Although practical experience is a great selling point of Master’s in Emergency Management degree curricula, some programs do not require that students gain professional experience prior to graduation. Natural and human caused disasters seem to be increasing, and the field of emergency management has emerged to support the prevention, mitigation and recovery efforts of these disasters. While the emergency management career field is not yet mature, it does have roots in the national guard and military disaster preparedness divisions.  Independent organizations have stepped up to create a formal body of knowledge and certification programs for the career field, and university programs teach students skills that are loosely based around the new industry standards. Here are some examples of graduate emergency management degree programs that incorporate experiential learning opportunities into their curricula, as well as those programs that prepare students to gain work experience after graduation.

Safety Management

Graduate emergency management degree programs are called by various names, but they still teach the skills that are needed by today’s emergency managers. For example, some schools’ emergency management programs are called safety management. This type of degree program focuses on teaching students methods of protecting and conserving the human and material resources of an organization. The graduate degree in safety management also exposes students to the specific regulations that pertain to the discipline of emergency management. Some of the course topics for this type of degree program are environmental and personnel hazard control, safety legislation, disaster preparedness, security management and environmental management. The research based curricula of these types of programs often give students the choice to complete a thesis, a white paper on a relevant safety issue or additional course work. However, students are required to participate in at least a three credit hour professional field experience.

Crisis Response

Some advanced degrees in emergency management focus on the impacts that emergency situations have on the emotional health of people who have lived through traumatic events. This type of program teaches students to recognize the ways that disasters can impact relationships among crisis victims, their families, work colleagues and members of their community. Many of these programs are faith based and instruct students on how to apply grief and trauma counseling in situations that do not require licensed professionals. Some of the course topics covered in these types of programs are human development, complex traumas from disasters, identifying post traumatic stress disorder and crisis and first responders training. The 30 credit hour, online program does not require students to complete professional field experience to graduate.

Emergency Services Administration

The emergency services administration degree program instructs students how to create policies, plans and procedures that help to protect businesses, government agencies and local communities against the impacts of all types of disasters. The degree program requires that candidates have an undergraduate degree, but students are not required to have related experience to enroll in the program. Some subjects taught during this degree program include emergency planning and management, applied research methods for decision support, strategic planning for emergency services administration and inter-agency communications amid crises. Although students are required to prepare a thesis or complete an approved research project, practical field experience is not required for graduation.

Conclusion

While participating in experiential learning opportunities is a great way to gain work experience and add polish to one’s resume, some students, who already work full time jobs in other professions, prefer the option of graduating without those opportunities because of time management issues. The best of both worlds can be gained by choosing a Master’s in Emergency Management that does not require practical experience, seeking out independent internship options that allow convenient scheduling and gaining the relevant work experience on one’s own terms.

Related Resource: Do I Need to Pass a Comprehensive Examination to Graduate from an Emergency Management Degree?