The Faculty of Social Science at the University of Tromsø offers a Master’s Degree programme in Peace and Conflict Transformation (MPCT). The first students started the programme in August 2002. A new group of about 20 students has enrolled each year in August since then.

The programme has an international recruitment of students, with a mixture of students from Nordic and non-Nordic countries. All literature, teaching and student work is in English.


Aims of the Programme

The duration of the MPCT is two years. During the programme the student shall acquire the ability to analyse and improve their capacity to handle and propose solutions to complicated conflict formations at different levels of society. The program takes an interdisciplinary approach covering a variety of mandatory courses which student can combine with elective courses and specializations in a various fields, such as Peace and Identity, Peace and Globalization, Peace and Health, Peace and Gender, Peace and the UN, Peace Education and Nonviolence, Human Rights, in addition to courses in research methods. During the first year teaching will be intensive, with an emphasis on course work, group work, papers and oral presentations, and discussions. The second year gives the student the possibility to take elective courses, participate in project seminars and write his/her master’s thesis.

The overall theme of this Master's Degree Programme is the problem of violence and violence reduction. The programme at Tromsø has been designed to provide the student with knowledge and training in reflection on causes and consequences of violence, of problems, circumstances and relations which may increase the possibility of violence, and exploring possibilities of violence reduction under varying circumstances. Although this gives an explicit value-direction to the course of study, the scientific requirements of explicitness about assumptions and methodology, inter-subjective verification of finds and validity of conclusions are the same as in other human and social sciences.



Methods of Teaching

The teaching and learning methods will as far as possible be problem based: Taking topics and problems of current interest as our starting point, teaching will be organized as a recurrent cycle of discussion, study, instruction, research and academic production, guided by university academic staff. The academic environment should strongly support students' presentation of their thoughts, arguments and academic products. Theoretical work should develop as a response to their involvement and interest in problems facing humanity today. Thus, the ability to ask pertinent and essential questions and a versatile, problem-solving capacity will be of great importance. Academic advising is an important part of our Master's Degree Programme, and all students will be appointed an academic adviser in the course of the first year of study. Supervision is to be given both through seminars and individual supervision.


Curriculum

• Integrated peace and conflict studies (introductory and advanced courses)
  
• Political, historical, economic and legal perspectives on conflicts, war and peace
  
• Conflict, violence and peace: perspectives on culture, ethnic relations, socialization, communication, religion and pedagogy
  
• Methodology, research methods and ethics in peace studies
  
• Specialisation, courses in connection with supervision; the courses will take various forms: group supervision, seminars, lectures etc.
  
• Master's thesis/ equivalent Master's work