MA Global Security and Borders
Queen's University Belfast
Key Information
Campus location
Belfast, United Kingdom
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
1 Year
Pace
Full time
Tuition fees
GBP 19,100 / per year
Application deadline
Request Info
Earliest start date
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Introduction
Borders have become a key site and central concern of global security practices and theory, from the Mexican-United States border to the Mediterranean ports of the EU. The many facets of borders are introduced and analysed in this programme: they are understood as containers of identity, sites of power, and points of weakness where the mobility of people (e.g. terrorists, migrants) and things (e.g. drugs, weapons) can disrupt prevailing forms of security. This programme aims to help students navigate this complex terrain by providing a firm grounding in critical border studies. At the core of this programme is the chance for students to apply their academic insights within a work-based environment with borders/security professionals through the Borders Internship module.
Please Note: due to external international funding deadlines and the limited availability of internships, the closing date for International student applications to this programme is 31st January 2022 at 4 pm GMT; for EU and UK students, the closing date for applications is 31st March 2022 at 4 pm GMT. Applications received after these closing dates will be regarded as LATE and will be considered only if vacancies exist when all applications received by these closing dates have been processed.
Global Security And Borders Highlights
A specialized MA not offered anywhere else in the UK or Ireland A dedicated focus on global security as it operates on borders. An intense semester-long Borders Internship in key political organizations The chance to shape political policy
Industry Links
- The opportunity to feed into contemporary policy debates both directly with professionals through the Internship as well as debating with staff who advise governments and security sector actors.
- This program has the particular benefit of an Internship module where students will learn to manage their time and acquire transferrable skills in a work-based environment.
Internationally Renowned Experts
- Research-led teaching by world-leading experts who have been awarded grants by UK and EU funding bodies to undertake research on the interaction of borders and security.
Student Experience
- A unique opportunity, not offered anywhere else in the UK or Ireland, to study the crucial interaction of global security practices and borders as sites of power, identity and politics.
- The chance to apply theoretical insights in the real world through the Borders Internship module where you will also learn key transferrable employability skills.
- The School's active research environment, includes internationally renowned guest speakers, staff seminars and reading groups.
- Queen’s is ranked in the top 170 in the world for graduate prospects (QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2022)
- Queen’s ranked 17 in the world for international outlook (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2022)
- Queen’s is ranked in the top 75 universities in Europe for Teaching Excellence (Times Higher Education, 2019)
- 15% of the Queen’s student population are international students (Queen’s Planning Office, 2022)
Career Opportunities
All of the MA programmes offered in the School provide our graduates with the skills to pursue a wide range of careers in the private, public and voluntary sectors. In addition, they provide an appropriate basis for those who wish to proceed to Doctoral-level study. Former students on the Global Security and Borders programme have gone on to the following careers:
- Fully funded PhD Programme in the US
- UK Navy
- Immigration services in Ireland
- Law School in the US
- Civil Service in Canadian Federal Government
Graduate Plus/Future Ready Award for extra-curricular skills
In addition to your degree programme, at Queen's you can have the opportunity to gain wider life, academic and employability skills. For example, placements, voluntary work, clubs, societies, sports and lots more. So not only do you graduate with a degree recognised by a world-leading university, you'll have practical national and international experience plus wider exposure to life overall. We call this Graduate Plus/Future Ready Award. It's what makes studying at Queen's University Belfast special.
Gallery
Curriculum
Course Structure
This programme offers foundational knowledge and understanding in Global Security and Borders, practical experience and active learning within a work-based situation on the Borders Internship module, as well as teaching the key skills regarding how to design a research project.
These compulsory modules on the programme include:
- HAP7001 - Approaches to Research Design (Semester 1)
- PAI7097 - Borders Internship (double-weighted – 40 CATS) (Semester 2)
- PAI7037 - Global Borders and Security (Semester 1)
- PAI9099 - Dissertation (triple-weighted - 60 CATS)
Course Details
The programme has three different components: Core modules, Elective modules, and an MA dissertation.
In addition to the 3 compulsory modules + the dissertation, students also have the opportunity to take 2 elective modules from the wider offering in HAPP that will enhance and strengthen the core provision. Given the broad nature of security and borders, the elective modules are drawn from some of our other MA programmes. Here, students will get the chance to discuss and debate relevant issues with students with diverse intellectual interests. The elective modules available on this programme change each year, but may include some of the following:
Dissertation
To enable students to develop their particular area of specialism, facilitate independent learning and instil a variety of skills such as project management, detailed analysis and self-motivation, students on the MA pathway must also write a dissertation of no more than 15,000 words.
Semester One (Autumn)
- PAI7021 The Politics of Northern Ireland
- PAI7051 Contemporary Security
- PHL7056 Global Ethics
*Note that this is not an exclusive list and these options are subject to staff availability.
Semester Two (Spring)
- PAI7007 Global Terrorism
- PAI7022 – The Politics of the Republic of Ireland
- PAI7027 Conflict Intervention
- PAI7030 International Political Economy
- PAI7032 Gender and Politics
- PAI7036 The Politics and Political Economy of Energy and Low Carbon Energy Transitions
- PHL7038 The Philosophy of Conflict and War
- PAI7052 Institutions and Politics of the EU
Learning and Teaching
In general, there is an average of six hours contact teaching hours per week for the first semester. In the second semester, as well as two hours of contact on an Elective module, the Borders Internship module will involve three days of a work-based placement per week for 10 weeks, as well as dedicated supervision with a member of academic staff.
Students should expect to spend 10-12 hours of independent study for every two hours in seminars and lectures, spread across the course of the semester. However, the second semester Borders Internship involves a more complex mix of work-based learning and supervision.
Cognitive Skills
- Develop advanced analytical, reasoning, literacy and communication skills.
- Solve problems, process and prioritize a wide variety of information, and express sophisticated arguments and positions in oral and written form.
- Enhance their knowledge of relevant methodological and theoretical approaches to key issue areas relating to global security and borders.
- Identify and articulate advanced level arguments relating to global security and borders in oral and written form.
Knowledge and Understanding
- Engage in relational thinking by acknowledging how pressing issues of global security are revealed most clearly in the operation of borders, and how borders expose the contingency of state sovereignty and the international system.
- Demonstrate an advanced awareness and understanding of the foundations of Critical Security Studies and Border Studies within International Relations.
- Understand how Critical Security Studies and Border Studies relate to different theoretical approaches to global security and borders within International Relations; acknowledge the diversity of critical approaches and identify key tensions between them.
- Recognise the interdisciplinary influences on Critical Security Studies and Border Studies and acknowledge how these inform its development.
- Understand how critical theories of global security and borders translate into different practices at border sites, even when those sites are radically dispersed.
- Apply contemporary academic debates about global security and borders to contemporary bordering practices.
- Critically engage in debates on key developments in the politics of global security and borders.
- Reflect upon the ethical and political implications and developments in global security and borders.
- Engage in-depth with a wide range of key issues in a theoretically informed way.
- Pursue independent, creative and critical thinking through both written work and group debate and discussions.
Subject Specific Skills
- Understand of the key and evolving debates in Critical Security Studies and Border Studies
- Critically engage with arguments relating to global security and borders, including contemporary bordering practices, the ethical and political implications of efforts to increase the security of borders; and moments where border security fails.
Transferable Skills
Acquire and develop advanced subject-specific skills, as well as organizational, professional and career development skills that will be beneficial in further research, education and employment.
One of the MA's core modules – the double-weighted PAI7097 Borders Internship – is key to providing transferable skills relating to employment. It has two main components:
- Students will undertake a dedicated 10 week site-specific Borders Internship at a non-HE institution for 3 days a week for 10 weeks. This will be supported by a preparatory workshop. The host institutions are both governmental and non-governmental (3rd sector), and all are directly engaged in the work of global security and borders. The confirmed host institutions for the borders internship will change every year, depending on need, availability and student numbers. These will normally be finalised by September before the students begin the programme. Host institutions we routinely work with include:
- Department of Foreign Affairs, Ireland
- The Executive Office, Stormont (Good Relations)
- Cyber Crime Centre, PSNI.
- The Equality Commission
- UK Visas & Immigration
- Irish Central Border Area Network
- Pivotal
- Cooperation Ireland
To ensure that the learning outcomes on the programme are met, the Borders Internship module will provide the following additional assurances:
- A fair and transparent allocation of internships to students involving the student's preferences, student ranking by entrance grades and achievement, and an interview with relevant staff.
- A comprehensive model of supervision and monitoring (see next column) including regular one-on-one meetings with an academic supervisor, peer group mentoring and dedicated onsite supervision by a host mentor.
- A dedicated effort, by the course convenor, to ensure that all visas for Tier 4 students undertaking internships in the Republic of Ireland are acquired in advance.
- A concentrated effort by the course convenor and host mentor to ensure that any required security clearances are undertaken in advance of the internship starts.
- A comprehensive risk policy to ensure that alternative arrangements can be made if an internship does not work out runs into difficulty or breaks down.
Assessment
Each module has its own assessment structure. At the Postgraduate level, these are almost all continuous assessments and can include the following:
- Essays
- Learning Journals
- Literature Reviews
- Policy Reviews
- Blogs
- Briefing Papers
- Book Reviews
- Seminar Presentations
The assessment breakdown for the CORE modules on this programme is as follows:
- PAI7037 Global Security and Borders: 1 Blog Portfolio + 1 Essay
- PAI7097 Borders Internship: 1 Briefing Paper + 1 Learning Log
- PAI9099 Dissertation: 1 15,000 word dissertation
Admissions
Program Tuition Fee
Scholarships and Funding
How do I fund my study?
The Department for the Economy will provide a tuition fee loan of up to £6,500 per NI / EU student for postgraduate study.
A postgraduate loans system in the UK offers government-backed student loans of up to £11,836 for taught and research Master's courses in all subject areas. Criteria, eligibility, repayment, and application information are available on the UK government website.
International Scholarships
English Language Requirements
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