Introduction

The United Nations defines a disaster as a disruption of social and community function, involving so many losses and destructive impacts that affected communities and regions are unable to cope using their own resources. Global efforts to reduce the impacts of disasters over the last decade have failed to keep up with growing exposure of people and assets to natural and other hazards, which is generating new risks and a steady rise in disaster-related losses. To reverse this trend, UN member nations ratified the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction in 2015.

The Sendai Framework calls for a broader, more people-centred, preventative approach to disaster risk reduction, in which communities, government and private sectors, civil society organisations, academia, and research institutions work together to build resilience and develop collaborative disaster risk reduction practices.

This Professional Master’s degree provides an introduction to this rapidly evolving interdisciplinary field.

Entry requirements

To apply for the Master of Disaster Risk and Resilience (MDRR), you will need to have:

• a bachelor's degree which is relevant to Disaster Risk and Resilience, normally with a B Grade Point Average or higher in the final year; and
• 15 points from STAT 100-level courses, or equivalent.
  Note: This prerequisite may be waived at the discretion of the Programme Coordinator.

If English is your additional language, you are also required to meet UC's English language requirements.

For the full entry requirements, see the Regulations for the Master of Disaster Risk and Resilience or use the admission requirements checker.

English language courses offered in partnership with CCEL will prepare you for study at Foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate degree level. The English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses offered by CCEL are designed to provide you with the specific language and study skills you will need to succeed in academic study.

Further details and application form are available from the CCEL site.

Career opportunities

MDRR graduates are in a position to choose between proceeding into funded doctoral programmes, or pursuing careers in disaster reduction, risk assessment, hazard assessment, and environmental management and consulting, as well as in local and regional government.

Graduates have found work in consultancies locally and internationally, in NZ Crown Research Institutes, in the National Emergency Management Agency, Toka Tū Ake EQC, in regional Civil Defence and Emergency management Groups, and in the private sector.

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