Programme summary for MA Refugee Studies and Community Development
About the programme
UEL’s innovative new MA in Refugee Studies and Community Development focuses on the increasingly important and highly relevant area of social care and refugees, and the communities to which they belong. Drawing on elements of our successful programmes in Refugee Studies and International Social Work, the MA offers a unique programme that builds on UEL’s expertise in this important field. The programme examines key issues in the field of refugee studies and the communities in which refugees live.
Our unique programme in Refugee Studies and Community uses a multi-disciplinary approach, with insights from politics, international relations, development studies, sociology, anthropology, social policy, psychology, and cultural and legal theory. It examines key issues concerning forced migration, as well as social, cultural, political, legal and psycho-social aspects of settlement and community development, with special reference to refugee communities in East London, as an important historic place of settlement.
Special features of the programme
The Refugee Council Archive at UEL
The Refugee Council Archive at the UEL is one of the largest collections of materials on refugees and forced migration. It is a source of information and analysis on displacement, flight and exile; on legal, political and social issues; and on refugee community life. The Archive contains materials on refugees in all parts of the world, with special emphasis on Britain. For over 30 years it was housed at the Refugee Council, the lead organisation in Britain on refugee issues. In 2002 the Archive was moved to the UEL’s Docklands Campus, where it is maintained and developed by the MA in Refugee Studies Programme. It serves students, academics, researchers, policy makers, agencies and community groups, and in particular refugees, for whom access to dedicated materials on forced migration is often difficult.
Internship Opportunities
In addition to having well established links with universities and research centres in Britain and abroad, the MA in Refugee Studies and Community Development Programme has close relations with numerous national and local agencies and refugee organisations, based on which it operates an internship programme with a range of organisations. These provide an excellent opportunity for students to acquire hands-on work experience in their field of studies, and enhance their employment prospects.
Students
MA in Refugee Studies and Community Development Programme attracts students of diverse origins and experiences, including refugees, from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, South-East Asia, the Americas, Western and Eastern Europe. It brings together academics and those who work professionally in the refugee field, including teachers, counsellors, welfare workers, legal advisers and community workers. Such diversity encourages productive exchange of ideas and enhances the learning environment.
Programme structure
Core modules: Introduction to Forced Migration, Introduction to International Social Work and Community Development and Research Methods
Option modules include specialist options on social, cultural, political, legal and psychosocial aspects of refugee studies and community development.
Students begin the Dissertation during summer semester and submit in September
Career opportunities
The MA in Refugee Studies and Community Development will appeal to professionals and practitioners interested in refugees and community development, both locally and internationally. Graduates could expect to work in non-governmental organisations, social service departments, and local and international charities.
Support
The programme supports learning and skill development by a combination of lectures, seminars, small-group discussions, student presentations, and tutorials.
Lectures identify key conceptual issues and debates and set out theoretical and other frameworks within which students may pursue specific topics.
Seminars are organised around skill exercises and group work, giving students an opportunity to think through specific research problems and to develop practical skills. They are used to develop ideas encountered in lectures and in students’ own reading and research. They encourage critical thinking and communicative abilities, and advance skills in group work.
Student presentations are based upon verbal presentation of an agreed topic. Students are encouraged to use audio-visual aids and to combine media. Presentations encourage development of independent thinking, collaborative and general inter-personal skills, familiarity with specific media and with multi-media techniques.
Tutorials are conducted one-to-one or in small groups. They deal with specific issues including skills deficiencies identified by staff or by students
In addition, students are invited to seminars and any public lectures organised by research centres in the School and University. These seminars are open to academics, students, professionals and practitioners in the relevant fields.
Admission
Applicants are normally required to have a good first degree in a cognate area of study and substantial professional experience in a relevant field. Admission is made on the basis of a written application supported by two satisfactory references. Applications should detail relevant previous experience and/or that the programme is appropriate to future work plans, and provide evidence of applicants ability to study at advanced level, including (if English is not the applicant's first language) evidence of ability to undertake study and written assessment in English.
UEL requires applicants to apply on-line. Click here to for the application form
For further information on admission procedures and applying for the programme please contact Diane Ball, the programme administrator, on +44(0)20 8223 2770, or d.m.ball@uel.ac.uk
The MA in Refugee Studies and Community Development team The Refugee Studies and Community Development team has a wide experience and expertise in refugee studies and community development and related academic fields, as well as in the areas of legal practice, human rights activity, welfare, and community life.
The team members are:
Former student testimonials
Debora Singer MBE
Policy and Research Manager, Asylum Aid
“Studying for an MA in Refugee Studies at UEL gave me the confidence, knowledge and skills to switch direction in my career. I enjoyed the collaborative approach and the recognition of the relevant experiences we each brought, whether as students or tutors.”
Jane Greenstock
Research Assistant, Social Care Institute for Excellence
"I studied the MA Refugee Studies programme part-time over two years. I found it to be an immensely interesting, well-taught and worthwhile programme. The knowledge I gained, through access to some excellent teachers and the Refugee Archive collection was exactly what I hoped to get out of the course, which concerns issues that are globally important. I appreciated the fact that the modules were all taught from a refugee-centric point of view and enabled students to understand research methods from different perspectives."
Madhulika Sahoo
Senior Research Fellow, Ministry of Culture, India
“It was wonderful experience studying on the MA Refugee Studies at the University of East London. Meeting people from across the world truly helped to nurture my personality. The intensive curriculum activities and academic skills of the tutors were noteworthy. This helped me to formulate research projects and act upon resettlement and rehabilitation policy implementation for development-induced displaced people in India. This also opened the way for me to work on the Indian Government’s prestigious Anthropological Survey of India.”
Student Success Stories
Our former students have been able to use the skills and knowledge they have acquired on the MA programme in a number of innovative and inspiring ways. Here are just a couple of their success stories, which show the international reach and significance of their work…
Jana Gigl is travelling the extra mile with an innovative board game
Before the MA in Refugee Studies I worked with indigenous people in Mexico and refugees from Western Sahara. When I came to London I wanted to deepen my understanding of forced migration issues and was especially interested in the aspects of cultures in exile and practice-based research methods. Then I discovered that the UEL programme offered a module with exactly this title “Cultures of Exile”. I didn’t hesitate in applying for the course.
Being a very hands-on person, the greatest advantage of the MA course was the opportunity to conduct a practice-based dissertation project. I developed a character-based board game called Seeking Sanctuary, which raises awareness of what it is like to live through the process of claiming asylum in contemporary Britain. Since then Seeking Sanctuary has been used by organizations for campaigning and educational schemes on refugee and asylum issues in the UK and internationally. Through my dissertation project, I discovered a significant need, across sectors and across borders, for alternative and creative approaches to generating awareness about social issues that affect marginalized people and communities. This led me, together with fellow student Christina Olivieri, to set up a non-profit organization called g.e.t game – global education toolbox (www.getgameeducation.org).
In 2011 we received the UnLtd Millennium Award (Level 1) for the production and launch of the first edition of the Seeking Sanctuary board game. And, as you can see in the picture (I’m the one holding the board game), Seeking Sanctuary has been travelling as far as Uganda – and this is just the beginning.
Valeria Brigida found lessons in the Egyptian revolution for all women seeking freedom
The women she spoke to believe a revolution can be ‘real’ only if it is joined by the whole population united by a single demand: ‘bread, freedom and social justice’. She also discovered that social networks are not just to be found on Facebook and Twitter, but also in families, universities and the public spaces of social aggregation.“I learned from Egyptian women that the strongest weapon is hope. Because only through hope is it possible to fight for civil rights,” she says.
During her time as an MA Refugee Studies student, Valeria Brigida published the book Horreyya!, with her colleague Carmine Cartolano, which explores their experience during the Egyptian revolution in 2011.
The book focuses on the stories of five Egyptian women, in order to discover what pushed thousands of women – of different ages and social, cultural, political and religious backgrounds – into the streets to seek the fall of Mubarak’s regime.
An Italian journalist and activist, Valeria’s journey began with a question to a young Egyptian woman: “What pushed you to join the demonstrations in the streets and stay in Tahrir square until the fall of Mubarak?” The answer came: “If not now, when?” Suddenly something clicked, she says, “If not now, when?” was the same slogan that in February 2011 brought thousands of Italians into the streets, demanding Berlusconi to resign. As a result, she found lessons in the revolution for Italians fighting against their own corrupt political system.
News and Achieveements
- Jennifer Kandjii, who joined the MA Refugee Studies in September 2012, is funded through the prestigious Chevening Scholarship. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office global scholarship programme is awarded to outstanding scholars from around the world to study towards postgraduate qualifications in the UK. Jennifer previously worked for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Namibia.
- Lwam Tesfay, a second year part-time MA Refugee Studies student, has been a trainee oral historian at Eastside Community Heritage since October 2012. She is receiving a £10,000 bursary for the nine-month traineeship, which leads to an NVQ L3 in Cultural Heritage, as part of the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Skills for the Future initiative. Eastside specializes in documenting the lives of the working communities of East London and Lwam is recording the lives of Ugandan Asians in the UK, among others. The scheme will provide her with a broad range of skills to work in the heritage sector.
- Indira Kartallozi showed her video ‘Refugee voices’ at the public seminar series on Refugee Protection and Psychology at Senate House, University of London, in December 2012.
- Cristina Andreatta and Joseph Mugalula conducted a research internship for Afghan refugee organization Paiwand in 2012, to independently assess the organization’s advocacy service. Their interviews with clients, staff members and volunteers enabled them to measure success against the aims and objectives of the service. The final report – ‘Empowering Refugees: An Evaluation of AA Paiwand Advocacy Service’ – was presented and discussed at the organization’s annual trustees meeting in June 2012.
- Madhulika Sahoo presented her research with displaced populations in Odisha, India, at the 13th International Association for the Study of Forced Migration Conference in Kolkata in 2013. A short video of thisresearch can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO0XJ7oeOYs
Social events
Students and staff from the MA Refugee Studies at the programme’s Christmas dinner in Brick Lane, East London, December 2012.
Key facts
You can start many programmes in either September or February and applications are simple to make. Click below to:
Apply online Refugee Studies and Community Development (MA)
View full specification Refugee Studies and Community Development (MA)
Tuition Fees - 2013/14
Home/EU Fees
- Module fee: £1,100
- Full time fee: £6,600 per yr
International Fees
- Module fee: £1,770
- Full time fee: £10,620 per yr
Fees based on 30 credit modules (unless otherwise indicated) For further information regarding postgraduate fees please refer to www.uel.ac.uk/fees/
