
Programme description
This study takes a starting point the vulnerability of the society resulting from both nature and man-made threats as well as accidents with the danger of life and health, environment and values. When crises and emergencies occur, organizations are required to deal with these in a professional manner. This puts increasing demands on managers to have sufficient knowledge on how to handle and lead a successful response and how to plan continuous development of the crisis management system. This master’s degree programme offers a management-oriented education for personnel responsible for emergency management and crisis response. The programme targets leaders, managers and other staff holding safety and preparedness responsibilities in both public, private and voluntary organizations as well as professionals within the civilian and military government emergency response agencies. Cooperation and an effective interplay between the different participants in emergency response are highlighted, including combined civilian and military operations. An important goal of this programme is to establish networks for knowledge and experience exchange among emergency response leaders. In this study program, we also emphasize innovation and research as a tool for continuous improvements of the preparedness system. This experience-based programme is part-time and organized in sessions.
Career opportunities
The programme provides knowledge, skills and competences required for management positions related to preparedness and emergency management both in civilian and government companies and institutions, as well as in the emergency response agencies. The master program has a management perspective and is relevant for students who have management experience or other relevant professional experience in the field, and who wish to strengthen their academic skills.
Teaching sessions
This program is taught exclusively in Norwegian. Applicants must meet the Norwegian language requirements in addition to the admission requirements described on the Norwegian program pages.
Students may take exchange studies during the third semester. Nord University has a bilateral agreement with Laurea University of Applied Sciences in Finland at the experience-based master programme Global Health and Crisis Management https://www.laurea.fi/en/degree_programmes/socialservices-and-nursing/global-health-and-Crisis-management/
The study program is a part of CONRIS – Cooperation Network for Risk & Security Studies
Experience-based master's degree is not eligible for direct entry to a PhD program. Candidates will normally have to take additional specialized courses within the field of the study in order to be considered for an admission to a PhD program.
A candidate who has completed the education should hav the following learning outcomes, defines in knowledge, skills and general competence:
Knowledge
The candidate has:
- thorough knowledge of how public and private preparedness systems are organized and advanced knowledge of critical factors influencing preparedness and crisis response in private and public organizations
- thorough knowledge of and may apply theories of preparedness and emergency management
- thorough knowledge about organizational learning and strategic competence development , and how emergency prepredness exercises can enhance organizations' crisis management competences
- knowledge of strategic communication and media management
- knowledge about digital threats and preparedness
Skills
The candidate is able to:
- analyze existing theories, methods and principles of preparedness and emergency management and convert this knowledge into practical work with preparedness efforts development in his or her own organization
- critically reflect upon the preparedness strategies of an organization
- work with strategies for competence development in preparedness management
- analyze research problems in the field of preparedness and emergency management and can conduct an independent R&D project under supervision and in accordance with applicable norms for research ethics
- understand how IT-based management support tools are used in preparedness organizations
General Competence
The candidate is able to:
- analyze relevant research-based knowledge of management at strategic, operational and tactical level in emergency preparedness organizations
- discuss relevant academic issues based on his or her own experience
- acquire competence development knowledge within the field of emergency preparedness management and communicate this within his or her own organization
- contribute with new creative solutions and to a more innovative preparedness and emergency response system
No tuition fees. Costs for semester registration and course literature apply.

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