MA in Human Rights - Please help!

Hello everybody!

I got an offer from UCL for the MA in Human Rights programme, which is offered by the Department of Political Science, but I am a bit hesitant. Although the university has an excellent overall reputation, I saw from the ranking tables that its Politics are not ranked so highly. It is 17th at Times Good University Guide, while Essex (my other choice) is 8th.

So, I would appreciate any information on the quality of the MA from past or current students. Is this particular MA a good one, or do you believe I should prefer Essex after all?

Plese help, because I am totally confused!

Reply 1

system49

Rankings are not everything. Do you really think that an NGO is going to reject your application because UCL is ranked 17th for politics. Essex is nowhere near UCL in terms of prestige. The MA programme for UCL is located within the School of Public Policy which is one of the top departments in Europe for Public Policy.

Now the Times League table is for undergraduates only and considering the School of Public Policy in UCL is a graduate only department I don't know why you would even consider their artificial ranking to be important.

The issues you really should considering are whether you want to be in a huge cosmopolitan city or in an out of town university campus located on outskirts of Colchester in rural Essex. The other important factor you should consider is the modules on offer and which appeals to you most. For example what areas of human rights interest you most. I know for a fact UCL has top draw academics with research interests in human rights such as Basak Cali. Although Essex has a decent reputation in the Politics department I have to say that UCL is far more distinguished university and generally attracts higher caliber students. However if Essex offers modules that really appeal to you then perhaps you should take this into consideration.