Strategy and Innovation

Study mode:On campus Study type:Full-time Languages: English
Local:$ 25 k / Year(s) Foreign:$ 31.8 k / Year(s) Deadline: Jan 20, 2025
1 place StudyQA ranking:2093 Duration:1 year

Photos of university / #oxford_uni

This nine-month master’s degree places forced migration in an academic framework, preparing you for doctoral study or for work relevant to human rights, refugees, and migration. It offers an intellectually demanding, interdisciplinary route to understanding forced migration in contexts of conflict, repression, natural disasters, environmental change and development policy-making.

The course offers students an understanding of the complex and varied nature of forced migration and refugee populations, of their centrality to global, regional and national processes of political, social and economic change, and of the needs and aspirations of forcibly displaced people themselves. It also helps students develop a broad understanding of academic research related to forced migration and refugees, as well as critical thinking and sound evaluative tools.

You will gain the ability to plan, organise and carry out research into aspects of forced migration and refugee studies as well as the skills necessary to convey theoretical knowledge of forced migration to a variety of different audiences.

Graduate destinations

Graduates of the MSc in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies have gone on to doctoral degrees, law school, and work relevant to human rights, refugees, and migration. Graduates of the course are now employed in organisations such as the UNHCR, the International Organisation for Migration, UNDP, Save the Children, the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Brookings and MacArthur Foundations, as well as national governments and universities around the world.

The course offers support for careers development to current students, including informal careers advice sessions, careers workshops and facilitating internships at key organisations, and to alumni, by disseminating information about employment prospects and maintaining an online network.

In the first term you will follow core courses which introduce the subject of forced migration from anthropological, political and legal perspectives. There is also a course dedicated to research methods relevant to the study of forced migration.

In the second term, you will take a further core course on morality and continue to study research methods. In addition you will choose two options courses from a list which changes from year to year but which usually includes a course on advanced international and human rights law, a course on humanitarianism, and courses furthering regional specialisation.

In the third term, you will write a 10,000- to 15,000-word thesis. This is typically a desk-based study, since there is little time to undertake individual fieldwork within the nine months of the course. Although you may attend other options courses, you will only be examined on the core courses, your two chosen option courses and the thesis.

Teaching

Teaching takes place in small classes of anything from 4 to 25 students, to encourage active participation and to enable students to learn from each other. Teaching styles vary and include lectures, workshops, individual and group tutorials, seminars and student presentations. You will be expected to prepare for each class by reading a selection of recommended books, book chapters and articles. 

Individual supervisors will support your academic development from the start; they are allocated on the basis of your research interests, the expertise of staff supervising on the course and their availability. You will work with your individual supervisor on your thesis throughout the degree, meeting roughly every two weeks in term time. The department’s teaching staff are all leading experts in the field of forced migration, drawn from a range of disciplines including anthropology, geography, international law, history and politics, international relations, sociology and development studies. In addition, you will have a college advisor whom you may consult on issues concerning your personal wellbeing.

Assessment

On-course assessment, which will not count towards your degree, takes the form of regular presentations and short essays. The degree is formally assessed by a piece of practical research methods coursework at the end of the second term, three written examinations on the core and options courses at the start of the third term, and a 10,000- to 15,000-word thesis at the end of the third term.

Applicants are normally expected to be predicted or have achieved a first-class or strong upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours (or equivalent international qualifications), as a minimum, in a social science subject. It is also possible for students who have not specialised in a social science to read for the MSc in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies.

For applicants with a degree from the USA, the minimum GPA sought is 3.7 out of 4.0.

Entrance to the course is very competitive and most successful applicants have a GPA of 3.8 or above, a first-class degree or the equivalent.

If you hold non-UK qualifications and wish to check how your qualifications match these requirements, you can contact the National Recognition Information Centre for the United Kingdom (UK NARIC).

The admissions committee will occasionally consider a lower degree classification if the first qualification was taken some years ago, if you have gone on to further study since in which you have excelled, or if you have substantive work experience of relevance to the course.

Relevant professional experience is desirable but not required. 

No Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or GMAT scores are sought.

  • Official transcript(s)
  • CV/résumé
  • Statement of purpose/personal statement:500 to 1,000 words
  • Written work:Two essays of 2,000 words each
  • References/letters of recommendation:Three overall, generally academic

ENGLISH LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS

Higher level

Test

Standard level scores

Higher level scores

IELTS Academic 
Institution code: 0713

7.0 Minimum 6.5 per component  7.5  Minimum 7.0 per component 

TOEFL iBT 
Institution code: 0490

100

Minimum component scores:

  • Listening: 22
  • Reading: 24
  • Speaking: 25
  • Writing: 24
110

Minimum component scores:

  • Listening: 22
  • Reading: 24
  • Speaking: 25
  • Writing: 24
Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) 185

Minimum 176 per component

191 

Minimum 185 per component

Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English (CAE) 185

Minimum 176 per component

191 

Minimum 185 per component

  • Global Education
  • Hill Foundation Scholarships
  • A number of Research Council awards are available each year from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), and Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
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