China & Globalisation

The MSc is designed to provide high quality graduate research training for those with career interests related to China. It aims to broaden and deepen each individual student’s understanding of contemporary China and instil familiarity with major research methods currently used in the field of China studies. Combining the intellectual endeavour associated with advanced learning and the practical implications of policymaking and business management, the MSc supports those expecting to do further graduate work and those wishing to obtain specialised knowledge of modern China to enhance their employment prospects. There are no disciplinary or language prerequisites for entry to the programme.

The 'rise' of China over the past three decades raises challenging questions about the relationships between politics and market expansion, international cooperation, business innovations, and cultural and social developments. The programme provides students with the conceptual and research tools needed to critically understand these relationships from comparative and global perspectives. It is built around core abd compulsory taught modules, which include:

Chinese Business in the Global Market - providing an in-depth knowledge of the institutional determinants and impact of China´s integration into the world economy since its adoption of the open-door policy and especially after its accession into the WTO.

Governing China in the Age of Globalisation - providing a thematic overview of enduring problems of governance in China over historical periods of intense pressures at home and from foreign powers.

Tradition and Transformation: Changing Identities in Contemporary China - examining how cultural identities are constructed and negotiated in contemporary China, in particular under the influence of variously defined processes of nationalism and globalisation.

Students will take additional options including modules on drivers of commercial, political and social entrepreneurship in China, and an internship (NB internship positions must be found by students themselves, with guidance and support from staff at King's). To add to students’ knowledge of comparative case studies and interdisciplinary theories, they will have a choice of external modules offered by the departments of War Studies, History, Public Policy, Geography, Management, and Theology and Religious Studies.

The MSc is based in the Lau China Institute at King's and benefits from a growing and dynamic staff strongly committed to research and teaching. Your instructors combine expertise in Chinese history and politics with specialisations in different theoretical traditions, including political science, economics, history, international business and management, literary analysis, media and cultural studies. The programme leader, Vanesa Pesque-Cela, is a social scientist specialising in international finance and management. She has published on self-governing social organizations and on electoral accountability and the provision of public goods in rural China. Associates of the Lau China Institute offer consultation for MSc students. Their expertise spans international marketing and comparative management, media and international trade law, healthcare regulation and biomedicine innovations, political philosophy and ethics, defence studies, and military and maritime strategies.