Senior Lecturer in Development Studies
Department of Development Studies
& Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies
MSc Migration, Mobility and Development
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Key information
Key information
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- Start date
- Duration
- 1 year
- Attendance mode
- Full-time or part-time
- Location
- On Campus
- Fees
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Home: £12,220
International: £25,320 - Course code
- L6V2
- Entry requirements
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We will consider all applications with 2:2 (or international equivalent) or higher.
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In addition to degree classification we take into account other elements of the application such as supporting statement. References are optional, but can help build a stronger application if you fall below the 2:2 requirement or have non-traditional qualifications.
See international entry requirements and English language requirements.
Course overview
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The MSc in Migration, Mobility and Development programme offers you the opportunity to combine study and analysis of critical perspectives on development and the related field of migration studies.
Our core course reflects the department’s diverse disciplinary and epistemological concerns, and approaches the study of migration and development through political economy, decolonial, postcolonial, and institutionalist perspectives, drawing from debates in Sociology, Geography, Politics and Anthropology. It engages with policy-making processes and strives to conceive innovative avenues for political intervention.
Highlights
The programme provides critical tools for understanding our contemporary world through the prism of migration. It seeks to create a series of analytical challenges associated with the study of migration and development; confront us with different epistemological perspectives for resolving such challenges; critically engage and reframe traditional approaches to ‘migration policy’; force us to take a stand on contemporary issues pertaining to the themes of this programme.
The core course addresses topics such as: the political economy of migration; colonialism, coloniality and race; trafficking; integration and citizenship; diaspora, transnationalism and autonomy of migration; security; climate change and conflict; migration advocacy; and borders.
The programme draws on the expertise of our staff in development, migration and forced migration contexts, and encourages inter- and trans-disciplinary dialogue with other relevant departments and centres within SOAS.
You will also have opportunities to take work placements as part of your degree, and we offer internships in the department and via external organisations. This year MSc students were offered placements in the International Organisation for Migration, the London International Development Centre and international NGOs.
Why study MSc Migration, Mobility and Development at SOAS?
- We are ranked 3rd in the world for Development Studies (QS World University Rankings 2024)
- We are ranked 2nd in the world for Academic Reputation (QS World University Rankings 2024)
- There is also the opportunity to take virtual work placements. This year MSc students taking the International Development Placement module were offered placements at the Overseas Development Institute, ISEAL, and MSF. (Numbers in this module are capped to 75 students due to limited availability)
- All modules engage with questions of climate crisis, recognising its impact and interaction with processes of inequality and change
- Our staff specialise in a range of thematic areas including sustainability and climate change, migration and displacement, conflict, humanitarian action, labour, political ecology, and aid and institutions
Who should apply?
The degree has been developed to meet the needs of people working, or hoping to work, in international agencies, humanitarian organisations, and NGOs and students intending to go on to carry out PhD research. The programme attracts applicants with a variety of academic and working backgrounds. We welcome those who have worked in the field of migration and / or development, but we also welcome applications from students without relevant work experience who can demonstrate a strong interest in the major themes of the programme and a strong first degree, preferably in a social science.
Structure
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Students must take 180 credits per year comprised of 120 taught credits (including core, compulsory and optional modules) and a 60 credit dissertation.
Open modules: Students can choose up to 30 credits from other Departments as open options.
Important notice
The information on the website reflects the intended programme structure against the given academic session. The modules are indicative options of the content students can expect and are/have been previously taught as part of these programmes.
However, this information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability is subject to change.
Core
Compulsory
Guided options - List A
30 credits of related modules to be selected from List A - either Political Economy of Development OR Theories and Policy and Practice of Development.
Guided options
A minimum of 30 credits to be selected from Guided Options. A further 30 credits can be selected from this list, or from Open Options.
Open options
Students can take a maximum of 30 credits from the School-wide open options list, including languages.
Teaching and learning
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Our teaching and learning approach is designed to support and encourage students in their own process of self-learning, and to develop their own ideas, responses and critique of international development practice and policy.
We do this through a mixture of lectures, and more student-centred learning approaches (including tutorials and seminars). Teaching combines innovative use of audio-visual materials, practical exercises, group discussions, and weekly guided reading and discussions, as well as conventional lecturing.
Dissertation
In addition to the taught part of the masters programme, all students will write a 10,000 word dissertation. Students develop their research topic under the guidance and supervision of an academic member of the Department. Students are encouraged to explore a particular body of theory or an academic debate relevant to their programme through a focus on a particular region.
Contact hours
All Masters programmes consist of 180 credits, made up of taught modules of 30 or 15 credits, taught over 10 or 20 weeks, and a dissertation of 60 credits. The programme structure shows which modules are compulsory and which optional.
As a rough guide, 1 credit equals approximately 10 hours of work. Most of this will be independent study, including reading and research, preparing coursework, revising for examinations and so on. It will also include class time, which may include lectures, seminars and other classes. Some subjects, such as learning a language, have more class time than others. At SOAS, most postgraduate modules have a one hour lecture and a one hour seminar every week, but this does vary.
SOAS Library
SOAS Library is one of the world's most important academic libraries for the study of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, attracting scholars from all over the world. The Library houses over 1.2 million volumes, together with significant archival holdings, special collections and a growing network of electronic resources.
Pre-entry reading
If you would like some preparatory reading (although this is not necessary), here are a few book options:
- Achiume, Tendayi, Migration As Decolonization (February 7, 2019). 71 Stanford Law Review 1509 (2019), UCLA School of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 19-05, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3330353
- Ball, A. (2021). Forced Migration in the Feminist Imagination: Transcultural Movements (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429325403
- Cantor, David James & Jacob Ochieng Apollo, 2020 Internal Displacement, Internal Migration, and Refugee Flows: Connecting the Dots, Refugee Survey Quarterly, Volume 39, Issue 4, Pages 647–664, https://doi.org/10.1093/rsq/hdaa016
- Castles S. & Miller M., 2009. The Age of Migration: International Population Movements in the Modern World, 4 th edition. New York: Guilford Press. Available in SOAS Library.
- Cowan L. (2020). Border Nation: A Story of Migration. Pluto Press
- Faist T., Fauser M. & Kivisto K, 2011. The migration-development nexus: A transnational perspective. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
- Fiddian_Qasmiyah, Elena 2020 ‘Recentering the South in Studies of Migration’ in Migration & Society https://doi.org/10.3167/arms.2020.030102
- Koser, Khalid, 2007. International migration: a very short introduction Oxford : Oxford University Press. Available in SOAS Library.
- Mayblin, Lucy and Joe Turner (2020) Migration Studies and Colonialism, London: Polity
- Mongia R.V. (2018). Indian Migration and Empire: A Colonial Genealogy of the Modern State. Durham: Duke University Press Books.
- Pitts, Johny (2019) Afropean: Notes from Black Europe, London: Allen Lane.
- Proglio, G., Hawthorne, C., Danewid, I., Saucier, K., Grimaldi, G., Pesarini, A., Raeymaekers, T., Grechi, G., Gerrand, V Eds (2021). The Black Mediterranean. Bodies, Borders and Citizenship. Palgrave.
- Sharma N. (2020). Home rule: national sovereignty and the separation of natives and migrants Durham, Duke University Press.
Scholarships
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Employment
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A degree from the Department of Development Studies at SOAS will further develop your understanding of the world and how society is organised, with specific focus on violence and conflict, the role of aid, refugees and forced migration. Graduates leave with a range of transferable skills, including critical thinking, analytical skills and cultural awareness.
Recent graduates have been hired by:
- Amnesty International
- BBC World Service
- British Embassy Brussels
- Department for International Development
- Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)
- Embassy of Japan
- Government of Pakistan
- Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office
- International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
- International Labour Organization (ILO)
- KPMG LLP
- Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
- National Health and Medical Research Council
- Overseas Development Institute
- Oxfam
- Royal Norwegian Embassy
- Save the Children UK
- The World Bank
- Thinking Beyond Borders
- US Department of State
- UN World Food Programme
- UN High Commissioner for Refugees
- WaterAid
Find out about our Careers Service.
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