Human Rights postgrad

Human rights in ruining this country. Drop out of the course immediately and go study journalism

or, she could study human rights and then be the first journalist to get human rights issues correct in her copy?

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Hi there

was wondering if any previous Human Rights postgrads could answer some queries of mine.

I've been accepted into three universities to study the subject, one really prestigious one and one not so well-known and another that comes in between.

Just wondering how much does prestige matter in this field. Do future employers really consider whether you graduated from a well know university?

The lesser known college offers a placement within the program too, as well as more vocational modules like research methods.

My background is in the media and I have no human rights experience, I understand that no-one really walks out with a social science degree into a job and that I will need years of experience/internship to work in the area.

I was interested in maybe mixing the two (Journalism and human rights) as well as looking into policy development (gender justice/children's rights)

I don't have a legal background nor do I think I want to pursue one. Is a legal qualification really important? Does it massively reduce the kind of work you can do in this field?

I am also not sure if I am cut-out for field work on the ground, so taking away these options, is there really much else one can do within this career with or without a journalism component?

any help or advice would be really appreciated.
thanks!

Did you study Human rights as well nulli tertius? or do you work as a journalist?

I have friends who work in development and other sectors within the UN, some with no social science background at all.

I guess a degree in Human Rights won't make me more attractive to newspapers etc but it may provide me with a better focus and a deeper insight in my writing and documentary work?

I don't intend to get rich off this degree, I don't know if any H.R student does, and with any career, I think the 4-5 years of entry level work and internship is standard. But I guess my question is what careers/kinds of work are open out there using this degree, if any?

Human rights is the forensic science de nos jours.

Notwithstanding the Daily Mail, human rights is fashionable. Universities are turning out literally hundreds of postgraduates with degrees in human rights but with no recognised career path.

When coupled with a law degree, it tends to mark the candidate as a blue skies woolly minded dreamer who will never earn their keep from the daily round of the magistrates court/immigration appeal tribunal. Coupled with a degree in international relations or the such like, it indicates someone who is going to spend 4 or 5 years interning/working for nominal wages until they realise that the UN isn't going to appoint them Assistant General Secretary and they go off to a junior management job for the local NHS Trust.

A degree in human rights isn't going to make you more attractive either to the Guardian, the Great Snoring Gazette or the Pigeon Fanciers Weekly.

Disagree with this entirely. As a graduate of human rights I've found it very useful for my career path and as have my peers from the course who have used it to advance in the particular sectors of their interest.

The opening poster will find the breadth of the course content a very useful for his/her journalism.

As for 'blue skies wooly minded dreamer' its probably best for null to stick to law and not psychology with his/her biases and distorted world view.