum policy. 

Our Public Events give you the opportunity to engage with important social science discussions between our own academic staff and a host of guest speakers, including politicians, business leaders and academics from all over the world. You can attend our Public Events, or listen to podcasts or videos of previous events, including those in our COVID-19 series.

As well as offering a valuable insight into LSE, our research resources could also serve as useful starting points for your own independent study; whether it’s planning an EPQ, personal statement writing or for referencing in future essays and exams.

Undergraduate students at LSE can also participate in research internships during their studies, either with academic departments at LSE or with external businesses and organisations such as the civil service.