Postgraduate · STR 312
MA in Strategic Reluctance
A master's in the quiet diplomacy of the soft no — the considered art of declining, deferring, and leaving well enough alone. Students master the pending reply, the meeting gracefully avoided, and the message that, on reflection, was best left unsent.
Course structure
Delivered over two measured years, the programme cultivates a reluctance that is neither rude nor passive, but principled, deliberate, and impeccably polite.
- Year 1 — Principles of the Soft No; The Pending Reply; Boundaries & Their Gentle Maintenance.
- Year 2 — Advanced Declining; The Meeting That Could Have Been An Email; Dissertation: A Thesis Respectfully Withheld.
Study abroad or placement
A placement year is available and warmly recommended, though students are equally encouraged to consider whether they would, on balance, rather not. Both routes are credited identically.
Learning and assessment
Assessment terms are, fittingly, open to negotiation.
- 45% — Negotiated coursework, terms to be agreed
- 30% — A masterclass in the diplomatic non-answer
- 25% — Final project, respectfully declined and resubmitted
Professional accreditations
Endorsed by the Institute of Considered Reluctance, whose members are under no particular obligation to do anything, and rarely do.
Recognition of Professional Qualifications
This qualification is recognised throughout the sector wherever recognition is currently pending. Graduates report that the award is widely respected by colleagues who have, for some time now, been meaning to look into it properly.
Holders may use the post-nominal letters to which they feel, on balance, entitled.
Case study
“A colleague asked me to chair a new committee,” reflects one student. “Drawing on everything I had learned, I thanked them sincerely, expressed enormous enthusiasm, and then simply never mentioned it again. The committee never formed. Everyone seems happier.”
Entry requirements
- An undergraduate degree, or a polite note explaining its absence
- A natural reluctance, refined but not yet strategic
- At least one message held, unanswered, for over six months
- References, to be supplied at a later date
Fees and funding
Fees are set out below. There is, as ever, no pressure.
- UK students — £10,800, settlement flexible
- International students — £21,500, no rush
- Funding — discussed, gently, on a case-by-case basis
Application information
Applications are accepted on a rolling and frankly leisurely basis. There is no deadline, and there has never been one; this remains the most popular feature of the programme.
Should the moment to apply not arrive, your place will be held in a state of indefinite readiness, at no additional cost.
- Step 1 — Resolve, firmly, to apply.
- Step 2 — Locate the application form.
- Step 3 — Set it somewhere safe and meaningful.
- Step 4 — Apply later.
Discover Uni course data
Independent course data, gathered and presented in the spirit of full and unhurried transparency.
- Pending
- Overall student satisfaction
- 6 mo+
- Average reply time
- —
- Committees joined
- 100%
- Would recommend, reluctantly
Course enquiries
Our admissions team reads every enquiry with great care and replies in the fullness of time. To date, the fullness of time has proven broadly sufficient.
- Email — enquiries@procrastination.edu (monitored intermittently)
- Telephone — we will call you back
- In person — by appointment, to be arranged shortly
Ready when you are
Begin your application whenever you feel ready
There is no closing date. There has never been a closing date. This remains, as ever, the entire point.