The Master of Industrial Relations program is located in Robert Sutherland Hall, in close proximity to the Mackintosh-Corry Social Science Complex, the Faculty of Law, Goodes Hall, the School of Business, the Law Library, the main Arts and Humanities Library, Stauffer Library, and the Industrial Relations Centre. Most classes are held on the fourth floor in a large classroom, close to student offices and a student lounge.

Student Offices
Each MIR student is allocated shared study space in an office in the school in Robert Sutherland Hall. These offices include desks, file drawers, bookshelves and are wired for internet use. 

Student Lounge
The student lounge is a common facility shared by graduate students in the building. It is equipped with a small refrigerator, microwave, and a telephone for local calls as well as a mailbox slot assigned to each student. The Classrooms, student lounge, and offices are always locked for safety reasons. Important notices are posted on a bulletin board in the student lounge.

The space on the first floor of Robert Sutherland Hall has been renovated as a shared project of Industrial Relations, Policy Studies, Urban and Regional Planning and the Industrial Relations Centre.

This facility, on the southeast end of the first floor has been designed to offer students an enhanced social and educational experience. Besides housing the offices and meeting space of the Industrial Relations Centre, the facility features a student lounge with vending machines, break-out rooms, a large "flat" room for meeting and seminars and a tiered classroom.  The lounge offers students a place to relax, read a magazine or mix with students in the building's other graduate schools.  The break-out rooms seat six around a table; one is equipped for multimedia presentations.

·         a thorough grounding in labour relations and human resource practice;

·         an understanding of evolving employment relationships and of organizational dynamics;

·         an understanding of the fundamentals of the laws governing the individual employment relationship and the collective bargaining relationship;

·         the capacity to collect and analyze data on current workplace issues and interpret research in the field;

·         essential skill sets for HR/LR professionals (e.g., consulting, facilitation, leadership, coaching, team building and communication).

The purpose of the MIR program is to prepare students for a variety of career opportunities in labour relations, human resources, and line management which requires industrial relations and human resource knowledge and skills. Some graduates also establish careers in applied and policy oriented research, non-university teaching and consulting in IR/HR. The program attracts new graduates as well as career employees wishing to renew or upgrade their qualifications.

The philosophical orientation of the program is multi-disciplinary, stressing the application of knowledge and analysis to the employment relationship and workplace. The curriculum consists of both core courses and electives. The core courses provide a thorough grounding in industrial relations and human resources theory and practice. Opportunities for greater specialization are provided through electives and skills seminars. Electives can be selected from within the school or across the range of university graduate offerings with the permission of the MIR Program Director. An elective can also be made up of three analytical and research skills seminars - each of which focuses on a specialized topic and consists of twelve instructional class hours.

Students also have the opportunity to concentrate on labour relations, human resource management, or labour law. The program's unique design attracts students with diverse academic and career backgrounds, from across Canada and abroad.

MASTER OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS (M.I.R.)

The degree requires that students take courses with a total combined weight of 5.5 credits. This includes six required core courses (that total 3.5 credits) together with other electives (that total of 2.0 credits). The elective courses may include some combination of: (i) a research essay, which is equivalent to 1.0 credit; (ii) several electives courses each of which has a weight of 0.5 credits; and (iii) several skill seminars where students must take a group of three seminars to obtain 0.5 credits.

The course work is spread over fall, winter and spring terms. The course load is expected to be equally distributed over the three terms of study and the curriculum is focused to provide a challenging standard of excellence in the field.

Core Courses

·         MIR-810 Unions and Collective Bargaining

·         MIR-820 Labour Law (Two Terms)

·         MIR-830 Human Resource Management

·         MIR-840 Labour Economics and Industrial Relations

·         MIR-850 Organizational Theory and Design

·         MIR 897 Analytical Methods in Industrial Relations

Where a student demonstrates an adequate background in the subject matter of one or more core courses, the student may be permitted to take a substitute course with the permission of the instructor in the core course and the MIR Program Director.  The student could be required to take an advanced course in the same disciplinary field as the core course.   Substitute courses may be selected from those offered by the School of Policy Studies or related graduate courses offered by other departments through the School of Graduate Studies and by the Faculty of Law.  Exemptions must be approved by the MIR program director.  Substitute courses must be approved by the MIR program director, and the course instructor, when necessary. 

Elective Courses

The elective course component of the program is designed to permit in-depth study in one or more areas and to provide flexibility to meet diverse student interests and career goals.  MIR students select their optional courses from those offered by the MIR program or related graduate courses offered by the School of Policy Studies, other departments through School of Graduate Studies, and by the Faculty of Law.  Optional courses are subject to approval by the course instructor and the MIR Program Director.

Recent elective offerings are as follows (not all courses are offered each year):

·         MIR-860 Information Systems for Human Resources and Industrial Relations

·         MIR-870 Advanced Topics in Industrial Relations

·         MIR-880 Compensation

·         MIR-885 Industrial Relations in the Global Economy

·         MIR-886 Negotiations, Conflict Resolution and Workplace Behaviour

·         MIR-887 Management of Change

·         MIR-891 Directed Special Studies

·         MIR-898 Master's Research Paper (MRP)

·         MIR-889 Advanced Topics in Human Resources

Skill Seminars (each of which is 12 instructional hours; three seminars are required to earn 0.5 credit):

·         MIR-801 -809*, 811-819* + Analytical and Research Skills Seminar 

·         MIR-801 Business Skills

·         MIR-802 Change Management Skills

·         MIR-805 Labour Relations Skills

·         MIR-803 Quantitative Skills

·         MIR-806 Human Resource Management Skills

·         MIR-807 Strategic Bargaining and Workplace Change

·         MIR-808 Team Skills

·         MIR-809 Mediation Skills

·         MIR-811 Occupational Health and Safety Skills

·         MIR-814 Finance Skills

·         MIR-817 Talent Management Skills

·         MIR-816 eHR