MSc in Crowded Places and Public Safety Management

Location

Coventry

Description

Course information

This course provides the academic underpinning to analyse the features that make for best-practice planning, policy and process, so that the student can go on to devise effective crowded places arrangements.

The programme covers important legal and socio-political frameworks within crowd safety and emergency management, as well as investigating emerging technological solutions, and the contemporary safety and threat environments that impact on the sector.

The course also aims to provide an understanding of the issues that underlie many of the concerns faced by crowd safety management practitioners, such as multi-agency cooperation and coordination and business continuity. In particular, the student will examine how these issues may be addressed in practice, with a view to enhancing the effectiveness of integrated emergency management and organisational resilience.

The student will also be required to carry out an independent piece of research which seeks to develop skills in personal organisation, research and critical thinking, as well as advancing the knowledge in the subject area.

Why choose this course?

• Crowds and crowded places are an increasing fact of everyday life: from special events such as international sports and music festivals, to routine retail environments and transport hubs. Such is the complexity of these crowded places that to plan for them effectively requires specific understanding of the related internal and external threats that have the potential for catastrophic impact.

• Designed with this need in mind, this specialist master’s course aims to support the development of the knowledge, skills and competencies necessary to deliver more effective crowd safety management planning for risks and threats, all based on evolving best practice. It will provide with a chance to develop a deeper understanding of the underlying issues and problems faced in the crowd safety, public safety and security management environment beyond simple crowd dynamics approaches.

• Designed for practitioners and those in associated roles in the crowd safety field, this course aims to enable crowd managers to develop the skills and expertise to work in a range of organisations with crowded places planning and response duties, such as security management, event management, the uniformed services, local authorities, public sector agencies, transport hubs and retail management, as well as private sector companies.

• Course content is broad-based to reflect the multidisciplinary nature of the subject. For example, as well as being taught current and evolving techniques and tactics used to prevent, plan, prepare or respond to crowded places emergencies, it will also cover and critically appraise relevant technical data and information, best practice in emergency planning and crisis management.

• Students will have the chance to learn about behavioural theory and leadership at an organisational and individual level, providing an opportunity to develop a wide range of interpersonal skills to help develop and execute appropriate training initiatives and coordinate the work of broad-ranging teams.

• Over 20 years ago, Coventry was one of the first UK universities to offer courses in the areas of emergency planning – once again the institution is leading the sector through courses such as this which fulfil the needs of those with responsibility for crowded places. Its goal is to work with current and future practitioners to improve the effectiveness of crowd safety management globally.

• Members of Coventry's teaching team have practical experience and have carried out employment, consultancy and research in crowd safety management and allied professions. This includes emergency planning for managing mass gathering events, risk mapping, the preparation of response frameworks for mass evacuation, and the design and running of simulated emergency exercises.

• It aims to draw from our own experience, as well as real-life case studies, to help students link the theories of crowded places and public safety management, to their application within actual local, national and international contexts.

Benefits

• Opportunity to experience Coventry University’s Crisis Simulation Centre.

• Coventry's Simulation Centre is a beacon standard for advanced training of professionals from a wide range of emergency responders.

• With a Learning Curve, interactive screen and real-life scenarios, this training can not only help to improve skills, but can also help to develop new ways of working.

Upon completion 

On successful completion, the student will have:

• A comprehensive evaluation of risk, its components and influencing factors, approaches to assessment, prioritisation and role in planning and managing crowded places.

• An in-depth knowledge of policy and approaches for mitigating, preparing for and managing crowded places for the private sector, responding agencies and organisations and other affected stakeholders.

• A thorough comprehension of approaches to assessing complexity and interaction, and developing, monitoring and evaluating processes, systems and organisations within the sector from known and emergent threats in a sustainable way.

• A detailed analysis of multi-stakeholder engagement, communication, co-operation and governance in all aspects of policy and strategy, implementation and management at all scales.

• An ability to manage information, evaluate uncertainty, ambiguity and complexity in knowledge, method and management, and make appropriate and defensible decisions.

• A critical awareness of issues and challenges at the forefront of research and practice in crowded places and public safety.

• An ability to evaluate and use appropriate methods of enquiry and analysis, and progress good practice in the discipline over the course of their career.

• The skills demanded to research, evaluate high level material in order to produce an independent working paper that meets ethical requirements of the university, synthesises both academic and sector perspectives and presents findings and recommendations in a professional way.

Teaching and contact hours

Modules are taught as one-week ‘face-to-face teaching’ at the University, along with several weeks of directed and/or self-directed study, which may be undertaken off-campus.

In a typical teaching week, the students will have up to 26-30 ‘contact’ hours of teaching.

International case studies are used throughout the course. 

Themes

Crowded places, crowd dynamics, complexity analysis, command and control, interoperability, leadership, safety, security, risk management, emergency planning, emergency response, crisis management, organisational resilience, business continuity, research, communication, stress management.

For further questions please write here, or call +44 (0) 24 7765 4321.

Admission requirement

To enter this course you should have a first or second class honours degree in a relevant discipline. Those with a level 5 qualification and/or professional experience will be considered on a case by case basis.

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 professional experience’ please write here.

This course requires IELTS of 6.5 overall, with no component lower than 5.5. Pre-sessional English is available if required.

The International Student Hub offers information on entry requirements for your country, as well as contact details for agents and representatives should you need more advice.

Frequency

Annual

Language

English

Application procedure

For application procedures, please click here. 

Scholarship

UK/EU Postgraduate Academic Excellence Scholarship**

This is a cash scholarship worth up to £2,000 and available to all UK/EU students applying for a full-time postgraduate programme at Coventry University and achieved a first class degree.

Students will be automatically identified for the PGT Academic Excellence scholarship. Eligible students will be notified by email. Coventry will request your bank details. A cash payment will then be made directly into your UK bank account.

**The total incentive, scholarship or discount a student can receive is capped at 30% of the published course fees. Any other award may be reduced in value if you qualify for an Alumni discount (Coventry University alumni students only). The Alumni discount will be applied to your course fees as the primary discount. Where a student receives a combination of incentives, scholarships or discounts, the offerings may be reduced in value due to this cap.

Tuition and cost

Coventry offers competitive tuition fees which it reviews on an annual basis and offers a wide range of scholarships to support students with their studies. Course fees are calculated on the basis of what it costs to teach each course and aims for total financial transparency. Click here for more information.