Post Grad in International Human Rights

iamanengine

I'm considering applying for this post-grad and I'm just wondering if anyone here has any experience with the course?

I'm just wondering in regards to job prospects. Ideally I would like to qualify as a solicitor but I am also very interested in this area. Or if I wasn't to qualify as a solicitor something similar to work in the likes of the UN would be amazing.

Any information in regards to this course is much appreciated

iamanengine

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Lockstep

I haven't done the course but I'm doing a PhD in the Centre for Human Rights so I've seen a fair bit of it.

From what I gather, it's a good course: there's a fair few people who come in straight from their undergrad but I've also met some really amazing mature students who've done it: Ugandan public prosecutors, army officers from around the world, cops who've done peacekeeping in the Balkans, womens' rights activists from Peru and Afghanis who worked with ISAF.

Employment wise is a tough one to call. It mostly seems to be what you make of it. I know some people who've graduated from the course and worked for the UN (in New York and Kosovo), others who now work for Amnesty, others who serve in the army and yet others who are in academica. Then again, you also have people who never got any human rights work out of it. A lot of it seems to be what you make of it: if you work hard, make contacts, are willing to travel after graduation and avail of the Centre's seminars and field trips you can certainly learn a lot and make careers out of it. However, human rights work requires a lot of proactivity so if graduate with a low mark and aren't willing to get any experience abroad, your chances of getting work aren't very high.

Have you a law degree already? If so, you can definitely qualify as a solicitor and the human rights will be an asset to getting work in this area. If not, you can still qualify as a solicitor but it's a much longer and harder process (you're a lot less likely to get a training contract and will probably have to pay for a lot of it yourself)

iamanengine

Lockstep wrote: »

I haven't done the course but I'm doing a PhD in the Centre for Human Rights so I've seen a fair bit of it.

From what I gather, it's a good course: there's a fair few people who come in straight from their undergrad but I've also met some really amazing mature students who've done it: Ugandan public prosecutors, army officers from around the world, cops who've done peacekeeping in the Balkans, womens' rights activists from Peru and Afghanis who worked with ISAF.

Employment wise is a tough one to call. It mostly seems to be what you make of it. I know some people who've graduated from the course and worked for the UN (in New York and Kosovo), others who now work for Amnesty, others who serve in the army and yet others who are in academica. Then again, you also have people who never got any human rights work out of it. A lot of it seems to be what you make of it: if you work hard, make contacts, are willing to travel after graduation and avail of the Centre's seminars and field trips you can certainly learn a lot and make careers out of it. However, human rights work requires a lot of proactivity so if graduate with a low mark and aren't willing to get any experience abroad, your chances of getting work aren't very high.

Have you a law degree already? If so, you can definitely qualify as a solicitor and the human rights will be an asset to getting work in this area. If not, you can still qualify as a solicitor but it's a much longer and harder process (you're a lot less likely to get a training contract and will probably have to pay for a lot of it yourself)

Thanks for the advice! I just finished a Bachelor of Civil Law in NUIG last year. Hoping to put a hell of a lot of work into the post grad so hoping to come out of it with a decent result.

Lockstep

If you have a BCL then you've an advantage over other human rights workers as it's much easier for you to practice as a human rights lawyer. It doesn't necessarily help in the class but you could qualify as a solicitor and promote yourself as a human rights lawyer (although you'd probably need to do other legal work in the meantime)