Award winning MA collaboration with UN Refugee Agency

Thursday 10 December 2020

The University of London (UoL) has signed an agreement with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) that allows eligible UNHCR employees and affiliates to obtain a 10 per cent bursary for its MA in Refugee Protection and Forced Migration Studies, with academic direction by the School of Advanced Study.

UNHCR is a UN agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people. It employs more than 18,000 in the field of refugee protection and the MA, launched in 2014, offers a solid legal, practical and theoretical understanding of refugee protection and forced migration, and will serve in supporting development for its employees.

Professor Mary Stiasny OBE, pro vice-chancellor (international) at UoL, said: ‘The university is pleased to be collaborating with the world-renowned UN Refugee Agency working on improving the lives of refugees across the world. I am confident that our master’s programme will add immense value by providing staff with a greater academic understanding of the refugee issue. This programme is both timely and relevant as the world continues to see a rise in the number of people being displaced around the world.'

Dr Sarah Singer, the programme’s director and senior lecturer in refugee law at the School of Advanced Study, described the initiative as ‘an important opportunity to enhance the capacity of UNHCR colleagues worldwide through the most established programme of distance-learning postgraduate study worldwide.’

‘The part-time and distance-learning format of this programme enables students to combine their studies with work and directly apply this learning to their everyday work, while engaging with expert tutors and other students based across the globe. The MA consistently scores very high student satisfaction ratings, and in 2019 was awarded the prestigious Roger Mills Prize for Innovation in Learning and Teaching.’

Tony Morris, chief learning officer for UNHCR´s Global Learning and Development Centre, said: ‘The agreement with the University of London is very much welcome and another step in UNHCR´s strategy to continue supporting and expanding a solid offer of distance learning opportunities for our colleagues working in the frontlines of refugee protection. We are confident that colleagues undertaking this programme will be equipped with the necessary knowledge to continue serving refugees and other forcibly displaced communities worldwide.’

Visit the MA programme for further information:
MA Refugee Protection and Forced Migration Studies