University of Oxford

Migration Studies

In recent decades human mobility has developed new dynamics and poses new social, economic and political challenges. The University of Oxford has played a leading role in the emerging field of migration research. The ESRC Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) is already a centre of gravity in Migration Studies within the UK. The establishment of COMPAS complemented the already-established Refugee Studies Centre (RSC), founded in 1982, and in 2006 the International Migration Institute (IMI) was established. Between them, the three centres have over 25 full-time researchers and draw in many more across the University. The establishment of the MSc in Migration Studies represents a landmark in the development of migration studies at Oxford.

Since 2005, the School of Anthropology has offered the MPhil in Migration Studies. This degree has now been replaced with the MSc in Migration Studies, offered joint with the Department of International Development. The first cohort on the MSc degree started in Michaelmas Term 2010.

MSc Migration Studies

The  interdisciplinary MSc in Migration Studies at Oxford University is jointly offered by the School of Anthropology and the Department of International Development. The course draws on the intellectual resources of its two parent departments and the three world-leading migration research centres at Oxford (COMPAS, IMI and RSC). The programme allows students to explore human mobility in a historical and global perspective, and to address the complex relations between global political economy, migratory experiences, and government and social responses.

The degree consists of four components, plus a dissertation:

• international migration in the social sciences;
• key themes in international migration;
• thematic and regional options;
• quantitative and qualitative research methods.

Teaching on the degree combines lectures, small tutorial groups, and discussion seminars. Students have individual dissertation supervision. Teaching is problem-focused and aims to give students critical analytical skills.

The course introduces students to key concepts, research and analysis in the economics, politics, sociology and anthropology of migration. It enables students to understand the nature of both internal and international migration and its role in global social and economic change.

The MSc prepares students to work in an expanding area of international and policy concern. It will also offer students social science training that will facilitate progression to doctoral studies in the University of Oxford and elsewhere.

The MSc is currently convened by Dr Mette Louise Berg

Further information about the MSc Migration Studies and how to apply