Graduate Certificate in Human Rights

The GSAS/ISHR Graduate Certificate in Human Rights is offered jointly by the Graduate School of Arts and Science and the Institute for the Study of Human Rights. The program is designed to complement the disciplinary training of GSAS graduate students, whose academic study engages with issues of relevance to the fields of human rights and social justice. Students enrolled in GSAS graduate degree programs (M.A. and PhD) are eligible to apply. Students enrolled in non-GSAS programs at Columbia are eligible to complete the certificate if approved by their degree-granting department or school.  

Requirements

Students must complete 24 qualifying credit points (generally 8 courses) to receive the certificate. Graduate students may apply courses taken to fulfill their degree requirements toward the human rights certificate, provided the following requirements are met:

• All courses must be graduate level (4000 higher). Up to two of the courses (six credit points) may be taken for R credit. All other courses must be completed with a grade of B or better to be counted for the certificate.
• Students may not apply courses taken for the GSAS/ISHR certificate towards another degree, concentration, certificate, or other form of qualification in human rights offered by another school or department.
• All courses must be approved by the program in order to be counted towards the certificate requirements and students are advised to confirm that courses of interest will fulfill certificate requirements prior to each registration period.

Each semester, ISHR publishes a course list for students engaged in human rights studies. While certificate courses are not determined by their inclusion on or exclusion from this list, it can serve as a useful reference tool for students. However, all graduate-level courses that are listed as pre-approved on the human rights course list will automatically count towards the certificate.

Students can track their certificate progress with the certificate worksheet.

Research Support

Graduate students completing the human rights certificate are eligible to apply for a research stipend. To apply, students should send this application form and all supporting documentation to [email protected] with the subject line “ISHR Graduate Research Funding.” In addition, the student's research adviser should submit this reference form to the department. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Please email [email protected] with any questions.

Register & Apply

Eligible students who would like to pursue the certificate should contact the program by emailing [email protected] and submit a registration form. Your participation in the certificate program will be registered and indicated on your Vergil record.

Graduation

Students who have completed the requirements must complete and submit two forms:

1. Final Certificate Worksheet: Students must submit a completed certificate worksheet to their faculty adviser. If the student has completed all necessary requirements and submits the application for to the registrar (see below), he or she will be awarded the certificate.
    
2. Application for Degree or Certificate: In order to graduate with the human rights certificate, students must submit an application to [email protected].

Deadlines for completing certificate applications are September 1st for October graduation; December 1st for February graduation; and March 1st for May graduation.

Click here for the Columbia University registrar.