Master of Arts in Gender and Diversity

We want to enable our students to initiate and support processes of change in society based on a solid theoretical groundwork in the interdisciplinary field of gender and diversity studies. We train you to handle complex issues such as social inequity and discrimination and their concomitant processes of change in an academically sound, socially committed and responsible manner.

We emphasize advanced knowledge acquisition of the development of theory in the field of gender and diversity. You will learn how to apply gender as an analytical category and critical perspective to key issues in science, history, politics, the media, culture and society. Our programme explicitly links gender studies to the analysis other types of diversity (ethnicity, sexual preference, social class). Doing so enhances our relevance in today’s multicultural society.
We also establish links with practice and the professional field by means of a work placement, among other things. In so doing, we cater to the demand for gender and diversity experts in the policy sector, in education, the business world, the non-profit sector and NGOs.

We are an interuniversity programme, co-organized by Ghent University, KU Leuven, the University of Antwerp and Hasselt University. Ghent University handles the administrative co-ordination of the programme. The programme is mainly Dutch-taught but includes a number of English-taught (elective) course units as well.

Our two-term curriculum consists of five modules:

• a mandatory common core of theoretical course units (15 ECTS);
• a partly elective module containing course units that focus on the links between the theory and social practice in a specific domain (flexible core course units - 15 ECTS);
• individual electives (5 or 10 ECTS);
• a work placement (5 or 10 ECTS);
• the Master’s dissertation (15 ECTS);

With this curricular set-up, we aim at a gradual transition from a common theoretical focus to a more individual and thematic specialization and exploration of the field.

> work placement
the work placement allows you to put your theoretical and thematic knowledge and insights into practice. the reflection work placement (5 ECTS) encompasses a short-term position at a company or organization. You analyse and report back on your observations based on the theoretical frames of reference in gender and diversity studies. the participation work placement (10 ECTS) encompasses a longer-term position at a company, institution or organization, in the course of which you work or collaborate on a specific (research) project or write a policy-supporting report.

> electives
Depending on your choice of work placement (5 or 10 ECTS), you can specialize either by adding 5 or 10 ECTS worth of electives or flexible core course units (that you have not taken before) to your curriculum. Our list of preferential electives contains some 20 course units covering a wide range of gender and diversity approaches and applications in a variety of research disciplines and social issues.

> Master's dissertation
The Master’s dissertation on a topic of your choice is the final component of the programme. It is an academic reflection in which you integrate the academic insights and skills you acquired in the field of gender and diversity.

The Gender and Diversity diploma gives access to Master’s level professions. Our graduates are particularly equipped to fill positions that deal with an organization’s internal or external processes of change with the purpose of achieving equal treatment for various groups in society.

A Gender and Diversity diploma is useful in a variety of sectors: (local, regional, national, supra- and international) governments and government agencies; administrations; government institutions and other services with an Equal Opportunities Department, or Gender and/or Diversity Department (e.g. SELOR, the Flemish Employment Agency, the police, the armed forces, cultural institutions); the Institute for the Equality of Women and Men; Unia; political parties and research centres, unions; civil society organisations, women’s rights movements and NGOs, universities, research institutes, consultancy agencies; the media; personnel departments and HRM in the public as well as the private sector.