StudyQA — Master: Women Studies — University of Oxford

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Description Contents Requirements Funding

The MSt in Women's Studies equips you with the critical and research tools needed for women’s studies in the humanities. It provides a systematic introduction to feminist theory, and enables you to gain the skills necessary to engage in original research into topics in the humanities relating to women and to gender, in a university with excellent facilities for both traditional and computer-age research.

Graduate destinations

Many of the students who complete the MSt in Women's Studies proceed to doctoral degrees both at Oxford or at other universities. Other graduate destinations include teaching, journalism, NGO work, and the civil service.

This nine-month interdisciplinary master's degree equips you with the critical and research tools needed for women's studies in the humanities. It provides a systematic introduction to feminist theory, highlighting women's contribution to culture and history alongside critical analysis and theorisation of the meanings assigned to the category 'woman' in philosophical, literary, socio-cultural and historical thought.

It also provides the practical equipment necessary to engage in original research into topics in the humanities relating to women and to gender, in a university with excellent facilities for both traditional and computer-age researches. Teaching is delivered through close individual supervision, as well as a carefully designed programme of lectures and classes led by specialists from a wide variety of disciplines, promoting collaborative work as well as the development of independent and original scholarship.

You will follow an intensive core course, combining introductions to feminist theory and to methodologies/methods of research. You will take two options, drawn from a list of up to thirty covering a very wide range of topics which are then examined by coursework essay. The options allow deepening of skills acquired in a first degree or the development of new skills under specialist teaching, which can be further practised in the third assessed element of the course, a closely supervised dissertation on a subject of your choice.

Five departments within the Humanities Division contribute option choices and supervision expertise to the degree: the Faculties of English, History, Classics, Philosophy and Modern Languages. The programme does not normally involve departments within the Social Sciences Division but has a close relationship with the International Gender Studies Centre.

Whilst you are pursuing the MSt in Women’s Studies you are also encouraged to go to lectures and seminars organised by individual faculties, which might help you to frame your immediate or future projects.

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 any subject. Whilst there is no restriction on the subject of the first degree, applicants should be able to demonstrate a clear and well-reasoned commitment to women’s studies.

Entrance is very competitive and most successful applicants have a first-class degree or the equivalent.

For applicants with a degree from the USA, the minimum GPA sought is 3.75 out of 4.0.

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).

Whilst there is no restriction on the subject of the first degree, candidates should be able to demonstrate a clear and well-reasoned commitment to women’s studies.

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

Official transcript(s)
CV/résumé
Statement of purpose/personal statement: Up to 700 words
Written work: Two essays of 2,000 words each or one essay of 4,000 words
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