National Security Studies

Course detail Description

The course in National Security Studies is unique by bringing together security policy practitioners and postgraduate students in the Department of War Studies. The core module in National Security Studies will be delivered on a weekly basis over two terms and will consist of highly interactive lectures and group sessions with academics and experienced officials that may include Professor Sir David Omand and Professor Lord Peter Ricketts amongst others.

The course will enable participants to develop an in-depth understanding of national security both in the UK and from an international perspective. The course will also focus on cross-governmental responses to security challenges. The course will be structured around key themes such as strategy, counter-terrorism and ethics in national security.

The course culminates in the King’s National Security Policy Briefing, where participants present their policy ideas to an elite panel of UK security practitioners.

This course has been designed to train security practitioners and postgraduate students in the fundamentals of national security, while also exposing them to practical and conceptual issues and challenges such as cyber security, counter-terrorism and the oversight of national security. The course will enable students to critically analyse national security and will educate students in key national security themes and allow them to critically analyse developments in the field.

This module is also available to external candidates as a 40-credit Masters short course. Designed with the objectives of the new National Security Academy in mind, the course will bring together UK security policy practitioners, representatives from the private sector and policy-interested postgraduate students to consider issues around National Security. For further information please click here: please visit here.

Teaching

Per 40-credit module:

For lectures, seminars and feedback, you will typically have 40 hours of teaching. You will also have 360 hours of self-study.

Per 20-credit module:

For lectures, seminars and feedback, you will typically have 20 hours of teaching. You will also have 180 hours of self-study. Typically, one credit equates to 10 hours of work.

For the dissertation module, you will have 12 hours of dissertation supervision and guidance workshops to complement the 588 hours of self-study.

Assessment

• The required module is assessed by essays, oral presentation and written briefs.
• Most 40-credit modules are assessed through a combination of essays (2,000-6,000 words), presentation, oral vivas and/or exams.
• The dissertation module assessment will be 100% dissertation, up to 15,000 words.

The study time and assessment methods detailed above are typical and give you a good indication of what to expect.

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Structure

Year 1

Courses are divided into modules. You will normally take modules totalling 180 credits.

King’s College London reviews the modules offered on a regular basis to provide up-to-date, innovative and relevant programmes of study. Therefore, modules offered may change. We suggest you keep an eye on the course finder on our website for updates.

• National Security Studies (40 credits)
• Dissertation (60 credits)

In addition, you are required to take 80 credits from a range of optional modules, which may typically include:

• Homegrown Radicalisation & Counter-radicalisation in Western Europe & North America (40 credits)
• Cyber Security (40 credits)
• Intelligence & Small Wars (40 credits)
• Chemical, Biological, Nuclear (CBN) Weapons in the Hands of States (20 credits)
• The Past & Present of British Intelligence (40 credits)
• Or any of the other available options offered by the Department of War Studies

If you are studying the part-time course you will typically take the required 40-credit taught module and 40 credits of optional module in Year 1. You will then take a 60 credit dissertation module and 40 credit optional modules in Year 2.