MA Human Rights - Political Science (Standard Route)

Fees for entry in 2027 have not yet been set. For reference, the fees for the academic year beginning September 2026 were as follows:

• MA (full-time)
  UK students (per annum): £15,800
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £28,400
• MA (part-time)
  UK students (per annum): £7,900
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £14,200

The fees quoted above are fully inclusive of tuition, administration and computational costs.

Fees for entry are subject to yearly review. The University reserves the right to increase your tuition fee by up to 7% each year for courses lasting more than one year, including to reflect rising costs associated with delivering our educational and wider student experience. Postgraduate fees information .

Always contact the admissions team if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.

International student CAS deposit

Self-funded international applicants are required to pay a deposit of £2500 towards their tuition fees before a confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) is issued. Some applicants will be required to pay a higher deposit. More information on tuition fee deposits .

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

We know that student finance can be complicated. The links below provide further information to help guide you.

• Learn more about - student finance options for UK students .
• Learn more about - fees and finance for international students .
• Graduates of The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University can receive a 10% discount on their master's degree tuition fees as part of our Manchester Alumni Loyalty Discount scheme.

The aim of this course is to help students address some fundamental questions about rights by studying a wide range of contemporary writings in moral philosophy, political theory and jurisprudence. Questions to be considered include: What are rights? What are human rights? Who or what can possess rights? What’s the difference between moral rights and legal rights? What rights would people have in a socially just state? Does the state have the right to punish its citizens? Do human beings have rights of self-ownership? Is there are human right to be free from poverty? Is there a human right to immigrate and settle anywhere in the world? How do we determine whose duty is it to see that human rights of various kinds are fulfilled? Should rights be constitutionally protected? Do cultural minorities have group rights to non-interference or would this undermine the rights of individuals to be protected from oppression?

Students will be expected to develop a good understanding of a selection of recent articles on rights theory and thus to equip themselves to take an informed and critical position on current controversies about rights. In so doing, they will acquire experience in the analysis, construction and presentation of theoretical arguments.

The course will be taught in ten 2 hour sessions 

1000 word essay (30%)
2,000 word essay (70%)

• Peter Jones, Rights (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 1994) purchase of this text is required

• Jeremy Waldron, Theories of Rights (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984).