The NOHA Master's Degree
Originally I planned on working with human rights, but by graduation
I couldn’t see myself lobbying for human rights reform or diligently attending
hearings at the Hague. I imagine that work is better suited to someone more
patient and less cynical. But I wasn’t done with the idea of helping (a concept
to unpack…another day), and an undergraduate course steered me towards humanitarian
aid. I wasn’t qualified for any such job, so I decided to get a degree.
In September 2015 I started a master’s degree in
Humanitarian Action through the Network on Humanitarian Action (NOHA), a group
of European universities, and their degree caught my attention for the
following reasons. First, it was one of the very few that welcomed the
experience-challenged (recent graduates). Second, the different topics aligned
well with my interests. Third, it has a major travel component, and fourth, the
tuition rates were manageable (mundane, but oh so important).
Unlike most careers, the job came before the degree; while
humanitarian aid dates back to the 1800s, degrees are a (very) late-1900s
phenomena. It seems universities are trying to remedy that by targeting mid-career
professionals, while programs catering to recent graduates are still scarce. The
“application requirements” section is thus really important to read while screening
potential programs.
My second requirement was that the individual classes were
of interest. Just like most social science programs, humanitarian aid degrees
can lean towards the more practical or the more philosophical. Looking through
the lecturers’ backgrounds and the individual courses’ descriptions give really
good insight into the program’s profile. Many of the lecturers in NOHA are
currently active in fieldwork and applied research; given that I’d like to step
into that world, this was extremely important to me. If you’d prefer to study
the development of UN legislation relevant humanitarian aid, perhaps another
program is more suitable.
I enjoy traveling, to put it mildly; after a year in
Mongolia I was ready for something new. This degree encourages students to
spend each semester at a different location. The first semester classes are the
same at every university; I chose the University College Dublin (UCD) because
of its Centre for Humanitarian Action (CHA), and I was craving the convenience
of living in an English-speaking country again. The universities all have
different specializations in the second semester; I’ll be in the Netherlands,
where Groningen Rijksuniversiteit focuses on disaster analysis and intervention
design. Other universities focus on religion, geopolitics, law, public health,
and transitioning societies. Finally, the universities have different
requirements for the third semester of studies; UCD requires a master’s thesis,
and encourages an internship. (Much) more on that later.
These reasons all played into why I chose the NOHA program;
thankfully it chose me as well. In just a few weeks here I’ve realized that in
humanitarian aid, as in most fields, part of getting your dream job (or just
getting an interview) depends on who you know. Besides the small group of
students (we’re 19 at UCD), the professors insist on a first-name basis and an
open-door policy. NOHA alumni return regularly to lecture on their work, and I’m
applying to their new mentoring program. If there was ever an enjoyable way of
networking my way into a job, this degree might just be it.
So far I’ve only paid for one semester; like I said, this
degree was an opportunity to critically assess the sector and whether I’ll be
equally disillusioned with the daily realities as I was with human rights law.
So far, so good; it seems like NOHA will be seeing me in the Netherlands.
-SB
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