Overall Course Aims

The MA aims to:

• Stretch student thinking beyond the ‘envelope’ to new and creative strategies of labour movement renewal and transformation, and their own role and identity in this.
• Debate issues such as:
• Organised labour’s relationship with globalisation
• Internal union democracy and leadership,
• Inclusively in relation to diversities across gender,  class, age, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, disability
• Cross national and cross cultural comparisons
• Achieving praxis – theory into practice

The MA’s focus is on contemporary issues and the future of labour movements. While strongly grounded in practice, theoretical frameworks will frame and explain issues and students will extend this approach in their Part 2 work/union/current issue based Dissertation. At workshops students discuss and debate with one another, with tutors and with invited academic researchers and speakers from the labour movement. Tutors on the MA are themselves experienced researchers and publish in their fields.

Full time students may be sponsored by their own or other trade union organisations. If in the UK, these will normally provide trade union attachments (unpaid) for overseas students. Some scholarships maybe available.

Who the MA is aimed at:

• Experienced UK trade union officers and activists (paid and lay) from UK unions especially those which have and are developing international departments and who work closely with overseas partners such as PSI (Public Services International), ICFTU (International Confederation of Free TUs) and the ETUC (European Trades Union Confederation) as well as their sister unions abroad.
  
• Increasingly UK trade union officers and activists working in professional and white collar unions are themselves already graduates, and are seeking postgraduate academic study and qualifications in the field.
  
• Overseas specialists, including from EU countries, in developing and emerging economies, and eastern/central Europe.
• Activists and officers from labour movements worldwide.
  NGO workers in the field, equality and human resources specialists in the field. Graduates of industrial relations, human resource management, business, economics and associated disciplines.
• Graduates of Ruskin’s BA International Labour and Trade Union Studies
• A small number of scholarships may be available for overseas students. See MA CHEVENING application form.