MA Gender Studies

Year 1

(Award available for year: Master of Arts)

Learning outcomes

On completion of the year/programme students should have provided evidence of being able to:
- An advanced understanding of Gender Studies, its interdisciplinary frameworks and a range of theoretical perspectives and field-specific methodologies;
- The ability to engage critically with the challenges and possibilities of interdisciplinary scholarship;
- A critical understanding and 'hands-on' working knowledge of a range of research methods both within and outside of the social sciences;
- The ability to both design and conduct their own research and to evaluate the research they encounter during the course of the programme and beyond;
- The ability to analyse and investigate social, cultural, historical and political phenomena through the lens of gender in a way that appreciates a range of disciplinary, transnational and intersectional perspectives;
- An understanding of the ways in which key issues within gender studies play out across different national and international contexts;
- The ability to work proactively, reflexively and collaboratively, and to develop professional relationships with others;
- An understanding of Gender Studies' key challenges, issues and questions in ways that resist the separation of the theoretical from the applied;
- The ability to conduct a piece of individual research using appropriate conceptual frameworks and methods , on an aspect of gender studies.

Transferable (key) skills

Masters (taught) students will have had the opportunity to acquire the following abilities, as defined in the modules specified for the programme:
- the skills necessary to undertake a higher research degree and/or for employment in a higher capacity in industry or area of professional practice;
- to evaluate their own achievement and that of others in constructive ways;
- to engage critically with theories, concepts and claims;
- to express ideas carefully and clearly across different formats;
- to demonstrate self-direction and effective decision making in complex and unpredictable situations;
- to engage in independent learning and the ability to work in a way which ensures continuing professional development.

Assessment

Achievement for the degree of Master (taught programme) will be assessed by a variety of methods in accordance with the learning outcomes of the modules specified for the year/programme and will include:
- evidencing an ability to conduct independent in-depth enquiry within the discipline;
- demonstrating the ability to apply breadth and/or depth of knowledge to a complex specialist area;
- drawing on a range of perspectives on an area of study;
- evaluating and criticising received opinion;
- making reasoned judgements whilst understanding the limitations on judgements made in the absence of complete data.