LSE offers a unique opportunity to study the social sciences. You will be in a university institution with a worldwide academic reputation, while enjoying the cultural, social and recreational facilities of one of the world's great capital cities and a focal point in the increasing integration of Europe.

The focus of our teaching is on helping you to learn some of the different ways to test your - and other people's - ideas and, in the words of our motto, rerum cognoscere causas 'to understand the causes of things'. In most of our degrees, we expect students to take at least one course in a subject outside their particular specialism.

The School offers courses not only in economics and political science, but also in a wide range of social science subjects, taught within 19 departments and a number of interdisciplinary institutes.

You can find a list of our programmes and courses in the undergraduate prospectus 2008 and 2009, and graduate prospectus.

Students studying at LSE

The UK's Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE) has rated the majority of the School's departments and institutes in its top two categories of excellence for research. Departments have achieved outstanding results in the HEFCE/ Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) teaching quality assessment/ subject review exercises. A range of independent and authoritative assessments have judged the School to be among the world's leading institutions for study of the social sciences.

While aiming for the highest standards of independent judgement, we seek to make our work practical and relevant to the real world. Teaching draws on the insights derived from the staff's current research. This can be an exploration of theoretical or technical developments in an academic subject, but much is also applied to topical and practical concerns.

^ Back to top