International Peace Studies

The Master of Arts programme in International Peace Studies is designed to enable students from diverse cultures and backgrounds to attain a deep understanding of the central issues of peace and security, which will determine the future of humanity. The programme is intended to educate and train practitioners in international development and international affairs, mainly for cooperation among countries.

Students of this programme can come from all professional or academic backgrounds. Usually they have a minimum baccalaureate or first university degree in any of the social sciences. For admittance, tt is important to provide evidence of exposure to relevant working experience (3-5 years), meaningful motivation to pursue a career in international peace issues vis-à-vis the aspirations and principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, and a clear understanding of professional career options ahead. English proficiency is a must, and a working proficiency in Spanish is an asset.

Students graduating from this programme possess the knowledge and the skills contained in ten courses (32 credits), which include foundational courses in peace and conflict studies and research methods, and other courses that enable them to understand the nature of the conflict and contemporary international issues related to peace, security, violence, democracy building, intra- and inter-state wars, and post conflict recovery. As a capstone academic endeavour, students must complete a graduation project, which could take the form of research, curriculum development, internship, any other meaningful project that demonstrates that the students are able to identify an issue, analyze it, and produce a systematic and scholarly report on the project. The graduation project has the recognition of 8 credits. In order to receive the degree, students must complete a total of 40 credits.

The required courses are:

PCS 6000 Foundation Course in Peace and Conflict Studies (3 Credits) – UPEACE Resident Faculty
IPS 6022 Aspects of Conflict: Introduction to a Systemic Approach (3 Credits) – Prof. Victoria Fontan and Prof. Toh Swee-Hin
IPS 6020 Research Methods (3 Credits) – Prof. Amr Abdalla and Prof. Virginia Cawagas
IPS 6011 Conflict Analysis and Management: Theory and Practice (3 Credits) – Prof. Wolfgang Dietrich
IPS 6017 International Cooperation and Peace Building (3 Credits) – Prof. Victor Valle
ELECTIVES (3 Credits) – UPEACE Resident Faculty and Visiting Faculty
IPS 6100 Practices of Conflict Management (3 Credits) – Prof. Balazs Kovacs and Prof. Toh Swee-Hin
IPS 6110 Human Security and Urban Violence (3 Credits) – Prof. Victor Valle
IPS 6021 Capstone Workshop on Peace and Democracy Building (2 Credits) – Prof. Victor Valle
IPS 6023 The Nation State, State Weakness and Intrastate War (3 Credits) – Prof. Balazs Kovacs
IPS 6019 Peace Building and Conflict Recovery (3 Credits) – Prof. Carel Richter
IPS 7000 Graduation Project (8 Credits)

Here are some examples of the professional involvement of our IPS graduates:

• A graduate from the United States is Director of Communications with the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs.
• An alumnus from Korea is working as a Research Officer at the United Nations Governance Centre in Seoul, Korea.
  
• A graduate whose country of origin is Nigeria is employed as an Officer with the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Mexico.
• A French alumnus is a Consultant with the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation, Global Citizenship Department, in Toronto, Canada.
• An alumni from Romania works for TRANSCEND (A Worldwide Peace and Development Network for Peace by Peaceful Means) and PATRIR (Peace Action, Training and Research Institute of Romania) where she is Director of the International Peace and Development Training Center.
• A graduate from Armenia is Deputy Director/PR Specialist at the Council of Europe Information Office in Armenia.

For a course calendar and description and for the professors’ bios, please follow the link
http://www.upeace.org/academic/calendar/