This page provides an overview of our course offerings, to help students as they make decisions and plans for the academic year ahead. Please note that this schedule will be updated periodically and may be subject to change. Students are encouraged not only to revisit this page but also to confirm the course listings in the online Directory of Courses and Vergil, where course descriptions and class meeting times will be posted.
- ISHR Fall 2024 Graduate Courses
- HRTS GR6020 Introduction to Human Rights
- HRTS GR6800 International Human Rights Law
- HRTS GR6990 Human Rights Research Seminar
- HRTS GU4011 Indigenous Rights and Settler Colonialism in North America
- HRTS GU4215 NGOs and the Human Rights Movement
- HRTS GU4500 Socio-Economic Rights
- HRTS GU4600 Human Rights in the Anthropocene
- HRTS GU4650 Children's Rights Advocacy
- HRTS GU4950 Human Rights and Human Wrongs
- HRTS GU4965 Gender-Based Violence and Human Rights
- HRTS GU4970 Refugees, Citizenship, Migration
- HRTS GU4985 Human Rights, Activism & the US Carceral State
As part of Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS), our students take courses in a range of departments, including Political Science, Religion, Anthropology, Women’s Studies, and Sociology. Students can also take human rights related courses offered by other schools at Columbia.
Each semester, the program publishes a list of courses of potential interest to graduate students. We try to keep this information as up-to-date as possible, but students should also consult the Directory of Classes, departments offering the course, and school bulletins for additional course information when planning their course schedules.
This course list is subject to change upon receipt of additional course information. If you would like to suggest an addition or modification to this list, please email relevant course information and syllabi to humanrightsed@columbia.edu. Courses that are not on the pre-approved list may also fulfill degree requirements if the student can demonstrate that he or she can complete substantial coursework specifically focusing on human rights in that course.
Before each semester’s registration period, students should confer with the program to verify that courses of interest fulfill degree requirements.
Approval of a class for the degree does not guarantee enrollment in that course. Students are responsible for following all registration and cross-registration procedures. Consult the Directory of Classes and individual departments/instructors regarding any permission/application/prerequisites needed for a course.
Types of Courses
Pre-Approved Courses
Pre-Approved Courses automatically count towards the degree as an elective human rights course. They fulfill the concentration requirement of the degree, depending on the student’s selected concentration.
Additional courses
These courses are additional courses of potential interest to human rights students. Courses on this list, as well as others listed on the Directory of Classes, may fulfill degree requirements if the student can demonstrate that he or she can complete substantial coursework specifically focusing on human rights. Students who would like to count one of these courses towards the degree should consult with the program.