Philosophy, Politics and Economics

Philosophy, politics, and economics, usually known as PPE, is one of the most distinctive and intellectually ambitious combinations in British higher education. Philosophy trains you in the analysis of arguments, the examination of assumptions, and the construction of rigorous reasoning about fundamental questions. Politics gives you analytical tools to understand power, governance, and the dynamics of institutions and ideologies.

Economics provides the quantitative and theoretical frameworks for understanding how resources are allocated, how markets work, and how policy choices shape material outcomes. Together they make you a generalist analyst capable of engaging with the major questions of public life from multiple angles at once.

At the University of Sussex, this three-year full-time programme offers approaches to understanding the ever-changing world around you and developing the skills and insights to engage with it critically and constructively. You will study across all three disciplines, exploring ethical and political philosophy, comparative politics and democratic theory, microeconomics and macroeconomics, and the intersections between them. A foundation year is available for students who need additional preparation, a sandwich year gives you professional experience, a year abroad broadens your intellectual horizons, and work placement experience runs throughout the programme.

PPE graduates are employed across an exceptionally wide range of careers: the civil service, parliament and political parties, policy research and think tanks, international organisations, finance, management consultancy, journalism, law, and the charity sector. The combination of disciplines has historically been associated with public leadership precisely because it develops people who can think across economic, political, and moral frameworks. Postgraduate study in economics, politics, philosophy, public policy, and law is a natural progression for those who wish to specialise.