Course summary

The LLM by research is designed to provide students with a deeper and greater platform of understanding of the hard law and soft law regulation of Migration and Refugee law that is now regarded, justifiably or not, by policymakers and law enforcement agencies as a global challenge. The migration of significant numbers of people seeking a better life in the economically developed and more prosperous parts of the globe has become a key challenge for the host destinations. Moreover, the mass movement of refugees desperate to escape conflict and persecution has also become an increasingly prevalent consequence of the breakdown in internal and external order. Indeed, taken together, it is increasingly difficult for host states to distinguish between the two broad typologies of voluntary and forced population movements and thus establish appropriate regulatory frameworks to deal with the challenges. The need for highly skilled individuals employed in the supportive, regulatory, policing, and developmental aspects of Migration and Refugee law is likely to continue to grow in the coming decades. The core rationale of this course is to provide postgraduate students with the opportunity to develop research focused, advanced, and evaluative understandings of the national and international regulatory and policy frameworks governing and shaping International Migration empowering them to design and undertake advanced legal research, theoretical or applied or both, by completing three 20 credit taught courses and a significant research project rated at 120 credits on an aspect of International Migration or Refugee Law. The course is rated at 180 credits.