Security Sector Management MSc/PgDip/PgCert

The Centre for Security Sector Management (CSSM) is now accepting applicants for the September 2009 start of the part time MSc in Security Sector Management.

For further information, click here to visit the course website or contact Laura Smith at lsmith.cu@defenceacademy.mod.uk

Suitable for those who work in any security or development related organisation – as a policymaker or practitioner – and those who wish to enhance knowledge and skills based on a related first degree.

This course takes the student on to the international organisational job market (United Nations, European Union, African Union, etc), a wide range of non-governmental organisation and policy think-tank positions, diplomatic and international development policy and in-country posts; practitioner positions with post-conflict reconstruction agencies and security-related departments in the  private sector and within large management consultancy organisations (i.e. PWC, KPMG, etc)

Students will be taught by Cranfield University academics and practitioners at the Defence College of Management and Technology, many of whom are world leaders in their field.

Course Description

A surge in the delivery of international aid programmes and increased calls for capacity-building to be at the heart of the global security agenda have led to the requirement for new knowledge and skill sets. This course helps individuals to acquire and apply such skills and knowledge to past and present challenges in a range of transitional societies.

The objectives of this programme are for participants to be able to develop and implement strategic security sector plans and analyse, communicate and evaluate the broader implications for related areas within state and regional frameworks. By the end of the MSc, students should be able to:

• Display knowledge of the players, processes and structures across a state’s wider security sector
• Understand the skill sets required to implement the effective governance of national security policy and resources
• Fully comprehend the way in which national security requirements and development priorities are managed in a mutually supportive way
  Develop transferable skills in areas such as strategic management, project management and risk management
• Critically analyse and evaluate strategic national security policy, donor policy and development agenda
• Produce coherent and rigorous security sector strategies, programme plans, change management schemes and performance assessment criteria
  Implement and control national security plans within identified constraints
  Plan and implement more sophisticated approaches to good practice and lesson learning
• Understand and analyse the security sector and the international legal and political environments in which it operates

Taught modules (all of which are compulsory)

Pg Cert

• The Security Sector Environment
• Strategic Planning for Security and Development
• Managing Security Sector Resources (Organisations and People)
• The Economics of Security
• Managing Security Sector Projects and Programmes
• Managing Risk

Pg Dip

All of the Pg Cert modules must be completed plus:

• Information Management and the Role of Intelligence
• Governance and Oversight
• Change Management and Leadership
• Building Operational Capacity
• Performance Management
• Managing Public Security and the Rule of Law

MSc

All of the above modules must be completed plus a research project dissertation.

For further information, click here to visit the course website.

Short Courses

Week-long short courses are also being offered for the following modules:

• Dec 08: Change Management and Leadership
• Dec 08: Strategic Planning for Security and Development
• Mar 09: Managing Security Sector Projects and Programmes
• May 09: Strategic Planning for Security and Development
• Jun 09: Managing Security Sector Resources

For further information on the short courses, please click here.