Politics

The sight of tens of thousands of people taking to the streets to protest has become a common one again, more so than at any time since Margaret Thatcher presided over the poll tax (and the subsequent riots). The war against terror, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the crisis in the Middle East are combined with growing concerns about globalisation and more local worries about tuition fees. These issues have grabbed the attention of a new generation who have often been written off as politically inert and uninterested. Now there is a growing political awareness in young people - they may not vote in local elections or be able to name the deputy prime minister but since September 11 2001, applications to study politics at UK universities have been rising fast.

More and more students are signing up for political studies courses (applications for 2003 were up nearly 15% on the previous year), which makes it both more competitive to get on a course, and more exciting when you get there.

But while you may have been galvanised by single issue-politics, once you get onto a degree course the whole thing, of course, becomes much, much broader.

Most degree courses will first take you on a whirlwind tour of the main philosophies from Plato through to Marx and, more than likely, catch up with the beliefs of the anti-globalisation movement. They will move on to consider the institutions and groupings that make up a political society; including parliamentary and presidential democracies, party politics, electoral behaviour, social and unconventional behaviour, and what happens in every corner of the globe, including military and ethnic dimensions.

From then, you'll specialise and use your new-found skills to analyse modern-day politics. You could take intelligence studies with international politics, democratic politics, or the environment and Third World development and, looking at practical cases in some detail, you will be expected to explain their causes and effects. You'll also come to understand how the public relates to governments be it via the protest march, revolution, ballot box or focus group.

You will not, however, have the skills to become a politician. Politics degrees should not be treated as a vocational course. You'll be able to explain and understand the way our world works. But to have views on how to change, manage and improve it will require more than a degree in politics.

But, the chances are, you won't lack for work - the ability to analyse evidence and arguments, oral and written communication and the knowledge to handle statistics are all in demand by employers not related to the world of party politics. Alternative career choices could include the more apolitical arena of the civil service, or perhaps the ever-growing lobby industry, as well as local authorities, journalism or the public sector.

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