Intelligence and International Security

Intelligence and international security is a discipline that addresses the complex and interconnected security challenges facing states and international actors in the contemporary world, drawing on strategic studies, intelligence studies, and security theory to analyse and respond to threats that range from interstate conflict and nuclear proliferation to terrorism, cybersecurity, pandemics, and environmental security. Aberystwyth University has a distinguished tradition in international politics, and this three-year full-time degree draws on that tradition to offer a rigorous and wide-ranging engagement with the theory and practice of security and intelligence.

You will draw on ideas from strategic, intelligence, and security studies to understand how states and other actors perceive and respond to threats, how intelligence is gathered, analysed, and used in policy-making, and how different theoretical perspectives lead to different assessments of what counts as a security challenge and how it should be addressed. The programme covers inter-state and intra-state conflict, international terrorism, cyber threats, nuclear proliferation, global health risks, transnational crime, population displacement, natural disasters, and climate change, developing both the breadth of knowledge and the analytical depth that careers in security and policy require.

A typical entry tariff of 104 UCAS points reflects an accessible admissions standard. Graduates from intelligence and international security programmes are well placed for careers in the diplomatic service, intelligence and security agencies, the armed forces, think tanks, non-governmental organisations, conflict analysis, risk consultancy, journalism, the civil service, and a range of other roles in the public and private sectors where analytical understanding of security challenges is professionally valuable. Many continue to postgraduate study in international security, intelligence studies, or strategic studies.