Fast-track your career with a 12-month Master of International Relations. This gives you Master’s-level expertise without needing an Honours degree. You can also do the shorter, coursework-only Postgraduate Diploma in International Relations.
As well as giving graduates a path into a career with a global scope, the programme gives professionals from around the world an opportunity to enhance their analytical skills and knowledge of international relations.
This subject area at Victoria University of Wellington is ranked in the top 100 worldwide in the QS World University Rankings 2024.
The QS World University Rankings is an annual global publication that gives overall rankings and subject rankings for more than 1,500 universities worldwide.
Learn from staff known worldwide for their research and expertise. The programme has close connections with internationally-focused government agencies in Wellington, and prestigious institutions around the world. These contacts give you the opportunity to learn from visiting researchers, politicians, and policy makers and to build your own networks.
The programme attracts working professionals and graduates from around the world, giving you the chance to network with and learn from peers who bring a range of international perspectives.
Enhance your theoretical foundation with the core course, Approaches to International Relations.
Hone your ability to think critically and creatively about pressing geopolitical issues, including war and its aftermath, international migration, China and the world, identity in world politics, global political economy, and the challenges to international order.
You can complement your International Relations courses with approved Political Science and Strategic Studies courses. These include the China Field Study and the Japan Field Study, which run every second year.
The MIR is made up of two parts—a taught component and a research component.
With the permission of the MIR coordinator, you may be allowed to do a 90-point thesis in place of the Part 2 research component and some Part 1 courses.
You can choose to study the taught courses only and get a PGDipIR. If you later complete the research courses, you receive your MIR in place of the PGDipIR.
The MIR will usually take 12 months of full-time study to complete, while the PGDipIR generally takes two trimesters full time.
Studying full time, you can expect a workload of 40 to 45 hours a week for much of the year.
You can estimate your workload by adding up the number of points you'll be doing. One point is roughly equal to 10 to 12 hours of work.
If you're thinking of doing a research project you can check suggested thesis topics and staff research areas for the Political Science and International Relations programme.
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