MSc Human Rights
Duration: one year full time; two years part time
General Information
The concept of human rights refers primarily to the relations between governments and their citizens. Political theory explains and evaluates these relations. Political science describes and explains variations in how governments interpret and respond to human rights claims. The institutional expression of human rights occurs in the legal frameworks of international and national human rights law. The inter-disciplinarity of human rights is served by the strengths of the School in social contract theory, citizenship, social and international justice, development, international relations, comparative politics and ethnonational conflict. The School has national and international connections with governmental and non-governmental organizations and is a founding member of the European Inter-University Centre which manages the European MA in Human Rights and Democratization.
Structure
The MSc in Human Rights is a 90-credit programme, including 60 credits of modules taught by staff in the School of Politics and International Relations and the School of Law, and a 25 credit thesis of approximately 10,000 words. As part of their thesis preparation, students take a compulsory half-module on dissertation design. Students are assigned an academic supervisor to help them choose their topic and guide their research.
Full time students must take three 10-credit modules and a 5-credit Dissertation Design module in the first semester, and three 10-credit modules in the second semester. Students must also submit a thesis worth 25-credits. In the first semester, these include the political theory of human rights, the European law of human rights, and one elective. In the second semester, these include the politics of human rights, the international law of human rights, and one elective. Elective modules change from year to year but typically include such topics as the Northern Ireland conflict, international political theory, comparative ethnic conflict, Africa in crisis, food security, political economy of transition, and issues in international relations.
Part time students take a total of 90-credits over the two-year duration of the part-time programme. As the Dissertation Design module is provided to support students writing their thesis, it must be taken in the second year of study. It is advisable for students to take the core modules in Year 1
Admission Requirements
Each application is considered on its individual merits. The applicants should have earned an undergraduate degree in a relevant subject such as political science, international relations, social science, sociology, history, geography, economics, global studies, public policy, development studies, EU studies, law/international law etc. with at least Upper Second Class Honours, or its equivalent (an overall GPA of 3.0 (B) or higher in the American system). Relevant professional experience will also be taken into account.
Note that meet the requirements do not guarantee admission. Applicants in their final year of undergraduate study may be admitted conditional on satisfactory completion of their undergraduate degree.
Career Prospects
The MSc in Human Rights is highly regarded in its field and thus opens the door to a wide variety of jobs and careers in public and non-governmental agencies at the local, national, European and international levels, as well as journalism, teaching and other areas. Many graduates of the programme are currently working with Irish and international NGOs and governmental and European organisations. Other graduates have decided to continue studying towards a PhD at UCD and other universities.
