Programme Overview:
- Duration:
- 1 Years / 2 Years
- Attendance:
- Full Time / Part Time
- Mode of Delivery:
- Face-to-Face
- Next Intake:
- 2024/2025 September
- Contact Name:
- Dominic Shellard
- Contact Number:
- +353 (0)1716 8682
- Fees:
- Fee Information
The MSc in Equality Studies is the only masters of its kind in Europe and offers a unique opportunity to examine global equality issues from a range of perspectives. Find out more about the programme in our informative video here.
The MSc in Equality Studies was designed for those who wish to develop an interdisciplinary understanding of global social justice issues and explore strategies for change. Drawing students from across the globe, the course emphasises the relationship between theory and practice with a view to bringing about positive social change. You learn about and develop your own ideas on a wide range of equality, human rights and global justice issues. You will benefit from the opportunity to specialize in areas of particular interest such as capitalism and social justice, gender justice and feminism, global inequalities, human rights law and practice, and minorities and discrimination.
The learning environment is student-centred and participatory with students from a wide range of backgrounds with diverse experience and interests including community activists, development practitioners, educators, healthcare professionals, civil servants and journalists.
Curricular information is subject to change
Full Time option suitable for:
Domestic(EEA) applicants: Yes
International (Non EEA) applicants currently residing outside of the EEA Region. Yes
Part Time option suitable for:
Domestic(EEA) applicants: Yes
International (Non EEA) applicants currently residing outside of the EEA Region. No
We welcome applicants from a wide a range of backgrounds, with diverse experience and interests. Current students are of various nationalities and include recent graduates, community activists, educators, health care professionals, civil servants and journalists. Please note that if you are intening to study this programme on a part time basis, classes do take place during normal working hours, though modules can be spread flexibly over the two years, subject to certain requirements (Egalitarian Theory always has to be taken in year 1, Feminist and Egalitarian Research and the Portfolio have to be taken in year 2).
The purpose of the M.Sc. in Equality Studies is to cultivate an interdisciplinary appreciation of equality issues of both national and international significance, informed by extensive reading, critical analysis, advanced conceptualisation and independent research across social, political, cultural, economic and legal fields of enquiry. In addition to training across the 5 core disciplinary areas, the programme enables students to specialise further, either by completing a research-based dissertation that allows the student to achieve greater depth of knowledge in a particular area of study, or by selecting three further optional modules for assessment, that allows the student to achieve greater breadth of knowledge across the field of equality studies taken as a whole. The programme is aimed at students who wish to develop a career or further studies in the field of equality, or who wish to become advocates or activists for equality in civil society or politics. The School adopts a student-centred approach and promotes a critical, emancipatory and feminist pedagogy that is carried through all aspects of the teaching and learning process. Teaching is dialogical and operates on the principle that students have much to bring to the learning experience, that students can learn from each other and that staff can learn from students. Assessment takes a variety of forms, spanning the traditional essay, public scholarship, collaborative work and project work, including an elective minor dissertation. Extensive student feedback is sought for all modules and this is used to review and revise subsequent courses, assignments and assessments.
MSc Equality Studies (W003) Part Time
EU fee per year - € 5200
nonEU fee per year - € 10760
MSc Equality Studies (W105) Full Time
EU fee per year - € 7990
nonEU fee per year - € 21520
***Fees are subject to change
Tuition fee information is available on the UCD Fees website.
Please note that UCD offers a number of graduate scholarships for full-time, self-funding international students, holding an offer of a place on a UCD graduate degree programme.
For further information please see International Scholarships.
Graduate Profiles
Charlotte Byrne,
Equality Studies Graduate, Ireland. Education Officer, Irish Refugee Council
My particular area of interest was migration and having come late to third level education, I was enthusiastic in my belief that education is the key to solve so many inequalities. Since completing the Equality Studies programme, I have accessed employment at the Irish Refugee Council as Education Officer, where I support people in the asylum process to gain education and training to be ready to find employment when the time comes. We also try to influence policy to create a more level and equitable playing field. I genuinely believe that if the whole world did this course the world would bena better place as everyone would understand why equality is better for everyone. Equality Studies provides the foundation in egalitarian theory and allows you to build your Masters around areas that interest you, e.g. housing, environment, gender, human rights, education, ethnicity, children’s rights and so on. I believe that the Masters in Equality Studies is a great path towards work in any NGO, private sector, International Students or public body in the area of equality.
Mona Lotfipour,
USA, Graduate
The MSc in Equality Studies has given me the skills to think critically about complex issues in addition to feeling more empowered to lead change. After completing my degree in biochemistry and molecular biology, I was passionate to learn more about human-rights topics. In addition to learning about inequality in different developed and developing countries, as one of the American students in the class, it was a very unique experience to learn about inequalities in the United States from a different perspective. The world-renowned faculty provide an interdisciplinary framework that includes a wide range of courses such as human-rights law, international economics, philosophy and theory. Fixing inequalities requires an interdisciplinary focus. As I continue my studies at Penn State Hershey College of Medicine, I know that the skills and ideas that I learned as a student in UCD will equip me to create change as I serve thousands of patients who face inequalities.
Sam Prost, USA, Graduate
The Equality Studies program has provided me with context for a wide range of issues concerning Global inequality, including taxation, economics and human rights legislation. The program is unique in its interdisciplinary approach to understanding inequality: students are allowed to explore the issues that they are most passionate about, while also learning from experts about issues pertaining to inequality that they may have never considered before. Living in Ireland for the duration of the program was truly one of the best experiences of my life. From the passing of gay marriage by popular vote in 2015, to the even more recent calls for the repeal of the 8th Amendment of the Irish constitution, Ireland has taken on a pivotal new role in the Global fight for equality, making it an incredibly exciting place to study these ideas. The skills I attained throughout the program will undoubtedly remain with me in all of my future career endeavors.
Nadine Shinkwin, Graduate, Ireland
My return to education began with a BSciSoc followed directly by an MSc in Equality Studies, part-time. My aim was to acquire knowledge and understanding of the foundations, diversity and pervasiveness of inequality in society at home and globally. Through a series of targeted modules that intersected across a diverse range of disciplines we learned how to identify, understand and challenge how society in general accepts the unacceptable and how power and powerlessness disrupts the balance of human existence.
We experienced and benefited from well thought out lectures, readings, assignments and in-class debates with an international group of students, which empowered us to question inequality and advance social change in our respective communities.
By combining these new learned skills with a background in project management, I have the confidence to work in the field of equality and social justice development.
Adriana Orellana, Graduate, Bolivia
The best part of the MSc. in Equality Studies was feeling part of a community of like-minded and inspiring people working towards achieving equality around the world. Being surrounded by committed professors and students, made me feel empowered to continue my own struggles and empathize with other causes.
On a personal level, the program enhanced my critical thinking skills and opened my mind to the complexity of structural global inequalities. On a professional level, Equality Studies gave me the theoretical and practical tools to continue my career in International Development and Emancipatory Research.
You can read more, and view video testimonials by former students here: http://www.ucd.ie/socialpolicyworkjustice/about/alumni/
The following entry routes are available:
* Courses will remain open until such time as all places have been filled, therefore early application is advised