Bachelor in Human Rights
Malmö, Sweden
Bachelor's degree
DURATION
3 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
Jan 2027
TUITION FEES
SEK 325,000
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* this is the deadline for national round. Non-EU/EEA students who require a residence permit should apply during international admissions round opening mid-October 2026.
Key Summary
About: The Bachelor in Human Rights at Malmö University gives you a multidisciplinary grounding in human-rights law, politics, and philosophy. It examines how rights are interpreted, implemented, enforced, and contested amid global change. You can take electives, internships, or study abroad. It's a three-year bachelor's programme that prepares you for further study through critical analysis and practical experience.
Career Outcomes: The programme builds skills to address legal, political, and ethical human-rights issues and supports progression to master's study. Graduates can work in national authorities, government agencies, NGOs, or international organisations such as the UN, Amnesty International, European Union policy work.
The Human Rights programme provides you with an understanding of what human rights are and how they are interpreted and utilised legally, politically, and philosophically, as well as how the development of human rights is a result of ongoing global transformations.
Human rights are grounded in the belief that all people are born free and are of equal moral worth, and should therefore have equal access to rights. But how are human rights implemented, enforced, and monitored? Are some rights more important than others, and how can conflicts concerning human rights be addressed and resolved? Throughout your studies, you will deeply engage yourself with questions like these.
After graduation, you will be equipped to navigate legal, political, or ethical issues within the realm of human rights. You will also have the opportunity to pursue master's studies.
Why study human rights?
The issue of human rights remains persistently relevant in our contemporary world marked by significant global challenges. By studying the importance, history, interpretation, and implementation of human rights, you will develop a deeper understanding of current events and public debates – including issues that can be traced back to the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In this programme, you will examine the local and international significance of human rights and the role they play within public authorities, organisations, and businesses. You will also gain insight into the role of human rights within the context of democracies and oppressive regimes.
Human Rights at Malmö University
This three-year bachelor's programme offers a profound understanding of human rights and how they affect and are affected by the world we live in. With its multi-disciplinary approach, the programme explores human rights through three overarching perspectives:
Law
What are human rights from a legal perspective, and how has international law shaped human rights? Who is responsible for protecting human rights, and what happens if they are violated? We will look at international human rights law – how human rights are regulated and protected.
Politics
How are international communities and governments addressing human rights? How are human rights situated within the context of power dynamics, oppression, and resistance, historically and today? You will discuss these issues from sociological and political perspectives.
Philosophy
What is the significance of human rights, and why should we have them in the first place? What are human rights ultimately based on, morally and philosophically, and what does that imply for the question of which rights we should have? Is the current human rights framework too extensive, or ought we perhaps to add additional rights that do not currently exist?
Elective possibilities
During the programme, you can choose to pursue an internship, study abroad, or take elective courses. This provides you with the opportunity to deepen your knowledge and gain practical experience in human rights work, as well as the chance to develop relationships and networks with people and organisations working with human rights.
Organisation
Human rights are a concept that is used more frequently in today’s society by states, civil society, and the private sector. The programme provides students with an understanding and knowledge of what constitutes human rights, how human rights are utilised, and how the development of human rights is a result of transformation in the world. Human rights imply that all people are born free, are of equal value, and have equal rights.
The respect for and the promotion of human rights are widely accepted by the international community by its commitment to international and national human rights law, by its promotion in politics, and by its philosophical and religious origins. However, the interpretation and content of human rights are at the same time challenged by numerous actors in the international community.
The purpose of the bachelor’s programme in Human Rights is to provide students with an understanding and knowledge of what constitutes human rights, how they are implemented and applied, and how the advancement in this field of study is a consequence of changes in world politics and the development of society.
The programme comprises six semesters of study and leads to a Bachelor’s degree in Human Rights.
Semester one consists of Human Rights I and provides an introduction to the multidisciplinary approach to human rights characteristic of the programme, i.e. as it relates to law, politics, and philosophy.
Semester two consists of Human Rights II, which is an advancement of Human Rights I. The multidisciplinary perspectives from Human Rights I are studied and analysed in depth by tracing the historical and philosophical origins of the contemporary human rights discourse and connecting it to current human rights issues. Human Rights II is finalised by a methods module and a project work.
Semesters three and four consist of elective studies, which makes it possible for the student to enrol in various exchange programmes, or combine their studies with an internship (one semester), as long as the programme coordinator deems the internship to be relevant to the study programme.
Semester five consists of specialised courses within a range of multidisciplinary areas in law, politics, philosophy, and religion, for example: Children’s Best Interests in Theory and Practice, Forced Migration in a Human Rights Perspective, Global Justice, International Crimes and Criminal Law, or The Right to Life and Modern Conceptions of Life.
The last semester, semester six, consists of Human Rights III, which includes a theory and method course and is finalised with a Bachelor's thesis comprising 15 credits.
Contents
Autumn 2025 - Semester 1
- Human Rights I (MR110L), 30 credits, compulsory
Knowledge and Understanding
To receive a bachelor's degree in Human Rights, the student shall:
- Demonstrate an understanding of how human rights are regulated in national legislation and international law, and comprehend the relationship between these two systems.
- Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the political dimensions of the development and application of human rights.
- Demonstrate knowledge and a fundamental understanding of the structure of human rights theories and inducement, in addition to the questions and issues the theories are designed to analyse.
- Demonstrate knowledge of human rights in an international political context.
Competencies and Skills
To receive a bachelor's degree in Human Rights, the student shall:
- Be able to identify, formulate, and resolve problems related to human rights from judicial, political, and philosophical perspectives.
- Possess the skills to apply theories of human rights needed to analyse and evaluate factual conditions and phenomena.
- Demonstrate the ability to write academic texts, and give an account of human rights-related projects orally and in writing.
- Show the ability to accomplish tasks individually or collectively within agreed-upon time frames.
- Use their competence as a basis for a career or further research in relevant areas.
Evaluation and Approach
To receive a bachelor's degree in Human Rights, the student shall:
- Demonstrate the ability to independently analyse and interpret the development of human rights from a multidisciplinary perspective.
- Demonstrate the ability to make rational judgments, drawing on various methodological aspects within the field of human rights.
- Be able to independently evaluate and reflect critically on questions concerning human rights and the role they play in society today.
The programme’s diversity, combined with its multi-disciplinary focus, provides you with competencies attractive in numerous sectors and in a constantly growing labour market. You will be able to work with legal, political, and ethical issues and continue your studies at the master’s level.
Potential future employers include private sector businesses, local and international organizations, and agencies, as well as national authorities and government organizations.
Studying human rights provides you with a platform for a career in organisations such as the UN, Amnesty International, and the European Union.