Migration Studies (Taught)

The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (November 2025). For complete and up-to-date information about this course, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas.

The MSc in Migration Studies is a taught, nine-month interdisciplinary course exploring human mobility in relation to global development, inequality, border politics, and social change, with strong research training and a final dissertation.

Migration and human mobility will shape our collective futures. This interdisciplinary master’s degree positions these movements within broader social-economic and political transformations. These include – among others – border politics and security; inequality and livelihoods; urbanisation and deindustrialisation; activism and policy making. Drawing on theoretical and methodological innovations from across the social sciences, it provides the conceptual and methodological foundations for scholars and practitioners working in migration and development related fields.

The degree is jointly offered by the Oxford Department of International Development (ODID) and the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography.

The degree provides a broad, theoretical understanding of human mobility and the role of both internal and international migration in economic and political processes, social change and globalisation. Engaging critically with the politics of movement in today’s world, it prepares you for further study or careers in government, international organisations, and civil society. Drawing on world-class scholars, it reviews major debates and literatures on contemporary migration and human mobility. You will gain insight into migration’s close connection to global systems of trade, labour, politics and power.

The course aims to equip students with the critical analytical and research skills needed to contribute new perspectives to the study of migration in and beyond academia. You will have the opportunity to plan, organise and carry out independent research and to gain the skills necessary to convey theoretical knowledge of migration to a variety of different audiences.

Course structure
In the first and second terms you will take five courses.

In the second term, you will also take two highly focused, research-led option courses. These change annually to reflect contemporary debates and academic themes. In the final term, you will write a dissertation. Working closely with a supervisor, you will select both the focus and approach to your research.

There are four core faculty members from the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography (SAME) and the Department of International Development (ODID) who are dedicated to this degree. They are complemented by research staff from Oxford’s Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS), the Refugee Studies Centre, and researchers across the social sciences and humanities. Teaching is varied in approach and subject. Through a mix of lectures, seminars, student presentations and practical activities, it offers conceptual and theoretical insight while challenging students to address real world problems and puzzles. You will be expected to prepare for each lecture or seminar by reading a selection of recommended book chapters, articles and working papers. The MSc is a demanding course and, as is typical at Oxford, you will be expected to keep up with a considerable reading workload. Class sizes are small to mid-size, encouraging active participation and enabling students to learn from each other.

As a student on the course, you will have access to all lectures, weekly public seminars and research activity within COMPAS, and may also attend the weekly public seminars run by the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology (ISCA) and those held at ODID, including the Refugee Studies Centre (RSC) series.