What Do Undergraduates Study at Sciences Po?

We are a social science and humanities-centred university that combines teaching and research. As our mission statement Understand our time, Make a difference indicates, we want to give our students the keys to understanding the challenges and issues of today's world, so that they can become active players in their professional lives and in the life of the community.

To do so, the training we offer combines fundamental teaching, openness to the world, multidisciplinarity and a commitment to community service. Not to mention the unique network of our 7 campuses in France, each with their own geographical minor that allows the undergraduates to study the unique challenges of their chosen area.

The first year is based on our core curriculum of five disciplines: law, economics, history, political science and sociology. The aim is to introduce students to the content of these disciplines and to the demanding methods of academic work that will enable them to succeed in the rest of their studies.

In the second year, in addition to deepening the common core, students choose an interdisciplinary major: Politics & Government, which combines law and political science (40% of students), Economy and Society, which combines economics and sociology (around 30% of students), and the Political Humanities major, which combines history and philosophy (30% of students).

Finally, during the third year abroad, students join one of our 500 partner universities to study their major in greater depth.

The civic learning programme gives students an insight into citizenship and social responsibility through the development of a personal project in the service of others. To do this, students undertake a work placement in an association or company working in the social economy.

As a social sciences university, it is important for us that this engagement is the subject of reflection. Students are supported by teachers throughout their civic education. It is within this framework that they prepare their capstone project, which is due at the end of the third year and links their experience in the field with their academic work.

At the end of their three years, our graduates are trained in the requirements of the social sciences in all their diversity: they know how to write, they know how to express their thoughts orally, they understand the reasoning in economics as well as in history or political science, and what's more, they are able to combine these different approaches to ask questions in their own way. They are also open to their community and the world.

On these foundations, they are ready to continue their studies et the master level, at Sciences Po or other French or international universities, in an infinite number of directions. We have given them the keys to success: rigour and curiosity.