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MSc/PgDip/PgCert
Refugee Studies

Location
Southwark

Duration
1 year (full-time)
2 years (part-time)
PGCE: 1 year full-time, or if units available 1 semester

Start date
September and January
Simple timetable info Part-time: Classes 6–9pm, Mondays and Wednesdays. Full-time: Classes 2–9pm, Mondays and Wednesdays

How to apply
Direct to LSBU

LSBU code
MSc full-time: 3045
MSc part-time: 3046
PGCE full-time: 3202
PGCE part-time: 3203

Course contact
Gaim Kibreab
kibreag@lsbu.ac.uk – 020 7815 8072

Non-standard entry requirements

Students without standard qualifications for this course should produce evidence they are suitable for study at this level e.g. work experience in NGOs, United Nations Agencies, government departments involved in processing applications for asylum, assistance of asylum seekers and refugees and their families, in law or other firms that work with refugees and asylum seekers, or organisations that provide advice to asylum seekers. Such applicants will also be interviewed and asked to submit an essay to test written and oral communication skills along with their knowledge and understanding of the problem of forced migration.

Course units

– Research Methods

– Images of Development

– International Business Trade and Less Developed Countries

– Gender and Development

– International Refugee Law

– Forced Migration and Human Rights

– Forced Migration in Developing Societies

– Asylum Policy in the EU and Member States

– Dissertation


Course description

This course has been developed to:

– Give you analytical skills and knowledge of the complexities and interplay between global, regional, local political, social, economic, cultural and environmental factors that create and perpetuate conditions that produce refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and oustees

– Develop your theoretical knowledge to enable you to critically analyse the relationship between development/underdevelopment and population displacement and the robustness and weaknesses of host governments’ refugee policies

– Enable you to evaluate critically the responses of regional and international organisations such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the EU, the African Union etc, to the refugee problem

– Provide you with an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the international, regional and national instruments such as the UN 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol relating to Refugees Status and the 1969 OAU Convention, the UN and regional conventions on human rights

– Expand your understanding of how to use information sources, compare and evaluate information, design and execute independent research projects and research instruments, and how to identify relevant theoretical frameworks and statistical tools

– Allow you to critically evaluate the quality of protection and assistance provided by bilateral and multilateral organisations, including UNHCR and host governments, vis-à-vis the standard principles and norms set in the international instruments relating to refugee status and human rights

– Develop your written and verbal communication skills and reasoning power to enable you to argue rationally, coherently, and to draw theoretically and/or empirically grounded conclusions.

Career opportunities

The prospects for career development are excellent within government departments, NGOs, agencies assisting refugees, IDPs and asylum seekers, national, e.g. Home Office and international organisations, UNHCR. This course is unique in that it enables you to gain knowledge, understanding and analytical skills not only in Refugee Studies but also in Development Studies.

Typical background of applicant

Those holding a first degree in any discipline, lawyers who want to specialise in Refugee Law, or those with or without degrees who work or want to work with refugee oriented NGOs, community-based organisations and government departments.

Recent guest lecturers

Nicola Rogers, Barrister (Counsel for Hilal in Hilal v. UK) Professor A.W.Brian Simpson, QC Georgina Ashworth, OBE Director of Change, and Navi Ahwwalia, Barrister Lotte Teale (worked with AIRE Centre on Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission Georgina Costella (Australian Barrister - people trafficking) Dr Allan Mukungu, Comic Relief