Economics

Entry requirements

A good Masters degree in Economics plus one reference is usually required. Students are normally registered for the MPhil degree in the first instance. Once approval of the Research Student's Supervisory Committee has been received, the student's registration is upgraded to PhD status (and backdated to the commencement of the MPhil registration), usually at the end of the first year of study, for which the minimum registration period is double that of full-time study. Candidates are expected to present a thesis of not more than 55,000 words for the MPhil, while for the PhD the maximum length is 100,000 words.

Months of entry

September

Course content

Why study MPhil/PhD in Economics at SOAS?

• we are 8th in UK for student satisfaction Guardian League Tables 2022 and 5th in London Complete University Guide 2022
• the Department offers unique research training opportunities both through its dedicated research student seminar series and the wide-ranging set of courses taught on its MSc programmes. These range from economic theory to political economy of development and are oriented around a range of theoretical, empirical and policy issues. Its special subject options provide the highest level of expertise on a large number of topics
• first year research students benefit from a programme of research student training in political economy, different schools of thought, methods and methodologies, and receive formal training sessions on how to do fieldwork
• training needs of each research students are individually assessed and provided through a combination of generally available courses and individual tuition
• departmental staff have rich experience in supervising research degree students, matched by their success in bringing students' theses to timely completion. Whilst the Department has a strong commitment to students' early completion of their theses, it also considers it has a responsibility to see that all of its research students obtain a broader training than in their narrowly-defined topic and that they gain skills in theoretical, empirical and policy analysis, in the writing and communication of research results, and in evaluating the work of others
• research students are expected to form part of the academic community of the Department, participating as appropriate in collaborative research with members of staff, with some opportunities for teaching
• SOAS offers unique opportunities for interdisciplinary and regional research, and the scope to learn or improve a language where appropriate
• the Departmental Empirical Support Committee (DESC) offers targeted advice to individual students undertaking empirical work

Information for international students

For details, including English language requirements, please see SOAS website

Fees and funding

For details of postgraduate fees, please see SOAS website