Masters in Politics & IR - Cardiff or Aberystwyth?

Hi all,

I've been doing a lot of research on returning to university to do a masters in Politics & IR after spending the last 8 years since graduating as an accountant at a rather well known large firm earning good money but hating my job.

So I've decided to go back to uni, this time to study something I'm passionate about, and have narrowed down my choices to Aberystwyth and Cardiff (both unis have the benefit of being somewhat local to my family, I'm originally from Swansea).

I've heard good things about IR at Aberystwyth, but Cardiff is generally a more prestigious and a better 'name' on a CV (and of course has that Russell Group membership).

So if I could ask some questions:

1. Which of the two above unis is better for IR? Is there a difference or are they both pretty close in terms of quality?

2. Will Cardiff, being a more known name and an RG uni, offer me better job opportunities after graduating than Aberystwyth?

Aber is simply leagues better for IR than Cardiff. Man Utd v well, Cardiff City.

If you want to use the IR in a future career, then Aber hands down. No-one in IR circles cares about RG etc, the UK 'elite' group is LSE/Oxford/Aber/Cam then we can argue about Kings, St Andrews and those that specialise like SOAS, Sussex etc.

Wow thank you for the quick and concise response - I wish my clients would respond with this kind of speed and accuracy when I raise queries about their tax returns lol.

On the face of things this seems like a no-brainer decision then in this instance! Would the same comparison of Aber being leagues ahead of Cardiff hold true if we talked about international reputation for IR as well?

And finally, is there anyone on this forum you could point me to who has experienced the IR courses there?

Everything about IR is international! So yes, if you were thinking of UN, international NGO, overseas think tank etc that had multiple IR qualified people, they would have heard of Aber, but likely not Cardiff, except maybe as the capital of Wales. Aber was the first University in the world to set up an IR department and have a Professor of IR.
I went to Aber as an undergrad for something other than IR (and a very long time ago) and went to Cam for a Masters and PhD in IR. So I can't tell you specifically about the IR PG environment at Aber, but I know where it sits in terms of academic influence and reputation.

Hey, it's a few years on so sorry if this isn't the usual etiquette for this forum but I'm really hoping to take a similar path to you and was wondering how difficult it was to go from Aber to Cam for a masters with it not being russell group. I'm going to study Politics there at undergraduate but am worried about it limiting my options for a future masters/Phd in Pol/IR. Thanks, hope you're doing well!

Hey, it's a few years on so sorry if this isn't the usual etiquette for this forum but I'm really hoping to take a similar path to you and was wondering how difficult it was to go from Aber to Cam for a masters with it not being russell group. I'm going to study Politics there at undergraduate but am worried about it limiting my options for a future masters/Phd in Pol/IR. Thanks, hope you're doing well!