Overview and entry requirements
MSc Public Policy, Finance and Management programme is designed for recent graduates with first degrees in political science, public administration, economics, accounting and finance, sociology, and other social science subjects.
The programme is also designed for individuals who already work in government or the public sector more generally, and who aim to strengthen their knowledge, capabilities and skills to improve career prospects.
See School of Finance and Management
Why study MSc Public Policy, Finance and Management at SOAS
We are 5th in UK for graduate employability (Guardian League Tables 2021).
This programme aims to provide:
- deeper comprehensive knowledge set of theories on public policy, public management and public financial management
- clear understanding of major contemporary issues in public policy, public management and public financial management across countries in the world
- distinguishing capacity to analyse, assess and explain salient topics in public policy, public management and public financial management
- enhanced capacity to argue and communicate effectively about choices in the domains of public policy, public management and public financial management
The programme aims to help students start a career in government and public sector agencies, or strengthen their prospects for an improved career trajectory.
The MSc Public Policy, Finance and Management can be also taken jointly with the Global Master of Public Administration at the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance of the University of Washington.
Students who apply and are admitted to the GMPA can spend year one at the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance and year two at School of Finance and Management of SOAS University of London, and then graduate with two Masters Degrees. Please refer to the GMPA web page for further information.
Explore
Venue: Russell Square: College Buildings
Start of programme: September
Mode of Attendance: Full-time or Part-time
Entry requirements
- We will consider all applications with 2:2 (or international equivalent) or higher. In addition to degree classification we take into account other elements of the application such as supporting statement. References are optional, but can help build a stronger application if you fall below the 2:2 requirement or have non-traditional qualifications.
Please see our 'postgraduate entry requirements' page for Overseas and EU qualifications and equivalencies.
Fees 2022/23
- Home students fees:
- £14,270
- Overseas students fees:
- £23,800
Fees for 2022/23 entrants. This is a Band 2 fee. The fees are per academic year. Please note that fees go up each year. Further details can be found on the Postgraduate tuition fees page
Structure
Students must take 180 credits. These are composed of 120 taught credits comprising core, compulsory, and optional modules and a 60 credit dissertation.
Not all optional modules are offered every year. Also note that where 15 credit modules are selected, these should be balanced between term 1 and term 2.
Programme Specification
Important notice
The information on the programme page reflects the intended programme structure against the given academic session. If you are a current student you can find structure information on the previous year link at the top of the page or through your Department. Please read the important notice regarding changes to programmes and modules.
Teaching & Learning
Masters programmes (with the exception of two-year full-time MAs) consist of 180 credits, made up of taught modules of 30 or 15 credits, taught over 10 or 20 weeks, and a dissertation of 60 credits. The programme structure shows which modules are compulsory and which optional.
Contact hours
As a rough guide, 1 credit equals approximately 10 hours of work. Most of this will be independent study such as reading and research, preparing coursework, revising for examinations and so on. Also included is class time, for example lectures, seminars and other classes.
At SOAS, most postgraduate modules have a one-hour lecture and a one-hour seminar every week, but this does vary. More information can be found on individual module pages.
Find out more on our approaches to teaching and learning
Learning resources
SOAS Library is one of the world's most important academic libraries for the study of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, attracting scholars from all over the world. The Library houses over 1.2 million volumes, together with significant archival holdings, special collections and a growing network of electronic resources.
Tuition fees
Fees for 2022/23 entrants, per academic year (Band 2 tuition fee)
Full-time |
Part-time 2 years |
Part-time 3 years |
Home Students |
Overseas Students |
Home Students |
Overseas Students |
Home Students |
Overseas Students |
£14,270 |
£23,800 |
£7,135 |
£11,900 |
£4,710 |
£7,855 |
Fees go up each year, therefore your tuition fee in your second and subsequent years of study will be higher.
Our continuing students, on the same degree programme, are protected from annual increases higher than 5%.
Full fees details can be found on the Postgraduate tuition fees page.
Scholarships
Application Deadline: 2022-05-31 00:00
Application Deadline: 2022-05-31 00:00
Application Deadline: 2022-05-31 00:00
Application Deadline: 2022-05-31 00:00
Application Deadline: 2022-05-31 00:00
Application Deadline: 2022-05-31 00:00
Application Deadline: 2022-05-31 00:00
Application Deadline: 2022-05-31 00:00
For further details and information on external scholarships visit the Scholarships section
Employment
Graduates from the School of Finance and Management leave SOAS with a coherent and solid knowledge of management and finance, with skills in statistics and computing, critical reasoning and analytical thinking.
Recent Finance and Management graduates have been hired by:
- Christian Aid
- Dagong Global
- Deloitte
- Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
- Elbus Group
- Financial Times
- FM Capital Partners
- HM Treasury
- Houlihan Lokey
- Huaxia Bank, China
- IDB (Islamic Development Bank)
- Investec
- J.P. Morgan Asset Management
- KPMG
- Lloyds Banking Group
- Santander
- UBS
- University of Oxford
- White & Case LLP
- World Food Programme
Find out more at Careers Service
A Student's Perspective
I have found the MSc Finance and Financial Law degree particularly useful since it has added essentials of finance including but not limited to concepts of risk management, financial markets, banking and investment to my skill-set of legal expertise thereby giving me an edge and bringing me at par with seniors in the legal field
Maimoona Cheema, Pakistan