MA

Buddhist Studies

Study Buddhism in depth from anywhere in the world. This flexible, fully online MA gives you the tools to explore Buddhist thought, traditions and practices through a critical and creative lens. Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike are welcome in this inclusive postgraduate programme.

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Key Course Details

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Explore Buddhist traditions with expert guidance and global classmates - online, part-time, your way.

DESIGNED FOR

This course is for curious minds. Whether you’re a practising Buddhist, a mindfulness practitioner, an academic, or just deeply interested in the subject, you’ll get space to explore, question and connect without needing to leave your day job or your home country.

Career paths

  • Doctoral research
  • Teaching and higher education
  • Counselling and mental health
  • Work in cultural or religious institutions – including chaplaincy
  • Writing, media and public education

Skills taught

  • Critical Thinking
  • Academic Writing
  • Cross-Cultural insight
  • Wider Buddhist contexts
  • Research skills

Course Highlights

A global classroom

Connect with students from every corner of the world—from ordained monastics and academics to therapists and filmmakers. Expect lively, thoughtful conversations with people you’d never normally meet.

Flexible learning at your pace

This course fits around your schedule. Study part-time, online, over three years. Most module materials are available from the start, so you can get ahead or catch up when needed.

Make it your own

Whether you're deepening a personal interest or developing your professional practice, you’ll shape your learning through a wide choice of essay titles and a dissertation topic that matters to you.

Think deeply and expand your perspective

You’ll explore Buddhist thought and practice with depth, clarity, and critical distance, guided by expert tutors. Along the way, you’ll develop the skills to question big ideas and reflect on your own worldview.

Designed and taught by experienced practitioners, our courses encourage you to think critically, explore new perspectives, and engage with ideas in a meaningful way.

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The big buddha in Hong Kong

Module Overview

This part-time MA takes you through Buddhist traditions, philosophy, ethics and meditation. You’ll learn in a diverse, supportive online community, guided by experienced tutors, and finish with a dissertation that reflects your own interests and goals.

Buddhist Traditions (compulsory)

Learn about key Buddhist concepts and practices as well as the misconceptions of Buddhism. Also, gain an insight into the history of the development of Buddhism and its main sub-traditions

Buddhist Ethics

Gain an understanding of Buddhist Ethics in both theory and practice across a number of different cultures.  Moves beyond using Western concepts to analyse Buddhist ‘Ethics’, approaching sila on its own terms.

Buddhist Meditation and Psychology

Develop your knowledge of Buddhist meditation traditions in both theory and practice across a number of different cultures. Also explores and critiques the differences between models of the mind and behaviour found in Western Psychology and Buddhist thought and practice.

 

Buddhist Philosophy

Explore Buddhist understandings of the ‘self’, causation, and awakening across a range of traditions and lineages.

Pali Language (numbers permitting)

Develop a solid grounding in Pali language, forming the foundation for further self-study.

This part-time MA takes you through Buddhist traditions, philosophy, ethics and meditation. You’ll learn in a diverse, supportive online community, guided by experienced tutors, and finish with a dissertation that reflects your own interests and goals.

Advanced Buddhist Studies              

Further exploration of contemporary issues in Buddhist Studies including Decoloniality in Buddhist Studies, and Buddhist Modernism.

This part-time MA takes you through Buddhist traditions, philosophy, ethics and meditation. You’ll learn in a diverse, supportive online community, guided by experienced tutors, and finish with a dissertation that reflects your own interests and goals.

Dissertation (for students progressing to the MA)            

A significant piece of research into an appropriate area of study

Course Highlights

How you'll learn

You’ll study online, part-time, over three years. Each module includes weekly reading, activities and discussions, all hosted on our virtual learning platform. You’ll work with a small discussion group, take turns leading conversations, and get constant tutor support along the way.

Teaching staff

The course is led by Dr Nick Swann, a specialist in Buddhist Studies and anthropology of religion, with decades of experience in distance learning. You’ll also learn from experienced guest lecturers and practitioners, and be supported by tutors who genuinely care about your progress 

Dr Nick Swann, course leader.

Contact Nick on [email protected].

Facilities

All extra course materials, apart from the core readings for each module, are available on our virtual learning platform. This includes additional readings, discussion forums, feedback, and optional webinars. The platform is designed to be easy to use, work well with low internet speeds, and stay accessible wherever you are studying.

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Meet your Course Leader

Meet Dr Nick Swan, a social anthropologist, digital religion researcher, and Course Leader for the MA Buddhist Studies. Nick leads this part-time distance learning course with a focus on practical relevance, drawing on years of research, teaching, and fieldwork in Buddhist settings.

From fieldwork in Buddhist monasteries to cutting-edge research on religion and the internet, his teaching brings global perspectives to life. Got questions about the course, teaching style, or whether it’s the right fit for you? Reach out to Nick directly via email or chat with him on Unibuddy. Dr Swann is your go-to contact for course-specific enquiries.

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Careers and Employability

Graduate careers

Graduates have gone on to PhDs, teaching posts, counselling, arts and media, and leadership roles in Buddhist centres. Others use the course to make sense of a lifetime’s interest or enrich their existing career in healthcare, education or the non-profit world.

Graduates have also used their MA Buddhist Studies towards careers in chaplaincy, both in the military and in the prison service. Aspiring military chaplains in the USA have used credits from the MA Buddhist Studies towards the MDiv qualification needed for their careers.

Graduates will be automatically eligible for our subject specific Alumni Society, which is a growing, global network of supportive Buddhist studies scholars.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Typical qualification requirements:

  • A good Honours degree at class 2:1 or above.
  • Skype interview required.

 

International applications welcomed:

We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence, please view our dedicated country pages.

English language requirements

International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 4 overall and a minimum of 4 in each component or equivalent.

Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.

If you have previously studied through the medium of English, IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.

If you do not meet the English entry criteria, please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.

Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended, for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer, and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.

USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.

 

We're here to help

Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch, and we'd love to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.

 

Fees and Funding

UK Part-time Fee

£1,229

per 20 credits*

Further Information

Studying at university is one of the most significant investments you'll ever make. Whilst you’re studying, you’ll have two main financial obligations – tuition fees and living costs. There’s lots of financial help available from the University of South Wales and external funding sources, that may provide loans (which have to be paid back) and grants, scholarships and bursaries (that don't).

*Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits. Once enrolled, the fee is anticipated to remain at the same rate throughout the duration of your study on this course except as described below.

Please be aware that we may increase the maximum fee for home students on full-time undergraduate courses only where the Welsh Government increases the permitted level of inflation of fees. Fees for all students (including part-time, postgraduate and international students) may be amended in accordance with our applicable Fees and Debt Management Policy.  We will ensure that students are given clear, intelligible, unambiguous and timely information about our courses and costs in good time, ahead of the next academic year.

 

Fees and Funding Scholarships and Busaries Alumni Discount

Additional costs

As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.  

* Obligatory

Note that this is the average for each taught module. Access to text books is obligatory for each taught module, but that these may be available in local academic libraries and many can be found second hand.

Cost: Up to £160

University Quality Assurance

At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.

If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.

Studying at USW

Our courses are designed with industry leaders and provide the practical skills and experiences industry demands. Our flexible courses reflect the need for life-long learning. If you value education in practice, not just in theory, then USW is for you.

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Postgraduate fees and funding
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Pontypridd Campus, Treforest
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How to apply

There is an online application process for this course. Please choose the application form for your preferred start date and mode of study (i.e. full-time or part-time).

International admissions

Please see our international admissions advice for further information about how to apply as a prospective international student.

Next Steps

How to Apply
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