Master Intercultural Conflict Management Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences Berlin

Master Intercultural Conflict Management

The “Intercultural Conflict Management” Master program was launched by the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences (ASH) in 2002, influenced by the notions of the Kosovo war in former Yugoslavia in 1998 and 1999. Under the impression of this war and its accompanied cruelties, the ASH decided to install a Master program to prepare experts for work in conflict prevention, resolution and management.

Mission

In recognition of the changes being experienced by many societies as a consequence of increasing global interdependence, the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences (ASH) is offering a Master of Arts in Intercultural Conflict Management (MA-ICM) in order to capacitate professionals from all over the world for their work promoting social development and mitigating existing and upcoming conflicts. Consistent with the values of social justice and human rights and supported by the University’s long-standing tradition in social advocacy, the MA address issues, and complexities raised by a globalizing world from an international and interdisciplinary perspective. The program is a response to the challenges of conflict, diversity, social exclusion, migration, violations of human rights and human exploitation.

The Master of Arts in Intercultural Conflict Management is designed to provide students from different cultures and a wide range of professional backgrounds with a deep understanding of the linkages between Democracy, Participation, Social Exclusion, Human Rights and Conflict Management theory and practice. The curriculum, strongly application-oriented, prepares participants to work in Governmental and Non-Governmental organizations of international cooperation and development cooperation, humanitarian aid agencies and local, regional or international organizations promoting social development and dealing with existing and upcoming conflicts.

Programme Design

The Master ICM is taught in English and is based on the professional, cultural and political diversity of students and lecturers. Intercultural and interdisciplinary studying and the variety of thoughts and believes are the major frameworks of the ICM. Instruction on the M.A. program is informed by principles and values reflecting an inclusive and community-centred approach with a goal toward the social transformation and the realization of human rights. Based on an epistemological and constructivist approach, the MA-ICM combines approaches from postcolonial studies, transnationalism, inequality research and international and human rights law.

The complementation of these theoretical approaches with a reference to community and participation and the inclusion of methods used in international development cooperation and conflict resolution offers the unique possibility to complement the theoretical understanding of social conflicts with practical tools and methods to realize social development work in and with communities threatened by social exclusion and human rights violations. Promoting the social development, democracy, participation and social inclusion at a local level is seen as a crucial mean to facilitate peaceful conflict resolution at the local, national and international level.

Job perspectives

The Master-ICM of the Alice-Salomon University of Applied Sciences, due to his unique combination of theoretical background studies and application-oriented formation on tools and methods is the ideal preparation for working in local, national or international organizations in the field of international social development work, humanitarian aid, human rights, community organization, civil peace service and conflict resolution. Opportunities include jobs in these areas through professional roles, for instance, as field officers, project managers, facilitators, trainers, administrators, advocates or researchers in national and international governmental, non-governmental and private sector organizations.

Students who completed the MA-ICM work now for example with

• Ministries of their home countries;
• International organizations such as International Organization for Migration (IOM);
• Development cooperation organizations such as Deutsche Gesellschaft für International Zusammenarbeit (GIZ),Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Entwicklungshilfe e.V. (AGEH);
• Conflict management organizations such as Ziviler Friedensdienst (ZFD), European Center for Conflict Prevention (CCP);
• Several foundations, NGOs and Worker's Unions.

Some alumni continued their academic education and enrolled in Ph.D. programs, e.g. at the Free University Berlin, Sussex University England, Haifa University Israel or already work as research fellows.