Refugee Studies Research and Study Opportunities

Refugee Studies Scholarships & Fellowships

Refugee Studies Associations

Refugee Studies Summer Programs

Refugee Studies relevant accounts on Twitter

Why Choose Refugee or Forced Migration Studies?

The number of refugees, who were forced to migrate from their homeland, is growing day by day. According to the legal definition, refugees are people who can't return home because of "well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion." Refugees leave their homes expecting to get safer lives in other countries, which are not always capable of providing full support: social, psychological, and legal assistance. Moreover, on the way to reaching their destination countries, refugees face huge risks of becoming targets for organized crime: forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, etc.

Students of bachelor degree programs on refugee and forced migration studies concentrate on more contextual and broader studies: they have a big choice of courses on history, law, public policy, social work, psychology, armed conflicts, etc. Meanwhile, master's degree courses are more specialized as usual. Graduate students learn more on human rights aspects of the issues, social adaptation of refugees and reunification with their families, refugee policies of developed countries, etc. Students of graduate courses are expected to have highly diverse backgrounds: in psychology, social work, law, public policy, and many other areas. Universities also offer refugee studies as a separate module within broader major studies as international development or migration law.

Refugee Studies

Refugee studies have numerous layers behind them. People, who are forced to leave their houses, undergo deep psychological and sometimes physiological traumas. To prevent, organize, and help refugees heal out of the migration processes, academic programs in many universities provide the necessary training.

Refugee studies programs provide students with an interdisciplinary and international perspective on migration's main aspects. Students explore areas of international affairs, migration, development, etc.

The Refugee studies courses' explore the discipline in strong connection with communication, management, anthropology, human rights, etc.

At the end of most programs, you will have to write a capstone project and justify your academic level. For Capstone and other research projects within the course, you should plan, organize and carry out independent research.

As refugees' problem is widespread globally, and many organizations stand near the victims of forced migration, field degrees have a high demand in the market. The majority of the refugee studies degrees are internationally recognized, and you might work in governmental or community institutions after completing the studies.

To sum up, both Bachelor's and Master's levels of refugee studies courses will give you different insights into the forced migration. You will be aware of gendered, economic, legal, social, political, cultural, and psychological processes that cause migration and accompany it.

Refugee Studies Career Advice

The career options for refugee studies students as immense as this academic field itself. Professionals specializing in refugee and migration studies can follow their career paths in consultancy for non-profits and international organizations, work in public institutions, and pursue an international career to share knowledge and best experiences with developing and developing countries.

Many spheres somehow dealing with migration issues are willing to employ refugee studies graduates. The main employment areas include:

government
humanitarian organizations
social entrepreneurship
national security systems
law
international businesses
education institutions, etc.

As a refugee studies major, you can contribute to many humanitarian issues, regardless if they are closely tied to migration or not. The major gives you a comprehensive understanding of human psychology and its needs, so the areas for utilizing your skills become significantly broader. For the same reason, most governmental organizations, where workers participate in policymaking and social regulation works, have the demand of the graduates from this discipline.

Below, read the main job occupations you can have as a refugee studies graduate:

Domestic Caseworker
Humanitarian Aid Worker
Policy Analyst
Communications Officer
Public Health Specialist
Education Specialist, etc.

Refugee studies are also an excellent academic opportunity for refugees themselves, and scholarships for the discipline are mostly granted to immigrants. That’s a perfect opportunity to explore the processes refugee students experience from the more educated, academic view, and find practical solutions.

ARMACAD Database on Refugee and Forced Migration Studies

Interested in a shorter-term opportunity to upgrade your knowledge in refugee studies? Attend conferences, training, workshops, summer schools as well as keep updated on other learning and networking opportunities to advance in your career with ARMACAD. Make maximum use of its academic and practical resources.