Date: November 25th, 2006

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Dear readers,

Since the last issue we have been hard at work collecting every human rights course we could find for our brand new training section, freshly published today:
http://www.humanrightstools.org/training/training.htm

We put together what is perhaps the most up to date and comprehensive listings of human rights training opportunities - in total 107 courses: 75 Masters degrees and 32 short courses (with more to be added soon: Spanish, French, and distance learning):
http://www.humanrightstools.org/training/training/masters.htm
http://www.humanrightstools.org/training/training/short.htm

A geographical analysis of these degrees shows that an extraordinary number are concentrated in the UK. Out of 75 Masters programs, no less than 46 take place in the UK, given by 29 universities!!! What on earth is happening over there? Even within the English-speaking world, the disproportion is tremendous. For the US - the largest anglophone country, we only found one Masters in human rights, although it has several excellent international relations and law programs to which you can a very strong human rights focus. And we only found one Masters in Australia.

In London alone there are now seven universities providing Masters degrees in human rights. Until recently there was a joint degree offered by several universities, allowing students to choose courses from all schools involved, but this has apparently come to an end for reasons which have little to do with students' interests.

We certainly seem to be headed for a glut in terms of human rights academic study in the UK. This is not necessarily a bad thing for students: it will force universities to compete on price and quality. Diversity of offerings will also increase, as each university seeks to carve out a niche by specializing in a particular area of human rights. It may eventually even force them to cooperate together a bit more.

In this light, the Venice degree shines in a very positive light, as a true example of cooperation among universities, drawing together each university's respective strong points, and providing a very rich learning experience for the students. No less than 39 European universities participate, by sending professors to teach for a few days in the hyper-active winter semester which takes place on the Lido in Venice. This gives the students the chance to discover a topic which they really want to explore during the second semester and the dissertation. For the second semeser, students then move to one of the participating universities, where their preferred topic is taught best. Because of this system, the participating human rights institutes, which are often small, do not have to worry about offering a full-fledged generalist Masters program at home, but can focus on deeper research and teaching in a particular area - a far more sensible investment of resources for all involve
d: the student, the institutes, and the taxpayer.

Most other countries only offer one human rights degree, if any. In this regard, a special tribute should go to the Raoul Wallenberg institute in Sweden and the Danish Institute for Human Rights - they are cooperating with partners in other continents on Masters degrees and other training programs in Costa Rica, China, Thailand, South Africa, and Uganda:
http://www.rwi.lu.se/coop/asia/thailand.shtml
http://www.humanrights.dk/departments/international/PA/UMP/

Another interesting area for comparison is price. In our training section, we systematically list tuition fees, because this is an important factor for prospective students and we want to provide visibility to universities that make an effort to remain affordable. And we noted a great disparity in price: some degrees cost tens of thousands of dollars (and exactly how is a human rights worker going to pay for that, anyway?), and other degrees are completely free! In fact in Sweden its illegal for a public learning institution to charge a student.

Of course the expensive universities will argue that its not their fault that their governments do not subsidize them to the extent of the Scandinavian countries, and will also quickly point out that they provide some scholarships to needy students. Fine, we accept that. But this argument cannot explain everything. Have a look at the price disparity among the degrees offered in the UK - the better ones are not necessarily the most expensive. Its worth shopping around for the best deal - don't give your hard-earned money to universities that overcharge.

This brings us to the eternal question: is it worth the expense to go to a famous university? Will that label on your CV help get you the dream job? Well, a reputable university may not be uniformly good - the department or course you are interested in may be badly run by a lazy professor (this happens!). In the same vein, a small-town university may have a very dynamic staff who will provide you with very close attention and excellent tutoring.

In other words, its very important to investigate your choice carefully. This is why each course on our lists comes with a "Comments" link where you can add comments: please help your peers and add a frank and fair review of both strong and weak points. Even if means remaining anonymous. A degree is a major investment and we need to know your opinion to make an informed choice.

A final word: beware of application deadlines, this is one of the first things to check. It may take some time to put together your application - not to fill in the forms of course, but to collect the letters of recommendation you will need, from professors who may actually have retired since you graduated (no, we are not getting any younger). It would be a shame to be rejected because of an application which arrived two days late (this happened to your editor for the Venice EMA - how silly!). Even when there is no deadline, if you apply late you will diminish your chance of finding a place.

We hope you will enjoy this new section, and that it will help you find the degree of your dreams!

And as usual, please forward this email to your friends and colleagues, as they may also be interesting in taking a year out, or even a short course of two weeks. And if you have received this from a friend, sign up here for this newsletter here so as not to miss the next one!
http://www.humanrightstools.org/news/newsletter.htm

Best regards,

Daniel D'Esposito, editor

PS: if you find a course that is missing on our lists, please let us know by responding to this email.



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