What is an MA/MSc?

A Master of Arts or a Master of Science (MA/MSc) is a degree qualification that takes either 12 or 24 months, depending on whether you attend full or part-time. It includes intensive coursework and an independent research component that culminates in a dissertation.

A Masters course allows you to build on the skills you acquired as an undergraduate, and to discover how to conduct research with greater independence. Masters courses tend to be both more specialised and more expansive than an undergraduate degree, and in turn, offer a great opportunity to enhance your expertise and employability.

Explore our Masters courses

The School of Global Studies offers a wide range of Masters courses, which all engage with the big issues and global challenges of today's world:

• MA  Anthropology of Development and Social Transformation
  
  
• MA Social Anthropology
  
  
• MA Environment, Development and Policy
  
  
• MA Gender, Violence and Conflict
  
  
• MA Human Rights
  
  
• MA Social Development
  
  
• MSc Climate Change, Development and Policy 
  
  
• MA Food and Development
  
  
• MA Migration and Global Development
  
  
• MA Migration and Refugee Studies
  
  
• MA Conflict, Security and Development
  
  
• MA Geopolitics and International Affairs
  
  
• MA International Political Economy
  
  
• MA International Relations
  
  
• MSc Social Research Methods
  
  

Through a combination of core and optional modules on each of these courses, you are able to develop a programme of study that speaks to your particular interests. Moreover, each of our MA/MSc courses culminate in an end-of-year dissertation through which you can research a topic of your own choice in more depth. For this, we provide you with dedicated supervisory support that matches your research interests.  We also offer you the option to take a research placement as part of your dissertation, and the School gives you support in setting this up.  An important feature of all of MA/MSc courses in our School is that they encourage interdisciplinary engagement, primarily through a wide offer of Spring Term optional modules.

Course structure

Full-time students will take two core modules in the Autumn term and two optional modules in the Spring term. Additionally, students take a core methods module in the Spring Term that helps them with the preparation and writing of a dissertation under supervision in the Summer. Courses are normally taught by a combination of weekly lectures, seminars or interactive workshops. For part-time students, the same requirements are spread over two years, with one module taken in each of the Autumn and Spring terms, and with the preparation and writing of the dissertation extended over two Summer periods.

Assessment

Modules are examined through a range of assessments, with the most typical assessment being a 5000-word essay. The dissertation length is 10,000 words and it is submitted at the end of summer.