(MA) Master of Arts
Theory and Practice of Human Rights
Current
University of Essex
University of Essex
Human Rights Centre (Essex Law School)
Colchester Campus
Masters
Part-time
None
MA L3MV24
10/05/2023
Details
Professional accreditation
None
Admission criteria
A 2:2 honours degree, or international equivalent, in a Social Science, Law or any Humanities subject.
While prior academic study or professional experience of law is desirable, it is not a requirement for admission. LLM students who have not previously studied Public International Law will take a one-term module on this topic.
IELTS (International English Language Testing System) code
IELTS 6.5 overall with a minimum component score of 5.5 except for 6.0 in writing
If you do not meet our IELTS requirements then you may be able to complete a pre-sessional English pathway that enables you to start your course without retaking IELTS.
Additional Notes
The University uses academic selection criteria to determine an applicant’s ability to successfully complete a course at the University of Essex. Where appropriate, we may ask for specific information relating to previous modules studied or work experience.
Course qualifiers
A course qualifier is a bracketed addition to your course title to denote a specialisation or pathway that you have achieved via the completion of specific modules during your course. The
specific module requirements for each qualifier title are noted below. Eligibility for any selected qualifier will be determined by the department and confirmed by the final year Board of
Examiners. If the required modules are not successfully completed, your course title will remain as described above without any bracketed addition. Selection of a course qualifier is
optional and student can register preferences or opt-out via Online Module Enrolment (eNROL).
- Human Rights and the Arts: TBC
- Human Rights, Global Diversity and Global Challenges: This pathway replaces and significantly expands the scope of the MA Human Rights and Cultural Diversity. It offers students the opportunity to engage with a comprehensive set of normative and institutional challenges surrounding the complex relationship between the promotion of universal human rights and respecting regional, national and cultural differences. It will also offer students an opportunity to engage with principal regional approaches to international human rights law and to contextualise these within a global framework which continues to be deeply influenced by a variety of complex power relationships between, for example, the Global North and Global South. It seems reasonable to assume that this pathway would attract interest from a very large cohort of prospective students, including those from the Global South and middle and low-income countries. A critical engagement with decolonising our human rights curriculum should be an integral component of this pathway. It will also be on interest to students who wish to develop human rights careers in a changing global landscape in which new challenges are emerging.
- Human Rights, Theories of Social Justice and Social Change: Human rights are widely perceived as an integral component of wider attempts to promote social justice (broadly defined). To this extent, the complex relationship between normative theories of justice and key political, legal, social and economic institutions ought to be a core focal point for the study of human rights. Similarly, there are many sources of and factors within a broad array of forms of continuing injustice. It is essential that these factors are effectively understood and engaged with. Finally, all political, social legal and economic forms of life are subject to significant forms of change and alteration, which often have a profound impact upon our understanding and application of human rights. This pathway provides an opportunity for students to engage with this crucial area of academic and practical interest. It is likely to appeal to a broad and diverse cohort of potential students, spanning those who might be more interested in political/social theory, those who are particularly focused upon combatting socio-economic injustices and inequalities, and those with more overtly practical motivations towards learning how to deploy human rights in the current global order.
- Human Rights, Gender, Race and Identity: This pathway will examine the role of human rights (laws, structures & rights based social movements) in recognising, protecting and advocating for marginalised groups or identities – those at the social fringes who find it difficult access sites of power - the economy, politics, the enjoyment of rights & social capital (etc.) on account of group membership (such as race, gender, class, having a disability, LGBT+ community, being a member of a non-dominant minority). Linking to theories of social justice and social change, the pathway will introduce students to different paradigms from a range of disciplines to enable them to conceptualise ways (both theoretical and practical) to redress social imbalances between dominant and marginal groups (for example, how to address structural and institutional racism, how to address the economic, social, institutional and cultural effects of patriarchy, or how to address extreme income and wealth inequalities between groups), leading to fairer and more equitable societies.
Rules of assessment
Rules of assessment are the rules, principles and frameworks which the University uses to calculate your course progression and final results.
Additional notes
Please refer to the full time version of this course for information on Core and Compulsory modules.
External examiners
External Examiners provide an independent overview of our courses, offering their expertise and help towards our continual improvement of course content, teaching, learning, and assessment.
External Examiners are normally academics from other higher education institutions, but may be from the industry, business or the profession as appropriate for the course.
They comment on how well courses align with national standards, and on how well the teaching, learning and assessment methods allow students to develop and demonstrate the relevant knowledge and skills needed to achieve their awards.
External Examiners who are responsible for awards are key members of Boards of Examiners. These boards make decisions about student progression within their course and about whether students can receive their final award.
Programme aims
- Give students the opportunities to study current theoretical and practical problems in the recognition and protection of human rights.
These problems are legal, social, political and philosophical, and the programme reflects this in its multidisciplinary approach.
- Prepare students for such careers as e.g. officials in the United Nations system, activists in humanitarian and policy-making non-governmental bodies in the UK and abroad, as journalists, or trade unionists aims to prepare students for further independent research in the field of Human Rights
Learning outcomes and learning, teaching and assessment methods
On successful completion of the programme a graduate should demonstrate knowledge and skills as follows:
A: Knowledge and understanding
A1: Current and recent political conflict situations in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas.
A2: Long established and newly established human rights institutions, both regional and global.
A3: The main international legal instruments governing human rights.
A4: Relations between the responsibilities of governments for human rights and responsibilities of non-state actors.
A5: The evolution of so-called 3rd generation human rights -women's rights, children's rights, rights of indigenous peoples etc.
A6: Current controversies in different academic disciplines over the universalism and cultural relativism of rights.
A7: Recent developments in regional and national human rights jurisprudence.
A8: Current practical problems in the procedures for human rights promotion, monitoring, reporting and enforcement.
Learning methods
A1-8 are introduced through formal and weekly two-hour lectures.
Some of these lectures are presented by world-renowned specialists.
Presentations by specialists, sometimes.
Each lecture is accompanied by one-hour classes, which led by the Scheme Director.
Classes comprise different formats over the academic year, including problem-solving exercises, individual and group-based student presentations and adversarial debates.
Knowledge of A1-8 is reinforced in all core courses, though not all are covered in equal depth.
One or more of A1-8 is gone into in depth in different core courses and in the optional courses.
Within the MA students are introduced to the use of data bases and other IT resources necessary for up-to-date human rights research.
Students are asked to submit a dissertation of around 16000 words.
Completion of the dissertation is an important element of the MA.
Assessment methods
Knowledge of A1-8 is formally assessed in all core courses, including the Colloquium.
A number of methods of assessment are used: essays, including extended essays, formal term-end or year-end 3-hr examinations, class presentations, and a dissertation.
B: Intellectual and cognitive skills
B1: Deal constructively and in an orderly way with politically and legally complex issues, even when information is incomplete.
B2: Communicate their conclusions clearly.
B3: Demonstrate self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems, and in collecting and commenting on complex information.
B4: Indicating ways of extending human rights practice and apply human rights theory to quickly evolving situations.
Learning methods
Skills 1 and 2 are formally assessed through essays especially in the Colloquium and Government and Law core courses by means of eg discussion of different country case studies, or discussions of draft clauses of human rights documents or declarations for some of the 3rd generation rights.
Skill 2 is developed in all core courses and in the MA Colloquium by means of seminar discussion, role-play exercises, assigned oral presentations or all three.
Skills 3 and 4 are developed through the exercise of selecting and pursuing a dissertation topic that addresses both the theoretical and practical aspects of human rights in a particular country or region, or in a particular sector of human rights activity, such as election monitoring or peace-keeping.
The Scheme Director is present during all of the Colloquium classes and most of the remaining courses include class and discussion groups overseen by the relevant tutors.
Class and seminar discussions are facilitated by these means.
Assessment methods
Skills 1 and 2 are formally assessed through essay and dissertation marking.
Skills 3 and 4 are formally assessed through the marking of dissertations, and informally assessed in supervisory sessions during the preparation of dissertations.
C: Practical skills
C1: Retrieve, evaluate and select for relevance and credibility, information from a range of international sources.
C2: Plan, undertake and report a bibliographically based piece of research.
C3: Develop techniques for assessing theoretical proposals as well as practical procedures, whether legal or customary.
Learning methods
All graduates receive training from a trained Subject Librarian in the use of legal and other databases relevant to human rights, as well as the resources of a research library.
All graduates learn how to use these databases unaided, and how to incorporate results in essay and dissertation material.
Sessions are held in the Colloquium during the Spring and Summer terms devoted to training in the preparation of dissertations in the core course disciplines and criteria for the selection of dissertation topics.
Some sessions of the Colloquium allow students to present their ideas for dissertations to the others taking the MA.
Skills 1, 2, and 3 are developed through formal supervision and marking of dissertations, as well as comments and marking of coursework essays
Assessment methods
Assessment consists of essay and dissertation marking.
D: Key skills
D1: Communicate effectively at the appropriate level with appropriate audiences.
D4: (i) Apply the techniques of several different bodies of theory and practice to the same cases and practical situations and (ii) Recognise some of the marks of successful and failed decision-making in complex conflict situations.
D6: Exercise initiative and learn independently.
Learning methods
Skill 1: All courses require students to participate actively in discussion, and to co-operate with colleagues in arriving at shared results on exercises.
All core courses require students to work independently on essays, and there is a dissertation component.
Skill 4: Students cannot graduate from the MA in only a single discipline.
The exposure to more than one discipline, and sometimes three, enables them to enter into different systematic approaches to a single problem.
Skill 4 (i) There is an emphasis in the Colloquium and in most of the core courses on case studies that illustrate the practical and political realities of human rights work.
Skill 4 (ii): The course work and marking scheme ensure that only independent researchers are able to pass.
The dissertation requirements are valuable preparation for doctoral work.
Skill 6 is developed through research on essays and dissertations.
Assessment methods
Skills 1 and 4 are assessed through class-based work and discussion.
Skill 6 is assessed through course work and dissertation marking, and in feedback on class-based work in the Colloquium.