Course summary

How can we truly belong in a global community? On this innovative MASc degree students will cross disciplines to explore what it means to create purposeful change within local and global communities. Students will have the flexibility to shape the course around their own interests and career goals, while developing their research skills and expertise in community engagement. Course overview This taught MASc in Community, Engagement, and Belonging is offered by the Liberal Arts Department in partnership with the Warwick Institute of Engagement. This unique, transdisciplinary course is designed to help students develop as future intellectual leaders, bringing together sites of knowledge creation (such as universities, think tanks, and industry) and global communities. The core modules on this course focus on the value of building and enhancing partnerships with community organisations. They will help students to critically reflect on where, why, and how to bridge the gap between knowledge creation and communities, creating spaces for dialogue and innovation. Crucially, the core modules offer the methodological and theoretical grounding for in-depth research. This course also offers students the freedom to choose optional modules from across the University, enabling students to tailor the degree to suit their own intellectual passions, interests, and ambitions. In the Liberal Arts Department, we have extensive experience and resources in place to help students find modules from across the University that align with the issues of community engagement that matter to them most. This course culminates in an intensive project focused on the creation of original, evidence-based, interdisciplinary, and embedded knowledge; students can choose either a Research Dissertation or a Community-Based Learning Dissertation. This flexibility empowers students to develop a project most aligned to their intellectual interests and/or career goals. The Research Dissertation allows students to use interdisciplinary approaches to produce original knowledge in a topic or case study related to Community, Engagement, and/or Belonging from any period or area. The Community-Based Learning Dissertation focuses on critical engagement with embedded knowledge in the form of a community project, undertaken with a community partner. If students choose this option, they will also be supported by our dedicated Employability and Placement Manager and ​will have the opportunity to apply for an experienced mentor from the Warwick Institute of Engagement. In both cases, students will have a dedicated dissertation supervisor assigned to them in the Liberal Arts department who will mentor them and help their project reach its full potential. Graduates from this course will emerge as leaders in interdisciplinary community engagement. They will take their next steps with a deeper understanding and broader appreciation of the value of making a difference in local and regional communities.