Human Rights/Refugee Studies Masters Programs

Hey you guys I am currently in my second year of university and I am interested in going to graduate school in the UK. I was wondering if any of you know anything about masters programs that focus on human rights with a focus on refugee and forced migration studies. I have researched and it seems there aren't many in the UK. The few that I found are:

-MA in Refugee Care at University of Essex
-MA in Refugee Studies at University of East London
-MA Migration Studies at University of Sussex
-MA Refugee Studies at City University, London, United Kingdom
-MSc in Forced Migration at University of Oxford

Which do you think is the best program. I am really at a loss because I am American and not to familier with UK universities outside of Oxbridge. Any help would be welcome even if it does not directly concern refugees, human rights programs also interest me as long as I can focus on refugee studies.

Thanks :smile:

You will have to decide/take advice on whether university reputation is a measure you consider or not, or if it is just course reputation. To be honest, in such a specialised area, I suspect there are very few big names and so very few departments that have a strong academic reputation, possibly only one or two.

On the matter of university reputation though, Oxford you know about, and as much as Oxford is at the top, then City and East London most certainly are not! Both Essex and Sussex have decent reputations and may well have the specialist academics. I'm from IR and they both ring a bell re your subject area.

Reply 2

altruist7

heeyyyaa!
outta all the unis you mentioned i would say that uni of east london and city university arent that great neither is the uni of essex.... i would suggest unis like (if you want london):

Kings college london
UCL
School of Oriental and African Studies

and if u want outisde london then i suggest:

uni of leeds
uni of manchester
uni of liverpool
uni of nottingham
and uni of bristol

oxford is of course great but look at other major cities too....

and just DONT apply to uni of east london...not a uni with a great reputation...def not lol
what are u studying now?

Reply 3

jellybeanjen

16

momoso

I was wondering if any of you know anything about masters programs that focus on human rights with a focus on refugee and forced migration studies.

OP, from the universities you have listed, Oxford's the stand out in terms of general reputation, and both Sussex and Essex are quite well-regarded in terms of social sciences. I wouldn't apply to East London or City personally, but the type of course you're looking at is so specialised that it seems very few unis with a generally better reputation offer it so you might just be fine.

If you don't mind looking away from refugee studies in particular, the following universities offer Masters courses in migration studies and human rights [NOTE - This list is not conclusive; I had a quick look at a few uni websites and Googled "Migration Masters UK"!]:
UCL (Global Migration)
Queen Mary's London (Migration)
Manchester (Human Rights - Political Science)
SOAS (Migration & Diaspora Studies)
Kent (Migration Studies)
Nottingham (Migration & Transnationalism)
From the above, I would say that UCL, Manchester, SOAS and Nottingham have the best overall reputation but I'm not sure what they're like for this subject.

Quite a few universities offer LLMs in Human Rights Law, though I'm not sure if that's a route you would be interested in taking.

Reply 4

crackingod

7

UCL also have a course in Human Rights in their School of Public Policy

Reply 5

momoso

OP

2

Thanks everyone for the quick replys. I got the feeling that East London and City weren't too great and now I have a conformation. Altruist I am a history/political science major which I don't know of it is good or bad because some of the refugee/migration masters programs I have seen are in the school of sociology. But it could be an asset coming from a different social science(s).

Another problem I am facing is the fact that most of the human rights/migration masters seem to be based on law or policy which I am not too interested in however some seem to be based in other fields of study. Also is a LLM or LLB the equivilent of a law degree in the UK or is it just another type of masters.

Thanks

Reply 6

jellybeanjen

16

momoso

Thanks everyone for the quick replys. I got the feeling that East London and City weren't too great and now I have a conformation. Altruist I am a history/political science major which I don't know of it is good or bad because some of the refugee/migration masters programs I have seen are in the school of sociology. But it could be an asset coming from a different social science(s).

Another problem I am facing is the fact that most of the human rights/migration masters seem to be based on law or policy which I am not too interested in however some seem to be based in other fields of study. Also is a LLM or LLB the equivilent of a law degree in the UK or is it just another type of masters.

Thanks

If the courses you are looking at don't specify that you need e.g a Geography degree, then you should be fine to take them with a History/Politics degree. Many social sciences Masters accept students with any degree within that school. If you've found a course you're particularly interested in and are worried your first degree won't be suitable, contact that university's admissions department to double check.

Broadly speaking, it looks like the migration/refugee studies courses are based in either the social sciences, law or geography schools, but if you look at the breakdown of modules, they seem to cover a broad range of subjects. Personally, the first thing that pops into my head when I think of migration is the policy and legal structures surrounding this in various countries (open border policies, benefits refugees are/are not entitled to, how policy re refugees differ from country to country, how to gain the right to citizenship, Human Rights Act and it's impact on asylum seekers/migrants in the UK) followed by sociological and psychological ideas (who are migrants, why migrate, societal views on economic migrants and refugees). This may just be a reflection on my academic background though. What were you expecting the course to be about? Make sure you really look at the module breakdowns to see if they fit with your expectations.

An LLM is a Masters of Law (normally 1 yr postgrad), and an LLB is a Bachelors of Law (normally 3 years undergrad). You can take an LLM without having taken an LLB, thought the background knowledge may be helpful. Neither an LLB nor an LLM will make you a qualified solicitor/barrister in the UK; there are other professional postgraduate courses for this.

Reply 7

rinascimento

momoso

Hey you guys I am currently in my second year of university and I am interested in going to graduate school in the UK. I was wondering if any of you know anything about masters programs that focus on human rights with a focus on refugee and forced migration studies. I have researched and it seems there aren't many in the UK. The few that I found are:

-MA in Refugee Care at University of Essex
-MA in Refugee Studies at University of East London
-MA Migration Studies at University of Sussex
-MA Refugee Studies at City University, London, United Kingdom
-MSc in Forced Migration at University of Oxford

Which do you think is the best program. I am really at a loss because I am American and not to familier with UK universities outside of Oxbridge. Any help would be welcome even if it does not directly concern refugees, human rights programs also interest me as long as I can focus on refugee studies.

Thanks :smile:

I'm doing a MA in Human Rights at the School of Advanced Study in London (Institute of Commonwealth Studies). We look at all aspects of human rights - understanding a broad range of issues, international law and human rights, and working in human rights (fundraising, advocacy, PR, etc). A lot of the people on my programme are actually interested in refugees and human rights.

I applied (and was accepted to) seven universities for my masters. When I sat down and really thought about it, the School of Advanced Study was the best school for me because you're not so focused on just ONE thing, but a range of issues. Other uni's tend to take specific courses like 'Human rights in the Israeli/Palestinian crisis' or 'Human rights in Africa'.

One thing about my programme is you have to do an internship as part of your degree. I have recently started one, and was speaking to the director of the charity and she said the School of Advanced Study is very highly regarded in the human rights field, and is actually considered the 'Oxford or Cambridge' of postgraduate institutions. I know a lot of students have gone on to work for different human rights organizations and the UN, UK government and EU.

This is their website: http://commonwealth.sas.ac.uk/ma_human.htm

It's rather horrid, but don't let it turn you off! Feel free to message me if you have any questions.

Reply 8

Umbyboy

What would u choose between the MA in Human Rights from UCL SPP and the MA in Human RIGHTS LAW from SOAS?

Reply 9

amysarah

Hello, I am curious to know which schools you ended up applying to for Migration Studies. I also applied for an M.A. in Migration Studies to a few schools
and am trying to meet others who are going into this field. Have you applied by any chance to the University of Sussex? Take care, -Amy

Reply 10

mj0911

Realise this is a bit late but might help others - the MSc Human Rights at LSE is interdisciplinary (ie not law focussed) and you can choose your modules to a large extent. I chose modules in development studies and law. Another thing to keep in mind is that the current UN Special Rapporteur in IDPs is based at LSE and teaches the law course on refugees, IDPs and migrants if that is something that interests you...

Human Rights/Refugee Studies Masters Programs

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