Study Details: 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time
Professionally validated by the National Youth Agency and the Endorsement and Quality Standards Board for Community Development, this MA brings together youth work and community development theory and practice with the research methods and theoretical preoccupations of anthropology.
This MA is the first of its kind in the country, combining academic and practice learning with high-level professional qualifications. It is aimed at students who wish to pursue a career in youth and community work and associated sectors, and those who want an MA with additional professional qualifications to enable more senior career progression.
Taught jointly by the Departments of Anthropology, and Social, Therapeutic and Community Studies (STaCS), the programme reflects the common concerns of lecturers in both disciplines, with a particular focus on social justice, youth work and community development.
Established in 1992, it is the first of three fieldwork pathway options, with an additional pathway in Community Development launched in 2012 and a Community Arts pathway launched in 2015. Community Development and Community Arts are merged at the point of pathway entry but allow for fieldwork specialism in each distinct area. Explore the MA Applied Anthropology and Community Development/Community Arts page for details on this entry point.
Fieldwork pathways each have a different placement focus (youth and community work; community development; community arts) but all pathways are taught together, providing many opportunities for the exchange of ideas and collaboration between students as well as interaction with an extensive range of organisations and practitioners.
You'll learn with leading academics and practitioners in both departments, with Goldsmiths being rated top 10 in the UK for anthropology in QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025.
You’ll need to have:
For fees and funding options, please visit website to find out more
Goldsmiths offers a range of financial support including postgraduate scholarships, bursaries and fee waivers. These are awarded based on a variety of criteria, for example academic achievements or personal circumstances.
Increasing employment prospects are central to this programme.
Our graduates find work directly or indirectly related to the disciplines relatively quickly after graduating, or even while on the programme. The majority of our students gain work in youth work or community work. Examples of recent graduate employment include:
Some seek and gain work in a wide range of other settings, often shaped by the particular interests that they develop during their time with us, such as working with refugees or with disability groups. Others join social enterprises to bid for contracts, join newly developing cooperatives or established NGOs in the UK and abroad.
We have many alumni who have gone on to teaching at university themselves.
The Department of Anthropology teaches two of the core components of your degree:
Dissertation 60 credits
A melting-pot of ideas, one creative powerhouse One Goldsmiths At Goldsmiths, academic excellence and imaginative course content combine to make a pla...