MSc Migration Studies: Policy and Practice

Program Overview

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Our MSc Migration Studies: Policy and Practice course offers you the opportunity to develop your skills and capabilities in professional practice or policymaking focused on issues of migration and working with migrant populations. You will gain a range of skill sets to work with diverse migrant and minority populations; or to obtain employment with specialist agencies who support migrant and minority communities.

Program Outline

Modules

This provides a guide of the modules that make up your course. You can find more information about how your course is structured on our

Academic Advice section

.

Year 1 Core Modules Credits

Migration Studies: Issues & Perspectives 20.00

Credits

20.00

This module explores issues relating to international migration and their presentation in research in this field, developing your critical awareness of this subject area. We will examine varied categories of migration, identifying key trends patterns and debates relating to each of these, as highlighted in current academic and policy research. Th...

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Migration Studies: Issues & Perspectives

Credits

20.00

This module explores issues relating to international migration and their presentation in research in this field, developing your critical awareness of this subject area. We will examine varied categories of migration, identifying key trends patterns and debates relating to each of these, as highlighted in current academic and policy research.

The current era has witnessed unparalleled levels of human migration across international borders, of widely varied types – low-skilled workers seeking to access better labour opportunities; highly-skilled professionals and business people moving between interlinked sites in a globalised economy; family members joining loved ones; asylum seekers displaced by conflict; undocumented migrants making risky journeys in the hope of a better life; and victims of human trafficking, to name but a few. These population movements are the result of economic, political, demographic, social, cultural, environmental changes; entail diverse modalities; and have various consequences for countries of origin and destination, and for migrants themselves.

With close attention to contemporary theories of migration in current research, we will critically examine:

the economic, political, demographic, social, cultural, environmental forces that drive, facilitate and condition migration flows, as well as migrant motivations and agency

the diverse modalities and processes of migration journeys

the consequences and challenges of migration for countries of origin and destination

contending ethical perspectives on international migration.

Research Methods 20.00

Credits

20.00

Migration Policy and Governance 20.00

Credits

20.00

This module helps enhance your understanding of the challenges that international migration presents to policymakers, and the origins and effectiveness of efforts to govern migration flows. With a focus on policy categories relating to different types of international migration, you’ll examine the processes of agenda-setting and problem definition....

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Migration Policy and Governance

Credits

20.00

This module helps enhance your understanding of the challenges that international migration presents to policymakers, and the origins and effectiveness of efforts to govern migration flows. With a focus on policy categories relating to different types of international migration, you’ll examine the processes of agenda-setting and problem definition.

On this module, we’ll look at policy formulation and the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies through which national governments attempt to control the movements of people across their borders. We will also explore the institutions, interests, ideas and forms of power involved in each of these moments.

This will involve closely analysing the history of immigration and refugee policy in the UK and other nation-states, so as to understand the origins and effects of these, and to identify the factors that have influenced decisions to change or maintain existing policies. Distinctively, recognising the global challenges different types of international migration present, and drawing on the developing field of research on global migration governance, we will explore the formulation, implementation and evaluation of migration policies by regional bodies (e.g. the EU), international organisations (e.g. IOM, ILO, UNHCR), and other institutions that shape migration flows, and the tensions between different levels. We will also look at the ways in which migration, migrant integration and policy pose issues for local and sub-national governments.

Postgraduate Migration Dissertation 60.00

Credits

60.00

This modules gives you the opportunity to conduct a substantial independent project, under the guidance of a supervisor, where you’ll develop a research question and implement a project that generates new knowledge in your field of study. This may be an empirical project, a work-based learning project, or equivalent alternative as appropriate.

Optional Modules Credits

Case Studies: Working with Communities 20.00

Credits

20.00

This module introduces different critiques of working with and within communities from a criminological, sociological, and criminal justice perspective. It focuses on issues of working with and within communities, including how to research communities, seeks engagement with communities or work with individuals and groups who form those communities.

Refugee Studies 20.00

Credits

20.00

This module introduces the complex and multi-faceted landscape of forced migration and refugee studies. It is useful for anyone working with people who may be asylum seekers or refugees, or who are refugees or asylum seekers themselves. You’ll gain an understanding of the politics, policies, and lived experiences of refugees and asylum seekers.

International Human Rights 20.00

Credits

20.00

This module explores key approaches and issues in international human rights law through examining the relationship between human rights law at the domestic, regional and international levels. It will introduce you to the concept, substance, institutions and application of human rights law in the international context.

Vulnerable Groups in Forensic Settings 20.00

Credits

20.00

This module provides you with an in depth understanding of the complex psychological and social needs of vulnerable client groups, enabling the development of skills to work efficiently and ethically with them. A range of approaches will be evaluated, exploring the personal, organisational and systemic challenges when working with such groups.

Psychology of Hope and Resilience 20.00

Credits

20.00

This module provides an overview of the conceptualisation of hope and resilience, their relationship to each other, their location within human lives, and how they have been researched by psychologists. The module also offers an identification of the key lifespan, developmental and behavioural characteristics of hope and resilience.