Master of Science in Conflict Management and Resolution
Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego
Now Accepting Applications
Your Motivation
Conflict is an everyday reality in our organizations, communities, and around the world. We believe that conflicts, if well managed or transformed, can provide an opportunity for positive change.
At the Kroc School, we have designed a nine-month Master of Science in Conflict Management and Resolution (MS-CMR) to provide you with the knowledge, frameworks, and skills to transform conflict dynamics. This program combines conflict management with conflict resolution. This means you will learn skills to understand and address individual and organizational situations as well as the system-level conflict in a variety of cultural contexts. In the MS-CMR, you will learn how to best manage conflicts - by refocusing energy and changing perspectives - and gain skills to successfully resolve conflicts, through mediation, negotiation, facilitation and dialogue processes.
If you are a working professional in any field with the experience to recognize the challenges and opportunities inherent to conflict, this program is for you. The Kroc School’s innovative approach to conflict management and resolution combines multidimensional perspectives for problem-solving with diverse strategies and finding effective approaches to intractable situations. In this program, you will learn through ongoing experimentation, simulation and practice, inside and outside the classroom from the only conflict resolution degree on the West Coast that is housed in a Peace School.
Transforming Conflict into Positive Change
Where most see conflict as a problem, we at the Kroc School consider it a natural outcome of human diversity. Our students learn how to manage, resolve and transform conflict in order to prevent violence and cultivate positive change. The Master of Science in Conflict Management and Resolution (MS-CMR) takes professionals from all backgrounds and teaches them how to approach conflict differently. Students in the MS-CMR learn how to anticipate conflicts, redirecting energy, engaging actors and resolving complex issues across environments. Using data, analysis, negotiation, mediation, and facilitation, MS-CMR students will gain expertise to address conflicts proactively in their own sector or industry.
The MS-CMR is the only conflict management and resolution program on the West Coast that is housed in a peace school. This 30-unit, 9-month, program has no GRE requirement and is designed for professionals from any background. The practice-based curriculum creates opportunities for hands-on mitigation, mediation, facilitation, and negotiation.
The Outcome
You will emerge from the program with the following capabilities:
- Facilitation
- Mediation
- Coalition-building
- Intercultural Competency
- Negotiation
- Conflict Analysis
- Teamwork
- Stakeholder Mapping
As a graduate, you will understand the complex dynamics and underlying causes of conflicts allowing you to develop effective strategies and solutions.
The MS-CMR will give you a one-of-a-kind conflict toolkit to be applied in diverse conflict environments, from interpersonal conflict to intergroup or interreligious conflict, to transnational conflict.
Requirements
- Transcript(s)
- Current Resume or Curriculum Vitae (CV)
- Four Short Essays
- Two Letters of Recommendation
- Three years of professional experience
*International applicants must provide English Proficiency Exam Scores and transcript evaluations for institutions outside of the US.
Please visit Graduate Admissions for more information related to application requirements for international students.
Supplemental Information
| Entrance Semester | August |
| Minimum Grade Point Average | 3.00 (4.00 scale) in all undergraduate coursework |
| Required Coursework | None Required |
| Required Experience | None Required |
| Standardized Admission Test | None Required |
This school offers programs in:
- English
Last updated November 16, 2018
