Politics, Philosophy and Economics

Politics, philosophy, and economics, widely known as PPE, is a degree that brings together three disciplines with a shared concern for how human societies are organised, what values should guide collective decisions, and how resources and power are distributed. Philosophy provides the tools for rigorous argument, logical analysis, and ethical reasoning. Politics examines the institutions, processes, and ideologies through which power is exercised and contested.

Economics analyses how markets, incentives, and resource allocation shape material life. The three disciplines are genuinely complementary: each deepens the other, and the combination produces graduates equipped to think carefully and critically about virtually any significant question in public life.

At the University of Exeter, this three-year, full-time degree develops your analytical breadth and rigour across all three disciplines. You will study economic theory, political institutions and behaviour, and philosophical argument, moving between formal methods and humanistic interpretation in ways that few other degrees require. The programme includes the possibility of a year abroad, giving you the chance to study in a different intellectual and cultural environment and to see these disciplines applied from another national vantage point.

PPE graduates are found across an exceptionally wide range of careers. Government, the civil service, parliament, journalism, law, finance, consulting, international organisations, and the charitable sector all draw heavily on the analytical breadth and policy engagement that PPE develops. The degree is particularly well suited to careers that require integrating different kinds of reasoning about complex problems.

Many graduates also go on to postgraduate study in philosophy, economics, law, public policy, or related disciplines, building the specialist expertise needed for research or senior professional roles.