MA in Refugee Protection and Forced Migration Studies

The MA in Refugee Protection and Forced Migration Studies has its foundations in the teaching and research of a leading centre in refugee law, the Refugee Law Initiative (RLI), the leading national academic centre in the United Kingdom dedicated exclusively to International Refugee Law. 

The programme directors for the MA in Refugee Protection and Forced Migration Studies are Dr David James Cantor, Director of the RLI and a recognised specialist in the field, and Dr Sarah Singer, academic at the RLI and Lecturer in Human Rights Law at the School of Advanced Study. Each module of the MA in Refugee Protection and Forced Migration Studies is developed and run by specialists in the field.

MA: 6 modules (two core, four elective) plus a dissertation

The MA in Refugee Protection and Forced Migration Studies is designed to be studied part-time over a two year period. In the first year it is recommended that you take the programme’s two core modules, whilst in the second year you have the opportunity to develop expertise through a choice of four elective modules. You will have the option of studying elective modules in both the Autumn and Spring study sessions. If you are aiming to complete the programme in 2 years, you should choose 2 elective modules per session. The dissertation is divided into four study sessions and includes the (non-assessed) research methods and methodology course, ‘Researching Refugees’.

Each module of the MA in Refugee Protection and Forced Migration Studies is developed and run by specialists in the field.

_{Core modules}

• Protecting Human Rights, Refugees and Displaced Persons in International Law
• An Introduction to Refugee and Forced Migration Studies
• Dissertation

_{Autumn study session}

_{Elective modules}

• Asylum Law in Europe: Towards Regional Harmonisation of International Protection
• Asylum and Refugees in Africa and Latin America: Alternative Models for Refugee Protection
• Internal Displacement in Law and Policy: War and Beyond
• Gender, Sexual Identity and Age in the Refugee Context

_{Spring study session}

_{Elective modules}

• Securing Refugee Protection in Practice
• Advanced International Refugee Law
• Statelessness, Nationality and the Protection of Stateless Persons
• Displacement, Healthcare and Humanitarian Action

_Assessment

Each core module is assessed via a final seen open-book examination, which comprises 70% of the overall grade, and four online assessments (E-tivities), which make up 30% of the overall grade.

Elective modules are assessed via two E-tivities (30%) and the submission of a piece of coursework of 3000-4000 words, depending on the module.

The Dissertation is assessed in two parts. Submission of a research proposal will count towards 15% of the overall dissertation mark and 85% will be made up by the submission of the dissertation thesis. The Dissertation modules include completion of the research methods and methodology course ‘Researching Refugees’ (non-assessed).

You do not have to come to London to take your examinations. Examinations are held twice a year in exam centres around the world as well as in London. 

_{Lecturing and teaching}

Distance learning is much more flexible than traditional face-to-face teaching. It allows you to study whenever and wherever is convenient to you, and to fit your studies in around professional or personal commitments. You can study wherever you live in the world - if you move country with your job, for example, you can still continue with your studies.

Studying by distance learning requires you to be highly motivated, disciplined, and able to master complex problems independently. Many students do find self-directed study to be challenging, but the outcome is incredibly rewarding.

_{Mode of Study}

The MA in Refugee Protection and Forced Migration Studies is designed to be studied part-time over a two year period. In the first year it is recommended that you take the programme’s two core modules, whilst in the second year you have the opportunity to develop expertise through a choice of four elective modules. You will have the option of studying elective modules in both the Autumn and Spring study sessions. If you are aiming to complete the programme in 2 years, you should choose 2 elective modules per session. The dissertation is divided into four study sessions and includes the (non-assessed) research methods and methodology course, ‘Researching Refugees’.

Distance learning is much more flexible than traditional face-to-face teaching. It allows you to study whenever and wherever is convenient to you, and to fit your studies in around professional or personal commitments. You can study wherever you live in the world - if you move country with your job, for example, you can still continue with your studies.

Studying by distance learning requires you to be highly motivated, disciplined, and able to master complex problems independently. Many students do find self-directed study to be challenging, but the outcome is incredibly rewarding.

_{Time Requirements}

Core and elective modules are run in two study sessions (16 weeks) throughout the year, while the dissertation module (30 weeks) is divided into four study sessions. You register for one core module or up to two elective modules per session of study and should expect to devote between 15-20 nominal hours a week to your studies during these periods.

_Library

All registered students have free access to the University of London’s excellent online library, which currently has a collection of over 6 million electronic items (ejournals and ebooks).

The Refugee Law Initiative is the only academic centre in the UK to concentrate specifically on international refugee law. As a national focal point for leading and promoting research in this field, the Refugee Law Initiative (RLI) works to integrate the shared interests of refugee law scholars and practitioners, stimulate collaboration between academics and non-academics, and achieve policy impact at the national and international level.

Professor David Cantor

Professor David James Cantor is the founding Director of the Refugee Law Initiative (RLI) and its Internal Displacement Research Programme at the School of Advanced Study, University of London, where he is Professor of Refugee Protection and Forced Migration Studies.

Trained originally as a social anthropologist, David worked as a practitioner in the legal field during the 2000s for organisations such as the Refugee Legal Centre, a London-based public law centre where he litigated refugee and human rights cases until 2007, and UNHCR. In a consultancy capacity, he has advised, trained and undertaken research for over fifteen governments mostly from the global south, as well as numerous INGOs and northern and southern NGOs. During 2016-17, David was seconded as a Principal Advisor to the UNHCR Americas Bureau.

David’s research has a strong legal and policy focus that covers the protection of refugees and internally displaced persons. He has a long-standing fascination with Latin America, where he has carried out fieldwork since 1998 in Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Panama, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Mexico. Since 2010, he has published five books, five special issues and 40 journal articles and book chapters. His work won the Times Higher Education Research Project of the Year 2017-18.

David has led international collaborations and secured competitive research funding totalling almost £9 million across around 15 projects as PI or Co-I (including AHRC, ESRC, GCRF, Leverhulme Trust) and organised over 150 conferences, workshops and seminars through the RLI. Alongside setting up the RLI and its Internal Displacement Research Programme, he co-founded the International Refugee Law book series (where he remains editor-in-chief), the distance-learning MA in Refugee Protection and Forced Migration Studies, the University of London Refugee Law Clinic and the Researching Internal Displacement platform, as well as Coursera massive online open courses on refugees and internal displacement. He is Editor-in-Chief of the OUP Refugee Survey Quarterly journal.

Dr Sarah Singer

Dr Sarah Singer is a Senior Lecturer in Refugee Law at the Refugee Law Initiative, School of Advanced Study, University of London. She is an internationally recognised expert on criminality and asylum, and her contributions to the broader forced migration field include publications on humanitarian accountability, immigration detention and the protection of LGBT asylum seekers. She recently led research on humanitarian accountability in displacement contexts as part of the 4-year GCRF-funded RECAP project. She is Programme Director of the distance-learning MA in Refugee Protection and Forced Migration Studies and co-convenes the ‘Refugees in the 21^st Century’ MOOC (Coursera).

Dr Nicholas Maple

Dr Nicholas Maple is a Lecturer at the Refugee Law Initiative. As part of this role, he is the Module Convenor for the core module, ‘An Introduction to Refugee and Forced Migration Studies’ on the MA in Refugee Protection and Forced Migration Studies. Prior to taking on this position, he completed a two-year Post-Doctoral Research Fellow position at the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS), University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, where he worked on several continental and international research projects. He currently supervises MA dissertations at the School of Advanced Study (SAS) and School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London and ACMS, University of the Witwatersrand.  

Nicholas is an Assistant Editor at the Refugee Survey Quarterly journal, published by Oxford University Press. He completed his Ph.D., entitled ‘How States Manage the Reception of Refugees: A Case Study of South Africa and Zambia’ in 2021 at the RLI. Previously he has worked as a legal advocate for organisations such as Asylum Access, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), and the Human Rights Commission in Peru.

_{What qualifications do you need?}

You need an undergraduate degree (e.g. bachelor) that is comparable to a UK upper second class honours degree. You can still apply without this, and we will consider each application on its merits.

_{English Language requirements}

You need a high standard of English to study this programme. You will meet our language requirements if you have achieved the following within the past three years:

(IELTS) International English Language Testing System - overall score of at least 7.0 with at least 6 in reading and writing.

Tests from other providers will be considered on an individual basis. Even if you have not formally met these requirements, the University may still consider other evidence.

_{Computer requirements}

We set minimum basic computer requirements because your study resources are accessed via the Student Portal and it is vital that you can access this regularly. For this degree, you will also need Adobe Flash Player to view video material and a media player (such as VLC) to play video files.

Find out more about entry requirements here.

Find out more

Find out more about tuition fees here.

Find out more about funding opportunities here.

This MA enables you to combine your studies with your ongoing professional and domestic commitments. This programme is designed for those who wish to pursue careers in a range of professional contexts in the refugee, human rights or humanitarian fields.

Potential employers include international agencies, such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), governmental bodies and non-governmental organisations.