Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE)

Student Profile: Yuan

When I decided to apply to Balliol for PPE, an older friend of mine told me to reconsider applying to an 'easier' college. I thought this was absolutely the wrong thing for him to suggest; firstly, because the interviewers here are so careful to pool applicants who are Oxford quality, and secondly, because if you want to be somewhere, why not try to get there? I think the most important part of Balliol to me is the community: the undergraduates, the graduates, the Tutors and Fellows. They're the people I see every day in an invariably friendly atmosphere, who make the effort to discuss their ideas and listen to yours too, who lend you their lecture notes that day you wake up late, who seem to be interested in everyone and everything. I don't think there's ever been an instance I've not been able to find someone interested in projects I was carrying out, or knowledgeable and helpful enough to help me with something I was stuck on. It's feeling like being a participant in the College's life that makes this place feel so much like home.

Number of places at Balliol

Subject information

See the PPE Course Information website and the course page on the undergraduate admissions website.

Course requirements

Please see the entrance requirements pages on the undergraduate admissions website.

College requirements

None specific to Balliol.

Admissions/Selection criteria

For information on how applicants are assessed, see ‘Entry Requirements’ and ‘Admissions Criteria’ on the PPE Course Information website.

PPE at Balliol

Balliol was the birthplace of the degree of PPE in the 1920s, and the College has long remained a major centre for the study of PPE. Nowadays, Balliol PPE is distinctive in three related ways.

Firstly, we have a particularly large school of PPE undergraduates, and the College is committed to maintaining a strong teaching team in each of the three subjects. This means that PPE undergraduates can feel part of a body of students with a collective identity and activities to match (there is a PPE society, Cerberus, which is entirely run by the students). Moreover, having a large number of tutors in each subject means that students can largely be taught ‘in-house’.

Secondly, the PPE tutors are strongly committed to the idea of PPE as an inter-disciplinary first degree. It enables our students to understand the social, political, and economic world in which they live, and the role that they might best play in it.

Thirdly, PPE at Balliol is notable for the breadth of its outlook, and its international character. Tutors and students have wide-ranging intellectual interests, and this makes for an especially stimulating experience.

Tutors

James Forder, Fellow in Economics. James teaches the Introductory Economics course, as well as Microeconomics.
Bob Hargrave, Lecturer in Philosophy. Bob teaches Logic, and the core papers in the History of Philosophy and Knowledge and Reality.
Sudhir Hazareesingh, Fellow in Politics. Sudhir teaches the Introduction to Politics course, and International Relations.
Ofra Magidor, Fellow in Philosophy. Ofra teaches the General Philosophy course for the Prelim and the Philosophy of Logic and Language and Knowledge and Reality core papers.
Jessica Moss, Fellow in Philosophy. Jessica teaches Plato and Aristotle, and courses on Ethics.
Scot Peterson, Lecturer in Politics.
Rowland Stout, Lecturer in Philosophy. Rowland teaches the Ethics core paper in Philosophy.
Adam Swift, Fellow in Politics. Adam teaches political theory, Marxism, and Sociological Theory.
Alex Teytelboym, Lecturer in Economics.
David Vines, Fellow in Economics. David teaches Macroeconomics, International Economics, and Development Economics.