Overview of the postgraduate qualifications

IPC offers two postgraduate qualifications:

• Postgraduate Diploma of International Studies
• Master of International Studies

These qualifications are unique in New Zealand. IPC has conducted extensive marketing research nationally and internationally to identify future career development opportunities for graduates interested in international studies related to sustainable development which could be fostered through IPC's existing strengths of interdisciplinary studies and its international focus. The result is a programme of study designed to provide students with a qualification in business, international relations and sustainable development, areas of rapidly-growing global significance.

These two qualifications have an applied interdisciplinary focus. Most international issues go well beyond the boundaries of any one traditional discipline, and the resolution of the issues inevitably requires that the knowledge, insight and methodologies of different disciplines be brought together and synthesised. For any one issue, the disciplines contributing, and the relative importance of the insights of different disciplines, will be unique, and the form of synthesis will be specific to that issue.

Resolution of these issues requires contributions both from specialists within the technical disciplines and from people who are specialists in bridging disciplines and identifying synergies from interdisciplinary contributions. The purpose of both postgraduate qualifications is to develop professionals who have an ability to bridge disciplines, and approach issues from mulitple perspectives.

These qualifications focus on sustainability. The Faculty seeks to give students grounding in the key environmental disciplines and the contribution that each of these can make. Both qualifications develop the students' understanding of the significant international sustainability issues, and the social, political and industrial context of these issues.

Students may earn either the Master of International Studies or the Postgraduate Diploma of International Studies, but not both.

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