Qatar International Academy for Security Studies (QIASS), the professional institute working to raise security standards, knowledge, and cooperation within the Gulf region and across the globe, has partnered with New York’s Fordham University to offer advanced graduate certification in global security studies.
This regional first-of-its-kind offering highlights Qatar’s emergence as a promoter of worldwide security and peace.
Commenting on the partnership, Dr. Colin Clarke, a QIASS academic instructor, said: “This programme, for which selection is highly rigorous, aims to attract a range of students from the Global South and is intended to serve as a foundational certificate for those looking to pursue further graduate work and those intending to advance careers in intelligence, security, diplomacy, government, and law enforcement. The 16-week programme is unique for its focus on human rights and outreach to specialists and professionals from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.”
The advanced certificate syllabus comprises two required and two elective courses covering the contemporary nature of global security, particularly from a human security approach, including foreign aid and development and protection for vulnerable populations.
Elective courses will offer students choices pertinent to their career paths and professional learning needs, including cybersecurity, environmental and resource economics, children in armed conflict, conflict resolution, the political economy of development, and the politics of global economic relations.
There is fierce competition for limited places in the programme given its unique specialisation. Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree and must demonstrate English language proficiency. The programme will provide successful applicants with transferable credits to be used toward future graduate education at top universities worldwide.
“Global politics are shaped by increasingly complex conditions of insecurity, which have prompted scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to reframe their perceptions and understandings of the concept of security, both in its theoretical and applied forms. Professionals working within the private and public sectors also must identify, assess, and respond to other forms of insecurity, for example, related to conditions of economic deprivation and inequality, population displacements and movements, and humanitarian, environmental and health crises,” Clarke added.
