Frequently asked Questions
There is no single answer to this question.
When Peace and Conflict Studies was created in the late 1950s as a distinct academic discipline it merged the state of the art of psychology, ethnology and international relations. Gradually it embraced the topics, methods and didactics from a vast field of disciplines including philosophy, law, languages, history as well as development studies. It follows a holistic and therefore trans-disciplinary approach to science. It contains some unique fields of study, such as conflict analysis, conflict transformation and peace theory. Each student can approach peace studies in their own way, concentrating on concrete conflicts, sociological analyses, specific regional issues or use a distinct approach from the vast disciplines that shape Peace and Conflict Studies as a whole. Overall, Peace and Conflict Studies offers a transdisciplinary approach to studying, analyzing, and investigating conflict as well as processes of peace.
This programme is special because it combines critical approaches to Peace and Conflict Studies with practical experiences and training in simulated (post-) conflict scenarios.
Firstly, by exploring non-Western knowledge systems, queer-feminist decolonial approaches, interdisciplinary methods, as well as decentralized non-capitalist ideas, the programme fosters a critical decolonial approach to Peace and Conflict Studies. Thereby topics such as conflict transformation, international development, scholarly debates of peace and conflict studies, peace education, crisis management, and international peacebuilding are questioned, critically examined and personally reflected upon. By restructuring education and the approach to learning by dismantling classic academic hierarchies, this programme encourages intercultural communication and the use of alternative learning systems to ensure engagement and proactive decolonial education.
Secondly, this programme includes practical training and field work experience with mandatory excursions. The practical field training explores humanitarian aid organization, crisis and disaster management as well as personal skills such as teamwork, leadership and stress management. This opportunity is taking place within a civil military cooperation with the Austrian Armed Forces as well as medical aid and relief organizations. Furthermore, the programme also offers excursions to explore ongoing or past conflict situations abroad, which has recently included trips to South Tyrol and Cyprus. These excursions allow students to get to know international organizations and community work that aims to facilitate and maintain peace, manage crisis situations and support post-conflict communities, and trust building to ensure lasting peace.
By engaging with this multi-interdisciplinary agenda, the students receive tools to understand and question the existing content of Peace and Conflict Studies and are encouraged to move beyond the status quo, rethink approaches to peace and engage with non-Western knowledge systems.
The faculty of the programme is comprised of a diversity of educational, disciplinary, cultural backgrounds who are all dedicated to the field of peace and conflict studies.
Guest lecturers and facilitators are also commissioned on particular topics, approaches and methodologies from all around the world in order to provide our students with a plurality of perspectives on peace and conflict.
See our Team page
The programme has welcomed students from universities around the world including Castellon, Spain, Jimma, Ethiopia, Brazil etc.
Further agreements are currently being established in order to facilitate further exchange.
The programs operate independently of each other.
However, due to cooperation agreements, students can transfer credits for full terms from one program to the other. Students can therefore also attend one or two terms at the program in Castellón. They will automatically be accredited as academic terms at our program in Innsbruck.
With the new regular studies Masters Programme, you will be eligible to apply for PhD Programmes around the world depending on their individual admissions procedures.
Here you can find helpful links to admission related questions
Information on the admission procedure and registration deadlines can be found here.
For students applying from outside the EU/EEA, a number of additional criteria apply. This might include a language test which has to be submitted with the application, for the language of instruction which is English. Moreover, visa requirements mostly require evidence of acquired housing. This means finding housing is an important step because it also helps with visa procedures.
For international but also EU/EEA students it is important to keep in mind that students are required to enroll in-person before they are able to enroll in classes. This means ahead of the start of the study period in October, students need to visit Innsbruck from August onwards in order to enroll in-person and be able to register for classes in the registration periodin September.
More important information is included in the Handbook made by the student representatives.
Tuition fees
Many students within our program come from countries outside of the EU/EEA, which in many cases mean that they have to pay a tuition fee of € 726.72 (plus the ÖH-fee of around € 26 which every student has to pay) per semester. Whether or not you as a non-EU student are exempted from paying the tuition fee can be read more about here.
The student led initiative the Peace Studies Fund aims to help students pay their tuition fees.
The semester is comprised of both compulsory and elective course modules that run regular working hours with the exception of excursions and practical modules.
The standard duration of the study programme is 4 semesters or 120 ECTS-Credits, whereby according to the Universities Act of 2002, a workload of 1,500 (real) hours per academic year must be fulfilled, corresponding to 60 ECTS-Credits (one ECTS-Credit is equivalent to a workload of 25 hours).
Students can choose their classes freely, though a certain combination of courses is recommended in order for students to finish the programme within the standard duration of 4 semesters (2 years). The curriculum and recommended course outline can be found here.
The course names in the curriculum are rather vague which is due to the fact that the courses keep evolving and changing based on relevance, students interests and teachers specialties. This means that courses (especially seminars/SE courses) range between topics of international development, law, transformative justice, peace education, and much more. This allows students to discover classes based on their interests and allows for unique schedules. Once course registration starts, more information about the different classes of the programme are published and students can choose their classes that would make up a combined 30 ECTS per semester. This amount of ECTS have to be reached in order to complete the programme in two years consisting of four semesters (standard duration). However, students can also enroll in less classes and follow the programme part-time in order to for example work alongside the studies. Additionally, it is possible to pause the studies to pursue a voluntary internship or other career opportunities. Thus, studying can be flexible and adapted to every student's needs.
Meaning of the course abbreviations
The types of courses within this programme:
SE: Seminar structure. Attendance is mandatory. Encourages active participation thoughout the course and engagement in class.
VO: Lecture structure. Attendance is not mandatory. Performance is usually assessed through an exam at the end of the semester.
UE: Exercise or workshop format. Attendance is mandatory. In this program, the UE course usually take place once per semester for one week’s time and the courses are facilitated by various guest lecturers.
EX: Excursion format. Attendance is mandatory. In this program, this type of course implies either a CIMIC excursion or an international excursion.
Within this programme, a total of 7.5 ECTS of elective modules from other MA programmes must be completed.
These credits can be completed at any point throughout the study programme. Short term mobility courses through the European university network Aurora can also be credited, as well as summer/winter school opportunities at other univerities. This has to be discussed with the faculty beforehand.
Students can choose eletives from a wide interdisciplinary catalogue of courses or choose a minor consisting of a set number of courses. This Masters programme only requires 7.5 ECTS of elective modules wheras a possible minor consitsts of classes worth 30 ECTS.