Programme Overview:
- Duration:
- 1 Years / 2 Years
- Attendance:
- Full Time / Part Time
- Mode of Delivery:
- Face-to-Face
- Next Intake:
- 2024/2025 September
- Contact Name:
- Spire Graduate
- Contact Number:
- Please click 'Ask a Question'
- Fees:
- Fee Information
Graduates are employed in roles such as Government Social Researcher, Diplomatic Advisor, and Public Affairs Consultant.
Graduates work with international private-sector employers, government agencies and Non-Governmental Organisations including:
United Nations, New York and Geneva
EU Delegation of the European Commission
IBRD (World Bank)
Anderson Consulting
Embassy of the United States of America
Economist Intelligence Unit, The Economist
Curricular information is subject to change
This programme aims to provide a comprehensive and critical grounding in key issues in politics and international relations and to allow students critically engage with cutting edge issues in the discipline.
The MSc in International Relations is a 90-credit programme. Full time students must take three 10-credit modules in the autumn trimester, and three 10-credit modules in the spring trimester. Students must also submit a thesis worth 30 credits that will be written during the summer term.
SPIRe part time programmes run for 2 years and students normally do 1 - 2 modules per semester. The final 30-credit module is completed during the second year of the programme.
Please note that our part-time programmes run during the day and are not timetabled in the evenings or at weekends.
Core and Option Modules for MSc International Relations
These are the current modules for 2023/24 but are subject to change. Each of the following modules carries 10 credits unless otherwise specified.
Core Modules
Core Options Choose minimum of 1
Option Modules (Select Two)
Autumn Trimester
Spring Trimester
MSc International Relations (W036) Full Time
EU fee per year - € 10100
nonEU fee per year - € 22600
MSc International Relations (W109) Part Time
EU fee per year - € 6420
nonEU fee per year - € 11300
***Fees are subject to change
Tuition fee information is available on the UCD Fees website. Please note that UCD offers a number of graduate scholarships for full-time, self-funding international students, holding an offer of a place on a UCD graduate degree programme. For further information please see International Scholarships.
SPIRe operates a Graduate Scholarship programme, which opens on May 1st. To access details, see SPIRe Graduate Scholarship Scheme. Please note that not all programmes are eligible for this Scholarship, please check the T&C's carefully when they become available.
A primary degree with at least Second Class Honours Grade 1 (2H1) in a relevant subject such as political science, international relations, social science, sociology, history, geography, economics, global studies, public policy, development studies, EU studies, law. 2H1 is equivalent to 60 per cent, B minus or 3.08 GPA - in American system: B or 3.00 GPA.
Sandra Perron
President of Imagine Foundation
Completing the MSc in International Relations at UCD was one of the best decisions of my life. Interacting with high calibre students from around the world, I quickly realised how little I knew about international politics and relations, and how my cultural paradigms, mostly based on limited knowledge, have influenced my decision making in the past.
Now, whether it is in my role as a Global Purchasing Director, President of a non-profit organisation or a simple citizen of my country, my studies at UCD have enabled me to better understand the world I live in, and consider more profoundly such elements as human rights, global climate change, or international security in my decision making.
Jasmin Marston, Graduate MSc International Relations
"With the completion of my Master of Science I have been equipped with a solid basis of research approaches and methods. Furthermore I had the opportunity to take, as well as audit, a plethora of subjects (classes and paper titles) that allowed me to explore my interests in politics and development.
I have had personal interest in Ireland, as is was the first (and longest) colony of Great Britain and has been under international pressure since the collapse of the global economy in 2008 to implement austerity measures. Both of these facts are similar to what many Sub-Saharan African countries have experiences, and hence an intriguing facet to studying developmental issues in the West. Furthermore my friends recommended studying in Ireland, as it was known for their good schools".
The following entry routes are available:
* Courses will remain open until such time as all places have been filled, therefore early application is advised