Course content - Learning outcome - Admission - Prerequisites - Teaching - Examination - Evaluation

Course content

The rise of contemporary economic globalisation has changed traditional discussions on the duties of businesses to increasingly being framed in terms of human rights and in a transnational and global manner. Yet, in spite of growing support for the idea that businesses should respect human rights, it is still far from having global acceptance and recognition.

This course addresses recent developments in linking business practices and human rights (including corporate social responsibility (CSR)) within the UN and in other international organisations, and focusses on the efforts in making human rights an important normative framework for the conduct of business in different societal and political contexts. It offers arguments in favor of and against extending human rights to the corporate sector, and discusses legal developments, including normative and remedial mechanisms. It examines strengths and weaknesses of the CSR movement and the scope for making human rights regulatory measures for corporate behavior. The students will study practical cases of CSR policies of selected companies in a variety of contexts.

Learning outcome

Students should get an advanced knowledge about the recent human rights discourse on business and human rights, including work in the United Nations and a number of other international organizations. They should learn how human rights norms are being used to assess the practices of business in different societies and contexts.

Admission

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You may register for this course if you have admission to a Master’s programme at UiO. All applicants must satisfy the formal prerequisites. Priority is given to students of the Master of Philopsophy programme in the Theory and Practice of Human Rights

The examination in this course is not available for external candidates. Only students admitted to the course may sit for the examination.

Prerequisites

Formal prerequisite knowledge

Id does not exist in shared text No obligatory prerequisites beyond the minimum requirements for entrance to higher education in Norway.

Teaching

Lectures and seminars.

Access to teaching

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Examination

Essay with a maximum of 4000 words.

Rules about cheating and plagiarism.
Be sure that you are familiar with the use of sources and the rules for citing/quoting from others’ work when writing assignments. Read more here

Read more about the rules about Citing/quoting and referring to sources here

UiO uses a plagiarism checking tool as one of several instruments for detecting suspicion of cheating and attempted cheating.

Examination support material

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Language of examination

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English.

Grading scale

Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.

Explanations and appeals

You may request an explanation of your grades, and you may also appeal against your grades or make a complaint about formal examination errors. Read more about explanations and appeals.

Resit an examination

You can usually resit an exam, but the conditions depend on whether you had a valid reason for absence from the regular exam. Read more about resitting an exam.

If a student has submitted a written assignment a second time in the same course s/he can only submit it in a new version. This means that there must be another title and theme, or that the new version must be considerably changed from the first version.

Students who wish to retake the exam in a later semester are not guaranteed that the course is ever repeated with a similar reading list, nor that the exam arrangement will be the same.

Withdrawal from an examination

A student may sit this exam up to 3 times. If a student wishes to withdraw from the exam, s/he must do so in StudentWeb at least two weeks prior to the first day of the exam. Failure to do so will be counted as one of the three opportunities to sit the exam.

Special examination arrangements

If you have a disability or a health problem that entails significant inconvenience in an examination situation, you may be considered for special examination arrangements. Mothers who are breastfeeding may apply for extra time to complete the exam.

Evaluation

Feedback from our students is essential to us in our efforts to ensure and further improve the high quality of our programmes and courses. All courses are subject to continuous evaluation. At regular intervals we also ask students on a particular course to participate in a more comprehensive, periodic evaluation of this course.