School of Social Sciences

Human Rights MA

Year of entry: 2026

Course length: 12 months Full-Time|24 months Part-Time

About the course

Can there be space for human rights in world affairs? Who is responsible for the protection of human rights in world politics? Theoretical and practical concerns like these form the central focus of our Human Rights MA.

Our Human Rights courses provide you with a critical interdisciplinary understanding of human rights issues within a global context.

You’ll gain expertise of developments in international politics, political theory and law, allowing you to better understand the complex global environment in which human rights claims are made.

We offer four Human Rights pathways:

Join one of the UK's Top 10 universities for Politics and International Studies

(Times Higher Education World Rankings 2025)

Study at a university ranked second in the world for progress against UN Sustainable Development Goals

(Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2024)

Graduate from one of the UK’s most targeted universities by top employers with the skills needed for a meaningful career

(High Fliers, The Graduate Market Report 2025)

Compulsory Units

Research Design and Skills;
Human Rights in World Politics;
Dissertation;
Theories of Rights;
Comparative Political Analysis.

Optional Units

Gender, War and Peace;
The United Nations and International Security;
The Ethics of Killing;
Debating Justice;
The Arab Uprisings in Revolutionary State Formation;
European Union Fore.

Compulsory and optional units differ by pathway. These are examples of units offered in 2024/25 and are subject to change.

Where will your course take you?

Our courses allow you to develop a variety of both subject-specific and transferable skills suited to a wide variety of roles, such as critical thinking, analysis, research, problem-solving and communication.

Most of our recent graduates have gone on to work in varied sectors such as academia, the Civil Service, journalism, the charity and NGO sector, and in the public and private sectors.

Many graduates also continue their research by studying a PhD in Politics, either at Manchester or at another leading university, where they expand the boundaries of our knowledge and pursue careers in research or academia.

Dr. Luke G.G. Bhatia

Lecturer in International Politics

“The protection of human rights remains a central focus in international politics. The MA Human Rights / Human Rights Law pathway provides students with the intellectual grounding to understand these issues from an ethical human rights perspective.

Students will gain an understanding of the institutions associated with the protection of human rights as well as of grassroots movements working at the local level. The pathway also demonstrates the diversity of careers available, in many different fields that can have a positive impact on human rights, globally.“