Disaster Risk and Resilience PGCert

Program Overview

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Disaster Risk and Resilience PGCert

Course Overview

Our goal is to advance your skills in evaluating risks, vulnerabilities and capacity in complex socio-economic and political situations. Sector-appropriate module content and assignments provide you with opportunities to evaluate current policy and practice and make recommendations for improvement in humanitarian response, community participatory approaches, accountability and organisational change.

Upon successful completion of the course, you should understand the concepts, theories, policy and practice within the areas of risk, humanitarian practice, development, disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation so that you are better able to evaluate the activities of NGOs, government organisations, multilateral agencies and institutions, and drive necessary transformation.

Why You Should Study This Course

• Coventry University was the first UK university to establish courses in disaster management and emergency planning over 20 years ago (Hulse & Moseley 1998). It is still a leading provider of higher education courses and consultancy services in emergency and disaster management capabilities.
• Upon successful completion of the course, you should have an understanding of concepts, theories policy and practice within the areas of risk, humanitarian practice, development, disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation so that you are better able to evaluate the activities of NGOs, government organisations, multilateral agencies and institutions.

What You'll Study

Further develop your knowledge of relevant policy sectors - disaster risk, resilience, adaptation and sustainability, evaluate and apply humanitarian and human rights, principles and law.

Develop organisational preparedness and coordination capacity for humanitarian response to regions likely to experience acute disaster impacts or rapid deteriorations in stability.

Design, develop, implement and manage appropriate disaster risk interventions, undertake effective monitoring and evaluation for accountability and learning.

Develop a portfolio of skills and knowledge for working effectively with communities to develop resilience and ensure sustainable programmes.

All modules are offered on a rolling basis, at least once every eight months, ensuring they can be approached flexibly and fitted around the demands of full-time employment. Full-time study is one year and part-time study is normally up to two years. All modules on this course are mandatory.

Modules

• Disaster Risk, Resilience, Adaption and Sustainability - 15 credits
• Humanitarian Principles, Preparedness and Response - 15 credits
• Community Preparedness, Recovery and Resilience - 15 credits
• Disaster Interventions, Evaluation and Learning - 15 credits

How You'll Learn

Study 100% Online

This course is studied completely online via our digital learning environment. It can be studied as a full-time postgraduate certificate programme or on a part-time basis. Our platform provider is currently Aula.

Whilst we would like to give you all the information about our part-time offering here, it is tailored for each course each year depending on the number of part-time applicants. Therefore, the part-time teaching arrangements vary. Request further information about the part-time study.

When studying online you will have access to a complete set of online learning materials delivered through our approved platforms. The learning materials contain all the essential teaching you will need to complete your course and undertake your assessments. You also have access to our library's electronic resources 24/7, including thousands of books, ejournals and newspapers.

In addition to the learning assets, you will have the support of an Associate Lecturer. The Associate Lecturer will undertake weekly live sessions (recorded for those unable to attend). These sessions will be seminar based, discussing the learning materials, giving clarity, depth and direction to your learning.

The Associate Lecturer will also offer fortnightly one-to-one surgeries for any individual requirements and will be available for questions on platform and via email.

Prefer to study with time on campus? Click here to view our on campus course.

Teaching Contact Hours

You will study modules totalling 60 credits each academic year. A typical 15-credit module requires a total of 150 hours study. This is made up of teaching contact hours, guided and independent study.

Teaching Hours

During your studies, you can expect two teaching hours each week. You will also have the option to attend optional sessions including time with an Associate Lecturer or to meet with staff for advice and feedback.

Guided and Independent Study

Throughout your studies, you will be expected to spend time in guided and independent study to make up the required study hours per module. You’ll be digging deeper into topics, review what you’ve learned and complete assignments. This can be completed around your personal commitments. As you progress through your studies, you’ll spend more time in independent study.

Online Learning

As an innovative university, we use different teaching methods including online tools and emerging technologies.

Assessment

This course will be assessed using a variety of methods which will vary depending upon the module.

Assessment methods may include:

• essays
• group work
• presentations
• reports
• projects
• coursework
• individual assignments.

The Coventry University Group assessment strategy ensures that our courses are fairly assessed and allows us to monitor student progression towards achieving the intended learning outcomes.

Entry Requirements

Typical entry requirements:

• UK and International

Select your region to find detailed information about entry requirements:

• Africa
• Americas
• Central Asia
• East Asia
• Europe
• Middle East
• South Asia
• South East Asia

You can view our full list of country specific entry requirements on our Entry requirements page.

Alternatively, visit our International hub for further advice and guidance on finding in-country agents and representatives, joining our in-country events and how to apply.

Typical Entry Requirements

A 2:2 undergraduate degree (or equivalent) in any discipline. Applicants with a lower class of degree and/or professional experience only will be individually considered and will usually be interviewed prior to being offered a place on the course.

Each application will be considered on its merits and the final decision will be made by the course director. For information regarding what might amount to a ‘relevant discipline’ and ‘relevant work experience/relevant professional development qualification’ please get in touch.

Opportunities for recognition of prior learning and experience (RPL/RPEL) on a case-by-case basis (evidence required). Please enquire to find out more.

English Language Requirements

• IELTS: 6.5 overall with no component lower than 5.5

If you don't meet the English language requirements, you can achieve the level you need by successfully completing a pre-sessional English programme before you start your course.

For more information on our approved English language tests visit our English language requirements page.

Fees and Funding

Student | Full-time | Part-time ---|---|--- UK and International | £4,517 per year | Request fee information

The tuition fee stated above is calculated for the entire duration of this programme. You also have the option to pay fees by credit hour, rather than making a full upfront payment.

For advice and guidance on tuition fees and student loans visit our Postgraduate Finance page and see the university's Tuition Fee and Refund Terms and Conditions.

Fees will be reviewed annually; however, any increase will be no more than 5% above inflation. If you defer your course start date or must extend your studies beyond the normal duration of the course (e.g. to repeat a year or resit examinations) the University reserves the right to charge you fees at a higher rate and/or in accordance with any legislative changes during the additional period of study.

We offer a range of International scholarships to students all over the world. For more information, visit our International Scholarships page.

Tuition fees cover the cost of your teaching, assessments, facilities and support services. There may be additional costs not covered by this fee such as re-assessments should you need them.

Scholarships, Bursaries and Discounts

We offer a range of scholarships, bursaries and discounts. For more information, visit our fees page or contact our study advisor.

Facilities

All students have access to these facilities in Coventry:

The Library

You will benefit from our support designed to help you succeed and our industry-relevant teaching and resources. These include our modern library and computing facilities, dedicated careers advice and Your Students’ Union.

The Hub

The Hub is the centre of student campus life. It's also home to the Student Wellbeing Centre, the Spirituality and Faith Centre, the Tank Studio and the Enterprise Hub.

Facilities are subject to availability. Access to some facilities (including some teaching and learning spaces) may vary from those advertised and/or may have reduced availability or restrictions where the university is following public authority guidance, decisions or orders.

Careers and Opportunities

On successful completion of this course, you will have knowledge of:

• risk, its components and influencing factors, approaches to assessment, and prioritisation and organisational role in planning, managing and recovering from humanitarian crises and disasters
• policy and approaches for mitigating, preparing for, managing and recovering from crises, conflict and disasters for responding agencies, organisations and affected communities
• approaches to assessing complexity and interaction and developing, monitoring and evaluating resilience in processes, systems, organisations and communities at risk from known and emergent threats in a sustainable way
• stakeholder analysis and multi-stakeholder engagement, communication, co-operation and governance in all aspects of policy and strategy development, implementation and management, at all scales in disaster contexts
• challenges and approaches for information management, evaluating uncertainty, ambiguity and complexity in knowledge, appropriate and defensible decisions for managing complex disaster situations
• issues and challenges at the forefront of research and practice in disasters and resilience.

Where Our Graduates Work

Previous graduates have gone on to work in the UK and in countries all over the world, including Denmark, Finland, Germany, Bangladesh, China, Pakistan, the UAE, the United States and Canada. Some have taken up roles as international humanitarian coordinator, country officers; DRR specialists, risk analysts and deployable response managers, policy developers and analysts, public administration or pursued research and lecturing within education.

Employers of our previous graduates have included: UNICEF, UNEP, WFP, Action Centre La Faim (Toronto, Canada), the Institute for Risk Management and Climate Change (Bogota, Colombia), WWF, Danish Refugee Council, Deutsche Bahn, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Mumbai, India), United Nations Population Fund (Jakarta, Indonesia), the British and German Red Cross, The Netherlands Institute for Safety, Medecins Sans Frontieres and the Military.

Opportunities exist globally within:

• Non-Governmental Organisations
• Multi-lateral organisations
• National and local government
• Health services and epidemiology
• the military
• (Re)insurance and risk management
• City resilience
• Risk and resilience consultancy
• Security and safety sector
• Research and further study.