The University of Leeds is opening its doors to students around the world with a ground-breaking new online MSc Disability Studies, Rights and Inclusion course.

Students will be able to access world-leading teaching alongside like-minded learners in an accessible and inclusive global classroom.

Able Magazine spoke with Dr Hannah Morgan, Associate Professor of Social Policy and Disability Studies, pictured above.

Why has the University of Leeds chosen to design this new course?
It’s the evolution of our disability studies provision. There’s been a postgraduate course in disability studies at Leeds since the early 1990s, a master’s and a postgraduate diploma. At various points that also had a distance learning route. But really, at that stage, technology wasn’t in place for genuine online provision. But it was also about taking advantage of a moment at the university, where there’s a definite shift towards thinking about digital as a significant element of the university’s offer, that will grow over time. The university is in a process of digital transformation. 

Significant investments in infrastructure enable this to happen. The real attraction of a distance learning course is to make our programme accessible to people for whom a campus-based programme simply wasn’t accessible. 

How is the course content designed and from what perspective?
We’ve always had a significant international cohort, so it was always perhaps more international than you might have thought. This is very clearly a Leeds-based programme that’s been devised and will be delivered by a team of colleagues who are based at the University of Leeds. We are very clear that we have a set of shared values and approaches; we locate ourselves within disability studies, while not all work on disability would do. 

There will be programmes that focus on disability, but from different perspectives. We’re based in the School of Sociology and Social Policy, so it’s grounded in those traditions and approaches. It draws on a social interpretation. A disability course that’s broader than social models can often be seen as a very UK approach and there’s a challenge with that. 

We’re very deliberately trying to build it as an international programme with an international focus and being very aware that we very much hope that our studentship will be global.

We try to make sure we’ve got examples from a range of different countries’ approaches across the programme. That mix is very exciting. We’re a community of learners. It’s not just conveying information; we very much want to have an engaged studentship.

We very much wanted to listen to and understand disabled people’s organisations: what are the sorts of skills and knowledge that are useful? One of the advantages of going digital is that you pre-record a lot of material, so you can do an interview with an activist from somewhere; so, I’ve done some filming with a colleague who’s an indigenous academic in Australia. So, we’ve got his perspective. We wouldn’t be able to bring him into the classroom very easily if it was on campus. 

You’ve designed a 100% online course. Why can’t it be in person?
It’s just about capacity but I think we’ll see a return to campus-based learning. It may well be that we either have a campus-based version of what we’ve got, or that we have perhaps a slightly different offer on campus.

I’ve had conversations with the disability service, in the planning for this programme. Our disability services are very good and the campus is very accessible. They were absolutely clear that there is parity of support and provision for distance learners. That may be more complicated than supporting the students online because practicalities of giving someone equipment if they’re based overseas for example and trying to arrange academic support work for someone who’s based overseas, is clearly more complicated than if we we’re doing it in Leeds, but the response from disability services was ‘We’ll make it work’. 

Leeds has had a number of online programmes, but they’ve been done in partnership with external organisations. This is going to be the first one that’s done entirely in house. One of the exciting things is that there’s both the political will and the capital behind the programme but also that they see the contribution that having a disability studies programme and the challenge we bring to the university about saying, it can’t be anything other than fully accessible. We demand that, because we know our students are likely to have access requirements and we’re not prepared to run a programme that doesn’t meet their needs. They have been incredibly positive about engaging and rising to that challenge – and it is the gold standard, so that everything else that follows, will also have those high access standards. 

When you get a collection of likeminded people, the danger is that you produce an echo chamber. What’s preventing that?
It’ll definitely get a talkative and a discursive debating base and that’s why people really enjoy this kind of learning. I wouldn’t see it as a talking shop because the views and perspectives are such, that even within a social perspective, there is a great diversity. It’s important in terms of having a course that does what it says on the label. What we want to be sure of is that people understand that its’ a social science based course that takes that perspective. There are some excellent programmes that are about working with disabled people. We’re not teaching people how to work with disabled people. We’re doing something different. It is about engaging with a range of ideas and skills, particularly in the policy and practice space. 

One of the things that I’m really proud of and enjoy about working with the University of Leeds, is that we do take a critical perspective and that we provide a challenge.

Our first cohort starts this September. One of the differences around online learning, is that we’ve got two entry points in the year, September and March. 

It’s a slightly more flexible programme. Unlike a traditional campus-based course, where you’d be doing a number of modules in each semester, people do one after another. So, it’s easier to postpone your studies. Life happens, but it’s more for disabled people, who might be managing health conditions and other challenges. 

Visit: www.leeds.ac.uk  
or courses.leeds.ac.uk

Disability Studies, Rights and Inclusion MSc
Make a difference in the field of disability rights and social justice with this ground-breaking new online master’s degree in Disability Studies, Rights and Inclusion.

Entry requirements
A 2.1 (hons) bachelor’s degree, ideally in a social science or humanities related subject, or a 2.1 (hons) bachelor’s degree in any other subject, plus relevant experience, or a 2.2 (hons) degree in any subject, with at least three years relevant experience. 

The university accepts a range of international equivalent admissions qualifications. For further information, contact the admissions team, via: onlineadmissions@leeds.ac.uk 
(Applications are individually assessed.)

English language requirements
The course is presented in English. You’ll require IELTS 6.5 overall, with no less than 6.0 in any component or equivalent English qualifications. 

Apply
Search for: ‘Disability studies, Rights and Inclusion MSc’ via: www.leeds.ac.uk to apply to the course. 

The deadline for September 2023 intake has passed. The next intake is in March 2024, with application deadline 4 February 2024.

About the course
Whether you are already active in the field of disability rights, or looking to make your first moves, this course gives you the knowledge, skills and confidence you need to be a change-maker in the field of social justice and disability activism.

The course takes 24 months to complete, on a part-time basis.

NB: If you require assistance in completing the online application, contact: onlineadmissions@leeds.ac.uk and a member of the team will assist you.