The Institute of Labour Sciences offers  courses, on a part-time basis, for those wishing to specialise in the field of human and social problems in the world of work and in making policies which make the most of people both in and through their work. First of all, this involves developing students’ abilities to analyse, from a multidisciplinary perspective, subjects connected with work and employment, social policies, professional relationships at the regional, national and international level. This will enable them to define what action may be necessary, to put it into practice and afterwards assess its impact.

Students who successfully complete this course will take up posts in a wide range of different kinds of organizations : consultancy and intervention inside an organization ; setting up projects on work and employment ; reports or management within intermediary organizations in the labour market (training bodies, bodies that help people into the world of work, temporary work agencies and so on) ; applied research into labour matters, social security, employment law, professional relationships and finally specialist journals.

The 120 credit Master is mainly aimed at holders of a first degree, either gained at university or outside university.

There are two possible options : Work and Society and European Master in Labour Sciences. The first offers an in-depth, interdisciplinary training in the different disciplines of labour sciences while the second is aimed at students who would like to broaden their horizons with an in-depth, multidisciplinary training and a European perspective, with the emphasis on a comparative approach. It includes a semester abroad.

The programme comprises 120 credits, spread between the core subjects (65 credits), the professional focus (30 credits) and an option (25 credits):

•          the objective of the core subjects is to develop analytical and methodological skills to deal with questions related to the world of work, through an introductory course, another on methodology and a multidisciplinary seminar spread over the two years. It also includes courses which deal with institutions and the different contexts of work. Finally there is the dissertation which requires students to do a piece of individual research on a subject of their choice.

•          the professional focus concentrates on the main areas of the different disciplines involved in dealing with questions related to the world of work: sociology, law, psychology, economics, philosophy and psychosociology. This shows students how these different disciplines relate to the world of work.

•          in parallel, students may choose one of two options. Work and Society relates to work in companies and organizations. The European Master in Labour Sciences compares how different national systems organize the world of work in a European context. This option includes a semester abroad. 

Part-time schedule, balanced workload and dynamic teaching : the entire programme is organized on a part-time basis to encourage students already involved in a professional situation to join. At the Institute of Labour Sciences, the teaching methods used have always made extensive use of many different kinds of training methods which put students firmly at the centre of their own learning, whilst taking account of theoretical and practical perspectives : individual and group work, reading, case studies, observations and empirical analyses etc.  This requires special attention to be paid to the workload since an excessive amount of work and examinations may prevent students from actively taking responsibility for their learning, especially if they are trying to combine their studies with a job. Each semester, the academic secretary, together with student representatives and the Institute office, has the task of coordinating the overall workload.

Multidisciplinary approach : the multidisciplinary nature of the training is not only reflected in courses relating to different disciplines, but also in the way that the disciplines are integrated together in the Introduction to Labour Sciences course and the Multidisciplinary Seminar on Labour Issues, both of which require real involvement from students by attending lectures, giving group presentations, field work and so on. This requires students to acquire and demonstrate the ability to analyse a set of themes by using approaches from various disciplines. 

Final piece of work and methodology : the dissertation is a key element in each student’s progression. It is an important piece of individual work supervised by an academic and assessed both as a piece of writing and orally before a board of examiners. Previous experience suggests that some students find writing a dissertation difficult or even very difficult. In response to this, the new Master programme offers more training in the different forms of methodology, with a sequence of 15 credits entitled Labour Problems and the dissertation seminar (2 credits).

Given the wide variety of learning strategies in the programme, there is also a range of methods of assessment  which are designed to evaluate elements such as grasp of theory, capacity for analysis (both individually and in a group), group work and written and oral expression. These may include written and oral examinations, individual and group work, individual and group presentation in lesson time or in the presence of the teaching staff.

Finally, there is a dissertation. This takes the form of a piece of written work together with an oral presentation before a board of examiners.

The Work and Society option offers students the opportunity to spend a semester as an exchange student at the School of Industrial Relations (l’Ecole des Relations Industrielles -ERI) at the University of Montreal or the School of Industrial Relations at Laval University in Quebec (in french).

The European Master in Labour Sciences includes a compulsory exchange which lasts a semester with a partner institution among 13 european partners.