Schöpflin lived in the UK from 1950 to 2004, gaining his secondary education certificate in Scotland, followed by an MA in 1960 and an LLB in 1962 at the University of Glasgow, and a Certificate of Advanced European Studies from the College of Europe, Bruges, in 1963. He then worked at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London from 1963–67, followed by a spell at the BBC until 1976. He then returned to academia at the London School of Economics becoming a Lecturer in Eastern Europe and then jointly ran the famous seminar in communist politics and society. He later moved on to the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London and later part of University College London, becoming Jean Monnet Professor of Politics in 1998. In 2004, he was elected a Member of the European Parliament. He has not taught at UCL since. He taught at the Forlì Branch of the University of Bologna until 2011.