European Master's Degree in "Human Rights and Democratisation"

The European Master's Degree in Human Rights and Democratisation is a multidisciplinary one-year postgraduate programme that hosts up to 100 students annually. E.MA is run jointly by the European Inter-University Institute for Human Rights and Democratisation (EUIC) and 40 European universities and institutes. It started in October 1997 as a joint endeavour between 27 universities from 15 EU member states. The University of Hamburg is represented by the IFSH. Professor Hans J. Gießmann is a member of the E.MA Council of Directors and represents Hamburg University in the EUIC Assembly.

The administering authority of the programme, which is co-funded by the European Commission, is the European Inter-University Institute for Human Rights and Democratisation (EUIC), headquartered in Venice, Italy. The university of first enrolment is Padua.

The aims of the programme are to produce highly competent professionals in the field of human rights and democratisation, who are qualified to work as academics, staff members or field workers for national and international, governmental and non-governmental organisations. The participating universities have created a pan-European network for curriculum development and staff exchange among universities and institutes in the field of human rights and democratisation.

E.MA is divided into two semesters. During the first semester (18 weeks), which takes place in Venice, students are taught by professors, experts from the participating universities, and practitioners from IGOs and NGOs. The first semester has the following components:

1. Human Rights (HR) in philosophy, history, and anthropology
2. HR protection systems
3. HR standards
4. HR and violent conflicts
5. Democratisation
6. HR and globalisation
7. HR in the field. This sections includes a one-week field trip.

The courses during the first semester combine theoretical and practical approaches to issues of human rights and democratisation. The teaching takes the form of lectures, workshops, round-tables, tutorials, skill-building sessions and rolling seminars. Including time for private study, the weekly timetable amounts to 40 academic hours. The IFSH contributes to the second component by providing a module on the OSCE, consisting of a lecture, a rolling seminar and a training session (role play).

In the second semester, students disperse to the participating universities. There, they take advanced courses related to their master's thesis, which they also complete under the supervision of a member of staff at the university. The IFSH accepts up to four students annually for the second semester to be taught and supervised by CORE and ZEUS academic staff. The IFSH hosted three students in each of the Academic Years 2002/2003 and 2003/2004, five at CORE and one at ZEUS.

http://www.emahumanrights.org