Here you can study PPE

PPE - Politics, Philosophy, Economics is an interdisciplinary degree famous in the United Kingdom. It is nicknamed the “prime minister degree”, as many prime ministers of the UK have studied it, often at prestigious universities such as Oxford. Theresa May and David Cameron are examples of well-known PPE-alumni.

Now, getting into Oxford is not easy, so you can’t really decide to study PPE there. It’s more about having stellar grades and getting lucky during the interview process. With Brexit come greatly increased fees for university, meaning that attending an institution in the UK will now cost you a fortune. The cost of attendance is now over 20,000 pounds, instead of 9,250 pounds. And that is per YEAR! If you are a non-EU, non-UK student, however, the tuition fee did not change.

As PPE is a really cool degree with a fantastic interconnection of the three subjects, these above-mentioned factors shouldn’t limit you in your degree choice, though. There are other places where you can study PPE where it is not only easier to be admitted, but also cheaper to attend. Keep on reading to see our list of Bachelor’s and Master’s PPE degrees all over Europe!

1. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU)

Located in the “Venice of the North”, Amsterdam is not only home to beautiful canals and the famous Van Gogh Museum, but also the VU which offers a PPE Bachelor taught entirely in English. Amsterdam is a global city, and the university also hosts many international students. According to VU, 50% of PPE students are from abroad. You start off by studying all three disciplines but can drop one course in your second year. If you are interested in studying in Amsterdam, we already have an article on that! You can check it out here.

The same course is also available in Utrecht in the Netherlands. If you are from the EU, a complete Bachelor’s degree from the Netherlands will cost you 5000 Euros, although it is more expensive if you are from somewhere other than Europe.

2. Charles University Prague

The Charles University in Prague, Czechia, also offers a PPE Bachelor fully in English. The tuition fee is 6000 Euros per year, so higher than in the Netherlands. The university actually has a very broad range of degrees in English, and even other languages such as German, Russian, or French.

For a Master’s, they do not explicitly offer PPE, but (!) they have very similar programs that might interest you if you are looking for something related to PPE: International Economic and Political Studies (IEPS), International Masters in Economy, State and Society, Public and Social Policy, or Sociology of Contemporary Societies. Prague is a beautiful city and with such a broad range of international degrees you can expect to have a very open and international student community at this university (as well as a bunch of cool Erasmus partner unis).

3. LMU München

One of Germany’s best universities, the LMU Munich, also has a PPE Master's on offer. It is in German and therefore named “PPW” - Politik, Philosophie, Wirtschaft. After successful completion, you will be awarded a Master of Arts. You can find out more about the degree here.

4. University of Groningen

Again in the Netherlands! The Dutch happen to have more interdisciplinary courses than typical universities in Germany and offer all of them in English as well as in Dutch. The university in the sweet student city Groningen has a PPE Master on offer. It is a full-time degree program that will take one year to complete.

5. Trinity College Dublin

The stunning and historic university in Dublin, namely Trinity College Dublin, offers a unique undergraduate degree of PPE, as they have added a little spin to it. That is the fact that they don’t offer PPE, but PPES, which is the same course except that they added Sociology. And after you graduated with that or a similar degree, you might want to look into their Msc in Comparative Social Change.

6. Heinrich Heine Universität Düsseldorf

The uni in the west of Germany offers PPE for Bachelor studies in German.

7. Uni Witten/Herdecke

The Uni Witten/Herdecke is a private university in Germany, located between Essen and Dortmund. It offers both an undergraduate as well as a master's degree in PPE. The B.A. is in German, but the M.A. is offered fully in English. You can find out more here.

8. Zeppelin Universität (ZU) Friedrichshafen

In the very south of Germany, you can find the modern buildings of ZU - a private university offering a bunch of interdisciplinary degrees. They have their own version of PPE: SPS - Society, Politics, and Economics (which is for Bachelor’s). However, they also just have established new Master’s programs that are coming out in 2021: International Relations & Global Politics is most closely related to PPE if you would like to focus on the political side of the studies.

9. Karlshochschule International University

The university of applied science in the city of Karlsruhe, Karlshochschule International University, has a range of interesting degree programs that you won’t find anywhere else. We’ve already had a look at some of them here.

So of course, they also have something to attract future prime ministers: PPE. Here, you can study it as a Master’s or Bachelor’s student.

10. HSE Higher School Of Economics, Russia

Bet you didn’t expect to find Moscow on this list! The HSE in Moscow is ranked very highly and also offers a Master’s in PPE.

As you can see, PPE is still not as widespread as it is in the UK. However, more and more universities are seeing the value in interdisciplinary degrees - and employers are doing so as well. So hopefully more options will follow soon! Keep in mind that this is not a complete list, we just picked out the cherries from the top. However, the other options available are not an extensive list either. Keep in mind that at German universities, you typically have the possibility to choose a major and a minor, so you can basically build your degree program to your likings. I actually have a friend who wanted to study PPE but opted to study Political science with a minor in philosophy. You can always audit classes you are interested in, and lucky you - can also avoid the annoying modules, like my friend did with accounting.

With more undergraduate and graduate degrees being created each year, it can be challenging to keep an overview of everything that might be relevant to you. We hope this list helped you navigate the world of PPE degrees. Let us know what other area of interest we should cover in our next article!