MSc Global Migration

UCL researchers are actively engaged in debates on a broad range of migration topics, including:

• Latest developments in domestic, European and international law
• Analyses of state and global migration regimes
• Intersections between migration, health and disease
• Explorations of identities and cultural change
• Ethnographic, visual and literary representations of migration and displacement

Our migration research has a strong international dimension, benefiting from extensive networks across Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. As a student in this interdisciplinary Programme, you will benefit from this expertise.

The course combines policy with theoretical debates over migration.

It is perfect for you if you are interested in working with migrants and asylum seekers from around the world. You may be considering posts in

• The UN, EU or national policy think tanks
• Government research and policy departments
• NGOs, community-based and grassroots organisations

Or you could be interested in pursuing a doctorate in the interdisciplinary field of migration studies.

Aims

• Give you the advanced skills, methods, concepts and theories essential to the postgraduate study of global migration in an interdisciplinary context.
• Help you apply these advanced methods, concepts and theories in both general and more specialised contexts relating to the processes, policies and politics of migration.
• Introduce you to new and intellectually demanding areas of global migration.
• Foster and develop your ability to think critically.
• Develop your ability to carry out independent research.

You can complete this Programme full time over one year or part-time over two years. You will take the following two core modules plus a compulsory methods module and choose from a further five optional modules.

COMPULSORY MODULES (Term 1)

COMPULSORY MODULES (Term 2)

OPTIONAL MODULES (Term 1)

You will take an additional total of 75 credits from the range of optional modules available. Although it is common to select these from the option below, with the agreement of the programme convenor you may be able to substitute a module from another UCL course.

OPTIONAL MODULES (Term 2)

OPTIONAL MODULES (Term 3)

**These are 3/4 courses shared between undergraduate and graduate students. No more than 25% credit of taught modules may come from such modules.

The titles and availability of these courses are subject to change and their listing here is not a guarantee that they will be available each year.

Assessment

Most of the modules on this course are assessed through a range of coursework tasks. However, some may be marked via examination. The taught component assessment comprises 66.7% of the final mark for the degree.

Dissertation

The research dissertation is a 12,000 word piece of work submitted in mid September. It counts for the remaining 33.3% of the overall assessment. For examples of recent dissertations by MSc Global Migration students see our Working Papers.

Colleagues who contribute to core teaching on the programme include:

Johanna Waters Professor of Human Geography Programme Convenor Johanna is the convenor of the MSc Global Migration programme. Her research interests include international and transnational migration, young people and international higher education, and educational mobilities. She is particularly interested in understanding how experiences of higher education and subsequent employment are being transformed through internationalisation and the relationship to mobility.

Ben Page Associate Professor in Human Geography and African Studies With over 25 years of experience working in Cameroon, Ben has a research interest in the fields of migration and development. He is the editor of Timespace and International Migration, published in 2017.

Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh Professor in Migration and Refugee Studies Elena is Co-Director of the UCL Migration Research Unit and coordinates the Refuge in a Moving World research network. Her research focuses on the intersections between gender, generation and religion in experiences of, and responses to, conflict-induced displacement and statelessness. She has a particular regional focus on the Middle East and North Africa.

Tatiana Thieme Associate Professor in Human Geography Tatiana's research focuses on people cut off from mainstream institutional support and how they navigate precarious urban environments, especially concerning employment. Alongside her long-term and ongoing ethnographic engagement in Kenya, her projects include research on refugee economies and street-level humanitarian work in Athens, Paris, Berlin and Budapest, funded by the British Academy Camps2Cities.

Tariq Jazeel Professor of Human Geography Tariq is co-founder and co-director of UCL’s Centre for the Study of South Asia and the Indian Ocean World. His research examines the intersection between critical geography, postcolonial and critical theory, and South Asian studies. He is interested in the politics of ethnicity and difference in Sri Lanka and the diasporic and transnational forms of South Asian cultural production.

Alan Latham Professor of Human Geography He is an urban geographer whose research focuses on sociality and urban life, globalisation and the cultural economy of cities, and corporeal mobility. He is interested in how certain internationally module individuals and groups use globalisation, the transportation and communication networks within in, to create life-projects strung across enormous distances.

Russell Hitchings Reader (Associate Professor) in Human Geography Russell is examining the changing aspects of everyday life with important implications for social wellbeing and environmental sustainability. He is interested in a range of topics from theories of social practice and norms, through ways of studying nature and environmental experience, to human adaptation, sustainable consuption, energy research within the social sciences and qualitative interview and ethnographic methods.

Tom Western Lecturer in Social and Cultural Geography Tom's research and teaching focus on creative citizenships and migratory activisms, from social movements, cities, citizenships and activisms to anticolonialism, creativities, migrations, and borders. His work often has a focus on sound and listening. He follows how activisms travel, circulate and migrate, considering the ways citizenship struggles shuttle from place to place and how resistances resonate across anticolonial geographies and radical trajectories.

UCL Migration Research Unit The UCL Migration Research Unit brings together more than 40 academics with interests in migration across UCL.

Fees and scholarships information can be found on the main UCL website.

Funding

Information on a number of graduate study funding sources can be found at UCL Funding. There are a several schemes available to support you throughout your degree. It is advisable to explore funding opportunities as early as possible.

This is a short list of opportunities available to taught postgraduate students:

• UCL Doctoral School
• UCL Graduate Scholarships and Awards
• ESRC funding at UCL (includes the 1+3 scheme, but please contact Ben Page directly if you are applying for this)
• UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office Chevening Programme: Offers approximately 1,000 scholarships to overseas students undertaking taught postgraduate study or research at a UK Higher Education Institution
• Commonwealth Scholarships and Fellowships Plan (CSFP): Available to prospective postgraduate students from Commonwealth countries
• Ford Foundation International Fellowships Programme: For students from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Russia
• Marshall Scholarships - Marshall Commission: Taught postgraduate funding for US citizens
• Fulbright Traditional Postgraduate Student Awards - US-UK Fulbright Commission: Provides awards to US citizens to fund the first year of a Masters or Doctoral Degree or to pursue research at an educational institution within the UK.

The deadline for most of these awards is the start of March each year, though some awards requre up to 12 months’ notice.

You are also strongly encouraged to contact your own Ministry of Education or Education Department, who will have details of most funding schemes and who will be able to advise you of your own government's conditions for studying abroad.

You should also contact the nearest British Council Office in your country of origin, who will have details of scholarship schemes and be able to provide information and advice on educational programmes and living in the UK.

If there is no British Council Office, contact the nearest British Embassy, High Commission or Consulate.

There is additional funding available from sources including the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the European Commission. You need to contact these institutions directly.

For more information about studying in the UK as an overseas student please contact the UCL International Office.

How to apply

To apply online, please visit UCL's Graduate Study Applications page.

Entry requirements

Potential applicants are expected to have a First or Upper Second-Class Honours degree in a relevant discipline from a UK university or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard.

International applicants will need a Level 4 or equivalent recognised English language qualification. Visit the UCL Graduate pages for information on UCL’s English Language Requirements.

For further information

All admissions enquiries should be emailed to the Geography Office.

The careers our graduates go on to are very diverse and, in the past, have included:

• Social work
• NGOs
• Education
• Public Administration
• International bodies

Take a look at our Careers page to see where some of our students have gone on to work.

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