School of Social and Political Science

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Our programmes

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The Centre of African Studies offers interdisciplinary and research-led teaching on Africa and on international development. We seek to contribute to collective efforts to centre African voices, theorising and experiences in understanding Africa and the contemporary world.

Within the Centre of African Studies, we offer four MSc programmes and two PhD programmes. We teach more than 20 courses across postgraduate and undergraduate degree programmes, both for our on-campus students in Edinburgh and for our online students around the world.

These courses cover a wide range of topics of critical importance to understanding contemporary Africa, including:

  • migration
  • work
  • gender
  • race
  • natural resources
  • conflict
  • justice
  • religion
  • enterprise
  • economic development
  • technological innovation
  • media

Students in our programmes come from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds and geographic areas. Our MSc cohorts consistently include students from every continent of the world.   

Our large and diverse PhD student cohort conduct cutting-edge research across Africa as part of a lively research community.

Alumni of our programmes have gone on to a wide range of exciting careers including jobs in:

  • international organisations
  • development agencies
  • government departments
  • consultancy firms
  • international business
  • social enterprises
  • NGOs
  • civil society groups
  • media
  • academia