Full Time option suitable for:

Domestic(EEA) applicants: Yes
International (Non EEA) applicants currently residing outside of the EEA Region. No

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.

The purpose of the graduate diploma 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 by choosing a single optional module in a particular sub-field of equality studies, thereby allowing 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, including the traditional essay, public scholarship, collaborative work and project work, but does not include a minor dissertation.  Extensive student feedback is sought for all modules and this is used to review and revise subsequent courses, assignments and assessments.

View All Modules Here

GradDip Equality Studies (W395) Full Time
EU          fee per year - € 7280
nonEU    fee per year - € 15070

GradDip Equality Studies (W396) Part Time
EU          fee per year - € 4770
nonEU    fee per year - € 7540

***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.

• Students on this programme will have attained at least a lower or upper second class honours or international equivalent at Bachelors level and will have demonstrable experience in or aptitude for the field of Equality Studies, as illustrated in their personal statement.
• Your application will be considered on its individual merits and relevant professional experience will also be taken into account.
• All applicants will be asked to upload two references as part of their application, and to provide contact details for their referees. At least one of these referees should be someone who knows the applicant in an academic capacity, in certain circumstances, the applications review panel may decide to invite applicants to interview.
• Applicants whose first language is not English must also demonstrate English language proficiency of IELTS 6.5 (no band less than 6.0 in each element), or equivalent.

Graduate Profile
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.

The following entry routes are available:

* Courses will remain open until such time as all places have been filled, therefore early application is advised