MA Sociology

University of Manchester

Course description

Sociology at Manchester is one of the UK's largest and most prestigious centres for the subject, with over 30 academic staff and 60 postgraduate students forming a diverse and rigorous academic community.

The MA course aims to provide those of you who have an interest in sociology, the opportunity to extend and deepen your knowledge of the discipline. Our teaching includes all areas of contemporary sociology but we have particular expertise in the fields of socio-cultural change, gender and sexuality, and; consumption and sustainability.

We are consistently highly ranked for research, coming first in the UK for the percentage of our research outputs that are judged as `world-leading', and second nationally, based on our research power in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF). Our research feeds into all of our postgraduate teaching.

The Sociology MA is the perfect course to develop your analytical and investigative skills, training you in methods of social investigation in order to equip you with the ability for independent thinking, research and analysis, setting you up perfectly for the world of employment.

Teaching and learning

Part-time students complete the full-time course over two years. There are no evening or weekend course units available on the part-time course.

You must first check the schedule of the compulsory course units and then select your optional units to suit your requirements.

Updated timetable information will be available from mid-August and you will have the opportunity to discuss your unit choices during induction week with your Course Director.

Coursework and assessment

Assessment is normally by a 3,000 word assessed essay for each unit and, for the MA students, a dissertation of between 12,000 and 15,000 words.

Career opportunities

Many MA students go on to take research degrees (PhD) however, the skills gained on this course can be put to use in a variety of career paths, such as:

• education;
• social and community work (such as welfare advice, working with families, or dealing with issues such as homelessness and mental health problems);
• human resources;
• working in the media.