Bachelor in Politics of Global Challenges

• Students will be able to identify, explain, interpret and critically evaluate the most important theories and concepts of political science while gaining knowledge of the basics of social sciences and humanities, which are closely related to political science.
• Students will know and be able to understand the basics of the other fields of science relevant to solving global challenges (new technologies, environment, medical and health sciences) and will be able to connect the existing knowledge while identifying complex policy issues and major changes.
• Students will know about the latest research on global challenges with political consequences and will be able to refer to these results by creating specific proposals for managing or overcoming these challenges at different levels.
• Students will be able to independently identify relevant topics and those requiring research, formulate a research problem relevant to political science about the global challenges of modern societies, develop that research plan and conduct small-scale scientific or applied research.
• Students will know about the types and principles of social science research design, the most important social science research methods (qualitative and quantitative, including the latest digital research methods), data collection and analysis tools (big data analysis and data visualisation techniques), and will be able to select and apply them in analysing global challenges, as well as critically evaluating their chosen research methodology while explaining its advantages and disadvantages.
• Students will be able to collect, critically evaluate, interpret and systematise information that is relevant to the research from various (national and international) primary and secondary sources and will be able to validate it with the assumptions and limitations of their information analysis.
• Students will be able to explain the changing politics and the content, actors, processes and forms of expression in the modern environment, as well as be able to analyse and systematically evaluate them.
• Students will be able to choose complex methodological tools and work together with the representatives of different disciplines, to analyse new occurrences and processes with political consequences and to seek and develop common innovative solutions.
• Students will be able to plan, organise and carry out various professional or analytical activities in organisations that are involved in processes to solve global challenges (especially innovative and interdisciplinary processes) both in Lithuania and abroad, by providing policy analyses, recommendations, strategic planning, policy evaluations, etc.

• Graduates of the Politics of Global Challenges programme will be able to fulfil their potential in innovative private businesses and public sector institutions in the fields of sustainability, innovation, ethics, risk management, environment, renewable resources and technology applications, as well as in research companies, public relations agencies and the media. Some of our graduates will be directly involved in national and international political decision-making and the implementation of political processes.
• The graduates of this study programme will be able to continue their studies in various Master’s degree programmes in the fields of social sciences and the humanities or in interdisciplinary studies and later will be able to pursue a scientific or pedagogical degree.

Scope of studies: 240 ECTS credits

Length: 4 years

1st Semester

Compulsory courses

• Transformations of the Global Order
• Foundations of Practical Philosophy
• Workshop: How to Think Like a Social Scientist?
• Designing Social Research

Elective courses

• Workshop: Teamwork
• Workshop: Argumentative and Persuasive Writing
• Workshop: Persuasive Public Speaking

2nd Semester

Compulsory courses

• Quantitative Research Methods
• Economics for Prosperity
• Political Science

Elective courses

• General University Studies

3rd Semester

Compulsory courses

• Public Policy: From Foundations to Contemporary Challenges
• International Organizations in World Politics
• Workshop: Leadership and Gender
• Qualitative Research Methods

Elective courses

• General University Studies

4th Semester

Compulsory courses

• International Law and Human Rights

Elective courses

• International Migration
• Addressing Climate Change
• Transitional justice after violent ethnic conflict
• Future Politics

Elective courses

• Workshop: Teamwork
• Workshop: Argumentative and Persuasive Writing
• Workshop: Persuasive Public Speaking
• Elective courses: General University Studies

5th Semester

Compulsory courses

• Network Governance
• Workshop: Negotiations
• Humans, Society and Technology
• Digital methods: A Critical Introduction

Elective courses

• Workshop: Bio-engineering
• Workshop: AI Ethics
• Citizenship and Democracy
• Media in Conflict
• Islam in the Global World

6th Semester

Compulsory courses

• Technology, Policy and State
• Introduction to Big Data

Elective courses

• Non-violent Civic Resistance
• Anatomy of War
• Cyber Security in International Relations
• Unlocking Digital Capitalism

Elective courses

• Workshop: Teamwork
• Workshop: Argumentative and Persuasive Writing
• Workshop: Persuasive Public Speaking

7th Semester

Compulsory courses

• Bachelor Thesis Seminar I/II
• Philosophy of Social Science
• SMART Internship

8th Semester

Compulsory courses

• Bachelor Thesis Seminar II/II
• Bachelor Thesis