Master’s degree in Peace Studies – what to think about

A useful resource for what to think about when considering doing a master’s degree is the postgrad digital magazine from prospects.ac.uk, here.

It includes tips on:

  • questions to ask at a postgraduate fair (what the universities call their visiting days or open days, I presume) such as “How did last year’s students obtain funding?”
  • that one should apply at least eight months before the course starts
  • how to write a personal statement (whatever one of those is)
  • studying abroad.

As I am shopping around at the moment for where to do such a master’s degree I have lots of questions.

  • Do I want a master’s degree or a research master’s degree?
  • What modules make up the degree?
    • and are they relevant for my career aspirations?
    • and will I learn stuff I want to learn?
    • and will I learn stuff I need to learn?
  • Will an Honours Degree in Philosophy and Psychology qualify me for the course?
  • What are the fees?
  • What funding options are there?
  • Is it “master’s degree” or “masters degree”?
  • How long is it?
    • If it is for two years, does one attend in the second year?
  • Will I be doing a PhD after the master’s degree?
    • Will this master’s degree help m get onto a PhD course?
    • Should I do an MPhil instead?
    • Or maybe an MRes?
  • Will it still be running when I want to do it?
  • How realistic for me is the geographic location?
  • Will it be prestigious?
  • Is the title of the master’s degree a suitable one?
  • How many ECTS credits is it worth?
    • How many ECTS credits do I need / want?

Regarding the ECTS business, ECTS is the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System.  A degree earns credits which are transferable across Europe.  Typically, each year is worth 60 ECTS credits where each credit is about 25 to 30 hours of work.  Most European master’s programmes (‘programmes’ seems to be what they call them) are worth 90-120 ECTS credits.  However, UK master’s degrees only last one year and are—supposedly—worth 180 UK credits where two UK credits are equivalent to one ECTS credit.  However, I can see some UK master’s degrees are worth only 60 ECTS credits rather than 90.  The Open University says two of its credits are equivalent to one ECTS credit, so an OU master’s degree (180 OU credits) is 90 ECTS credits.

University of St Andrews – Masters in Peace and Conflict Studies

I keep seeing University of St Andrews Peace Studies MA being referenced so St Andrews is on my list of potential places to go to do an MA in Peace Studies. It is actually an MPhil or MLitt in Peace and Conflict Studies.  They have a postgraduate open day on 11th November 2015 which is an appropriate day (Remembrance Day) to find out about their peace studies.  That looks like a jolly good idea, especially since we like Edinburgh.

So, how to get there.  Oh.  I thought St Andrews Uni wa in Edinburgh.  It’s not.  By quite a lot.  It’s in a place called… St Andrews.  Which does not have a train station.  That’s not convenient.  And it’s a 90 minute to 2 hour commute from Edinburgh, or an hour from Dundee.

For me to study, requires us to have an income.  We’d have to move to where there are jobs.  I don’t think St Andrews is practical because of the lack of public transport to get there.

Such a shame.

Jus ad bellum

When is a war a just war?  That debate has raged for millennia and I think it is time to stop buggering about pretending it is OK to kill people and pack it in.

Umpteen societies, cultures and philosophical standpoints have said since forever that murder is wrong.  It is naughty for one person to kill another.

More recently, many people have come to the view that it is no longer acceptable for the state to kill its own citizens.  Thus capital punishment is being phased out around the world.

But if it is wrong for the state to kill its own citizens, and citizenship is merely an accident of birth, how an it be OK for a state to kill the citizens of another state?  That is, to declare war.  It is hypocritical.

Also, if murder is wrong, how can it be OK for a state to send its citizens off to go and kill another state’s citizens?  If capital punishment is wrong, so is sending soldiers (or drones or warbots) to go and commit murder.  It is hypocritical.

There is no jus ad bellum for any offensive reason.  I can understand violence being used in defence, but can see no reasonable argument for starting a war.