Admission to the MHR

Please note, applications are not reviewed until after the deadline.

In addition to the Faculty of Graduate Studies minimum requirements, additional requirements for the MHR are:

• Normally, a four-year bachelor’s degree with at least a B average (3.0 GPA) in the last 60 credit hours of study, or equivalent, to be completed before admission. Applicants who expect to complete their undergraduate degree before September may be conditionally accepted into the program. Note that, due to the competitive nature of the admissions process, students with a higher GPA may have a greater chance of acceptance.
• English language proficiency: a high school diploma or minimum of three year university degree from Canada or from an exempted country or acceptable TOFEL, IELTS or CanTEST score.
• Normally, at least one undergraduate-level course in human rights or equivalent field experience is preferred.
• Two letters of reference (can be professional and/or academic).
• Statement of interest (maximum two pages) that includes reasons for seeking admission, an outline of the applicant’s relevant background, a tentative indication of whether the student is likely to pursue a practicum or thesis, and a potential research question for those selecting the thesis option.

MHR students whose original language is English will be required to demonstrate working knowledge of a second language by the time of graduation. Note that American Sign Language will be among the languages recognized by the program. To satisfy the language requirement, students must either:

• pass a language competency test approved by the MHR program; or
• pass a program-approved language course. This course will be taken in addition to the 18 required course credits. Students who hope to work internationally should consider selecting one of the official languages of the United Nations (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish) or another world language such as German.
• The program Director may waive this requirement in appropriate circumstances, including where a student provides other evidence of competence in a second language, such as a high school graduation certificate or transcript in that language, confirmation of work experience in the second language or a transcript of advanced education in the second language.

Disclaimer: Fees are approved annually by The University of Manitoba Board of Governors. In the event of a discrepancy between the fee rates approved by the Board and those published on this website, the fee rates approved by the Board will prevail. Students will be notified of any corrections that result in a re-assessment of their student account.