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PROGRAM

Building upon the extensive experience and expertise of both institutions on migration and refugee studies, the course is organized around a rights-based curriculum that draws on legal, medical, environmental and broader social science approaches to migration policy and practice. It is designed to offer participants both conceptual and practical engagement with key issues related to contemporary forced migration. The course includes lectures, seminars, interactive class sessions and fieldwork. Our expert lecturers consist of leading scholars, politicians, leaders of international organizations, civil society organizations and migrant/refugee groups. One of the key benefits of this course is that successful applicants have the opportunity to interact with local human rights organizations and discuss challenges and practices grounded in field-based realities.

The curriculum is thematically divided across the three weeks. Teaching styles are varied and include in-class lectures, debates, small group seminars, and simulations. Students also have the opportunity to participate in fieldwork. Topics that are covered include but are not limited to:

  • The global architecture of contemporary migration and its geopolitical underpinnings
  • Drivers of forced migration globally, with a range of geographical focal points
  • Emerging conceptual and policy challenges to established state practice
  • Digital technology and its impact on migration management and access
  • Securitization, externalization and the challenge to migrants’ rights
  • International and regional policy and legal frameworks: their scope and limitations
  • The role of public health in forced migration settings: limitations, opportunities, innovations
  • Climate change and forced migration
  • Adolescent agency and mobility: opportunities and obstacles
  • Gender justice as a factor in forced migration
  • Refugee and migrant leadership in agenda setting
  • Vulnerability in the context of distress migration
  • The meaning of “the best interests of the child” in a migration context
  • Human trafficking and exploitation in the context of forced displacement
  • The role of host community solidarity in driving migration policy
  • The role of COVID-19 pandemic on forced migration and migrant rights