Societal Safety - Master's Degree Programme

Introduction

The master’s programme in societal safety focuses on how society can be made more resilient through preventive measures and preparedness. Risk and safety are dynamic elements in an increasingly complex society, which – in view of the internationalisation of infrastructure, trade, pollution, crime and crisis management – require a very high level of collaboration and coordination. Challenges to societal safety can be caused by natural phenomena or human actions. Examples of current challenges include climate change, ecological changes, changes in infrastructure such as energy and water supply, urbanisation, technological changes, communication and transport, changes in logistics and trade, as well as changes in social relations and behaviour that can lead to political, economic and social unrest, organised crime and terrorism. In view of the broad spectrum of risk and safety challenges that society faces, the master’s programme in societal safety is necessarily multidisciplinary, meaning engineers and social scientists study the same challenges together, often with quite different starting points and approaches. Technology must be understood in the light of the functions it performs in organisations and in society. This requires knowledge about people, organisations and society in addition to insight into relevant technical systems.

A master’s degree in societal safety qualifies students for work in a wide range of areas, including industry, public administration and services, private service provision, teaching, research and humanitarian work.

Sustainable Development Goals

Prevention of unwanted incidents and preparation to deal with the unwanted incidents that we cannot prevent (residual risk) is the basic idea of ​​the master's in social security. Although Norwegian society is perceived as safe for most of us, we are hit by unwanted incidents from time to time. They can originate locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. Some are intentional events, such as crime, extremism and cyber attacks. Others are unintentional, such as accidents and natural events. The UN's Sustainable Development Goals are the world's joint work plan to eradicate poverty, fight inequality and stop climate change by 2030. The Master's program in social security will give you knowledge, skills and competence that can contribute directly to the work to achieve the goals for a better world. The sustainability goals have a major impact on Norwegian politics, and on Norwegian society. The major unwanted creeping crises, such as the climate crisis and the nature crisis (loss of biodiversity), will increasingly affect the work on social security. Norway cannot isolate itself from the major changes taking place globally. The Master's in Social Security gives students a basis for assessing risk as a basis for prevention and preparedness work. This must be seen in close connection with sustainability goals such as reduction in poverty, hunger, reduction in inequality, sustainable cities and local communities, stopping climate change, peace and justice, as well as cooperation to achieve the sustainability goals. In this way, the master's in social security is very closely connected to all the UN's sustainability goals, as a programme, but also in individual subjects within risk, security, preparedness, crisis management, risk society and sustainable development.

Content, structure and composition of the programme

The master’s programme comprises 120 credits, and is made up of 4 compulsory common courses of 10 credits each, 2 compulsory specialisation courses of 10 credits each in societal safety or technical societal safety, 3 elective courses of 10 credits each, and a final master’s thesis of 30 credits.

The following courses are compulsory for all students: SAM505 Risk and Societal Safety, SAM515 Crisis Management, SAM500 Digitalization, infrastructure and vulnerability and SAM510 Risk Based Management.

Students specialising in technical societal safety must take the course STA500 Probability and Statistics 2 in the first semester and RIS510 Reliability Analysis in the second semester. Students specialising in societal safety must take the course SAM525 Risk, Society and Ethics in the first semester and RIS660 Research methods in risk, safety, and security studies in the second semester.

In the third semester, students must take a compulsory seminar (that does not provide any credits) to prepare them for work on the master’s thesis. The students must also take 30 credits of elective courses in the third semester. This is also the semester where it is possible for students to have a period of study abroad.

Please note that 10 places are reserved for applicants with a bachelor’s degree in engineering who choose specialisation in technical societal safety. If these places are not filled with engineering graduates, these places will be transferred to specialisation in societal safety.

The programme description may be subject to changes.

Note: If you choose elective courses from another master’s programme, the University of Stavanger cannot be responsible for any collision in teaching and/or examinations.

Learning outcomes

After successfully completing and passing the two-year master’s degree in societal safety, candidates will have achieved the following learning outcomes defined as knowledge, skills and general competencies:

Knowledge

K1: Risk, safety and vulnerability related to technologies, organisations, institutions and socially critical systems, infrastructure, functions and institutions.

K2: Extraordinary incidents and stresses that can impact technology, organisations and society (socially critical systems, infrastructure, functions and institutions).

K3: Natural and man-made threats to society, such as ecological changes that affect the climate and natural systems, changes in infrastructure such as energy and water supply, digitalisation, communication and transport, but also changes in social relations and behaviour that may lead to organised crime or terrorism.

K4: Particular challenges related to emergency preparedness planning and handling of adverse incidents.
K5: Awareness that societal safety as a field of study requires an approach at several organisational and institutional levels and with different professional perspectives.

K6: Have in-depth knowledge of the scientific theory and methodologies of the subject area.

Skills

S1: Be able to analyse academic issues based on the subject area’s history, traditions, distinctive character and position in society.

S2: Be able to make independent and critical assessments of the strengths and weaknesses of various theories, methods and analytical tools within risk and safety research.

S3: Be able to use analytical tools within risk and safety research and other studies of safety and emergency preparedness in society.

S4: Be able to assess threats to safety and risks associated with various activities.

S5: Be able to prevent injuries, damage and accidents through planning, regulation and organisation.

S6: Be able to analyse risk, reliability, availability and performance of emergency preparedness in connection with activities, critical infrastructures and critical societal functions.

S7: Understand what is going on during crises and disasters, and be able to deal with challenges that arise in these kinds of situations.

S8: Be able to work in interdisciplinary project groups and teams.

General competencies

G1: How safety and emergency preparedness can be addressed in society.

G2: Theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches relating to damage prevention, damage limitation and crisis management in the private and public sectors.

G3: An engineering and social science approach to risk and safety in society.

G4: Be able to apply their knowledge and skills in new areas in order to carry out advanced work tasks and projects.

G5: Be able to disseminate extensive independent work and master the subject area’s forms of expression.

Career prospects

New and stricter risk management requirements when planning and executing projects and work processes mean greater professionalism is required in most areas. Businesses and public bodies need people with this expertise to ensure compliance with health, safety and environmental regulations, environment-oriented health care, and risk and vulnerability analyses, participation in emergency relief operations and crisis management organised by private and public players.

The programme of study qualifies graduates for work in the areas of risk, safety, emergency preparedness and crisis management in various types of positions, including case officer, adviser, consultant and in management functions in a number of sectors of society and business areas.

A completed master's degree in Social Safety with an average grade of B and a grade of A or B on the master's thesis qualifies for admission to the PhD program in Risk Management and Social Safety at the University of Stavanger. New graduates are also eligible to apply to relevant PhD programs at other universities.

Course assessment

The quality assurance and evaluation systems for the programme are set out in the Quality System for Education.