Master of What? 8 'Security' Master's Degrees Compared
Ridley Tony
Experienced Leader in Risk, Security, Resilience, Safety, and Management Sciences | PhD Candidate, Researcher and Scholar
Matters of 'security' are not all created or conceived equal, nor are the advanced academic programs that inform security within communities, companies or government.
In other words, 'security' remains a catchall phrase meaning many things too many audiences, practitioners and organisations.
This lack of clarity or confusion is often transferred to courses, accreditation and advanced academic courses.
That is, uninformed and professionals alike make the flawed assumption that all security courses teach and demand the same knowledge verifications. Untrue.
To demonstrate the simple distinctions, lining up 8 contemporary security courses, at a Masters level, reveals and highlights considerable distinctions. Especially across science, arts, military and business domains.
Simple, objective measures such as hours for each module, module content and assessable outcomes map the specifics of each program.
As visible in the rudimentary summary table below, security most assuredly does not mean the same thing, nor are the outcomes remotely similar.
Moreover, repurposing broad/generic programs in the name of security is not commensurate with undertaking specific, technical security programs.
8 'Security' Masters Degrees Compared
Security may be specific to public, private, corporate, national or commercial realms. It may simultaneously apply all, depending upon the context, such as infrastructure.
The point is that despite the very broad spectrum of security, technical, academic and accreditation programs must be specific.
That is, the informing body of knowledge must be transparent, comprehensive, targeted and objectively validated/reliable. As a result, a Master's Degree in security is neither universal nor similar. The moniker required unpacking, investigation and contextualisation.
Broad assumptions and repurposing one for the other is not only ethically unsound but practically inappropriate.
Medicine, engineering, legal and many other professions understand and respect these distinctions. It is long overdue that security and consumers begin down that path too. The same applies to risk.
In sum, advanced academic programs such as a Master's Degree in 'security' are not all the same, nor are the outcomes let alone core educational content.
That is, security encapsulates many ideas, concepts, technologies, beliefs, practices, academic and technical findings.
As a result, the outcome, application and underlying competencies vary greatly, despite the seeming 'drift' from one discipline or domain to another.
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Practitioners, consumers, regulators and corporations would be served better if they understood these distinctions.
Simple comparisons quickly identified the core knowledge and competencies of any Masters-level program, along with the academic underpinnings, such as science, arts, literature, business or military.
As distinct and well defined as these disciplines are, so to are the resulting security 'masters' that graduate from such programs.
Tony Ridley, MSc CSyP MSyI M.ISRM
Security, Risk & Management Sciences
References:
Security and Risk Management MSc
Criminology MSc
Terrorism, Security and Policing MSc
Risk, Crisis and Disaster Management MSc
Intelligence and Security MA
Master of Military and Defence Studies
Master of Business Administration (Professional) MBA
Professor of Practice, Intelligence and Global Security Studies, Capitol Technology University.
2 个月Very interesting! The application of risk management frameworks to all these disciplines is not only relevant but a force multiplier in better understanding them.
UN Security Officer
2 年Tony great article, informative and educational. Might just get some people looking at the industry from that tunnel vison perspective a chance to move around the room so to speak,
Global Security Services Manager, Protective Intelligence Specialist, International Lecturer & Instructor
2 年Way back when - late 90s, I was seeking a Masters level degree in Security Management. At the time, there were only 3 US universities that offered some sort of advanced security oriented degree, the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Northeastern University, and The George Washington University. Georgetown University offered a National Security Studies degree but it was more theory based about politics and economics. I did my undergraduate degree at GWU and though they offered a great masters program in security management, I was looking for a new environment and city. So I enrolled at John Jay College to pursue a M.S. in Protection Management. It was a pretty comprehensive degree program. We learned about the built environment, fiscal policy, risk analysis, and various courses designed to prepare someone to manage a security operation. The other value of the program was that my fellow students were experienced professionals from the NYPD, FBI, Dept. of State - Diplomatic Security, I was between deployments with the IDF at the time, so we all shared best practices and anecdotes. We were ahead of the curve in that we graduated by the Spring of 2011, months before 9/11 and the onslaught of academic security oriented programs.
Teacher/Trainer
2 年Finally, a clear and comprehensive post on the various types of security! Whenever I tell people that I have a Master’s degree in Security, they usually assume it’s IT Security. When I tell them it’s Military Security, they shiver slightly and swallow air, most likely because they associate this type of security with fighter jets, ballistic missiles, cluster bombs and who knows what other ‘scary’ stuff, but it’s clear that most people have no clue about military security, so I’d like to see more material in the media about what actually keeps us safe and able to go about our daily business.
Experienced Security Manager
2 年Tony, thank you for the indepth breakdown of the current MSc programs.