The disciplines of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics inform each other in many ways. They have been taught together in Britain since the 1920s. The first university to offer this course was Oxford. Today PPE is offered by many excellent universities from the UK, France, and Germany to North America, China, Japan, and Australia. Among them is Warwick.

Philosophy, Politics, and Economics may be studied separately but, when you study PPE at Warwick, you do not study them independently. All students have formal and informal opportunities to combine insights from the different disciplines. In contrast to the Oxford PPE, based on a "pillar" model with three independent elements, Warwick follows a "bridge" model that seeks to cross the gaps between them.

To illustrate, the core module of the final year of study, Principles of Political Economy, is taught by members of staff from all three disciplines. It provides a context in which students can integrate their studies in the three disciplines. It focuses on the global political economy. Topics have included global justice, development, globalization and international trade, global governance, and aid and humanitarian interventions.

The three PPE departments

The three Departments of Philosophy, Politics & International Studies, and Economics are each large and successful. Their size and scope allow for a wide range of optional modules, while the core is carefully designed to expose students to each of the relevant disciplines. The three departments are close neighbours in the Social Sciences Building.