Master of Arts – MA
Build on your Honours degree with advanced study and research at Master's level and become a leader in your field.
Study your specialist subject in detail and take the opportunity to contribute to the world's knowledge in that area. Enhance your critical thinking, communication and problem-solving abilities and learn to create and assess new ideas.
Working alongside some of New Zealand’s leading academic staff, you'll complete a research thesis of up to 40,000 words and emerge as an expert in your subject with highly developed research skills.
A Master of Arts will give your career prospects a boost and open doors to new opportunities. Be a leader in a humanities or social science field and help make New Zealand a better place.
Available subjects
- Applied Linguistics
- Art History
- Asian Studies
- Chinese
- Classical Studies
- Classics
- Creative Writing
- Criminology
- Cultural Anthropology
- Development Studies
- Education
- English
- Film
- French
- Geography
- German
- History
- International Relations
- Italian
- Japanese
- Linguistics
- Literary Translation Studies
- Māori Studies
- Mathematics
- Media Studies
- Museum and Heritage Studies
- Music
- New Zealand Studies
- Pacific Studies
- Philosophy
- Political Science
- Public Policy
- Social Policy
- Sociology
- Spanish
- Study of Religion
- Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
- Theatre
Sign up for more information
Fill in the form to receive information on postgraduate study with the Wellington Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Duration and workload
If you are doing an MA by thesis, you’ll normally need to complete it within 12 months if you’re studying full time or within two years if you’re studying part time.
Studying full time, you can expect a workload of at least 30 hours a week for much of the year. If you can’t commit this many hours, you should enrol as a part-time student.
More information
Find guidelines for Master's study, research grant information and other useful links on the Wellington Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences's Master's resources and links page.
Advance your expertise with PhD study
At the end of your Master's you can choose to continue your research and apply to do a PhD, either in New Zealand or overseas. In exceptional circumstances you may be able to upgrade to a PhD during your Master's study.
A PhD is the highest academic qualification offered by the Faculty. You’ll carry out original and sustained research under supervision from world-class academics.
As a PhD candidate you’ll also be supported by the Faculty of Graduate Research.
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Requirements