Programme summary

1. Programme Aims

This programme will enable students to develop an understanding of national and international contemporary security challenges, and of the theoretical and practical frameworks which inform decision-making over conflict resolution and contemporary crises.

2. Relevant subject benchmark statements and other external reference points used to inform programme outcomes:

UK Quality Code for Higher Education, The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education

Part A: Setting and Maintaining Academic Standards

Part B: Assuring and Enhancing Academic Quality 

QAA Subject Benchmark Statement for Politics and International Relations, February 2015

3. Programme Learning Outcomes

3.1 Knowledge and Understanding

On successful completion of this programme, students should be able to:

K1   demonstrate a comprehensive and systematic understanding of knowledge at the forefront of scholarship in the field of Security;

K2   articulate a critical understanding of contrasting security challenges in the Global North and Global South;

K3   recognise and evalsuate rising threats in the international arena;

K4  identify potential solutions and resolutions to conflict;

K5   understand the ethical frameworks which should govern the behaviour of states as laid out in international laws and norms.

3.2 Skills and other attributes

a. Subject-specific cognitive skills:

On successful completion of this programme, students should be able to:

C1  critically evalsuate and synthesise key concepts, theories and frameworks relating to Security;

C2   flexibly and creatively apply knowledge in unfamiliar contexts and generate transformative solutions in the field of Security;

C3   critically evalsuate alternative sources of evidence relating to contemporary conflict;

C4  differentiate between methodologies relating to War Studies and Peace Studies;

C5   respect and be sensitive to different perspectives on political violence, including political stance, gender and ethnic diversity, and human rights.

b. Subject-specific practical skills:

On successful completion of this programme, students should be able to:

P1  engage with major thinkers, debates and intellectual paradigms within the field of Security, productively employing the insights gained in their own work;

P2  design and undertake a substantial independent investigation relating to Security using appropriate methods for the collection and analysis of data;

P3  apply the knowledge gained to produce documents relevant to public policy;

P4   observe appropriate risk assessments and ethical guidelines involved in undertaking an independent research project.

c. Key transferable skills:

On successful completion of this programme, students should be able to:

T1   communicate clearly and effectively in written and oral form to specialist and non-specialist audiences

T2   plan, organise and manage, with appropriate supervision, a significant self-directed project

T3   critically evalsuate information and data from a wide range of sources

T4   negotiate different viewpoints and facilitate debate and cooperation within a group discussion

T5   apply skills and abilities learned in relation to their own continuing professional development.

4. Programme structure

FULL TIME (1 year programme)

Semester 1 

COMPULSORY MODULES 

Semester 2 

COMPULSORY MODULES 

Semester 2/Summer 

COMPULSORY MODULES 

PART TIME (2 year programme – 90 credits per year) 

Year One 

Semester 1 

COMPULSORY MODULES 

Semester 2 

COMPULSORY MODULES 

Year Two

Semester 1

COMPULSORY MODULES 

Semester 2 

COMPULSORY MODULES 

Semester 1, 2 and 3/Summer 

COMPULSORY MODULES 

5. Criteria for Progression and Degree Award

In order to be eligible for the award, candidates must satisfy the requirements of Regulation XXI. 

With the exclusion of modules EUP704/EUPXXX (Dissertation in Security), provision will be made for candidates who have the right of re-assessment to undergo re-assessment in the University’s Special Assessment Period (SAP).

6. Relative Weighting of Parts of the Programme for the Purposes of Final Degree Classification

N/A