<p>Recently I saw Global Security and Intelligence Studies program at Embry Riddle aeronautical university and it seems to be quite interesting program. Which of top universities offer similar programs?</p>
<p>No top university offers that program.</p>
<p>OP, I think that’s correct that you won’t find any top universities offering a similar degree. For one thing, most top universities would not offer some of the applied coursework that Embry Riddle offers. Nonetheless, I looked at Embry Riddle’s curriculum and it combines several areas in an interesting way. </p>
<p>So here are some possible options for you to consider:
Part of the ER curriculum consists of courses in international relations. There are many universities that offer IR majors, and several of them offer a track or a subconcentration in international security. </p>
<p>Part of the ER curriculum consists of courses in criminal justice/forensics. There are many universities that offer criminal justice majors, and a few that offer programs in forensic science. If you’re interested in cybersecurity, some universities have developed programs in that area, and many computer science, IT, informatics programs offer coursework in that area.</p>
<p>Part of the ER curriculum consists of coursework in Middle Easter studies, and there is an option that combines the ER curriculum with Chinese language studies. There are a number of universities that offer majors in Middle Eastern/Near Eastern Studies. There are also programs in Asian/East Asian Studies. These include relevant language studies, e.g., Arabic or Chinese. For relevant language study, you might look at the Language Flagship programs in critical languages: [The</a> Language Flagship - * Welcome *](<a href=“http://www.thelanguageflagship.org/]The”>http://www.thelanguageflagship.org/)</p>
<p>More recently, several universities have developed programs in Homeland Security and/or Emergency Preparedness or Emergency Management. Here is a list: [Center</a> for Homeland Defense & Security: Colleges and Universities Offering Homeland Security Programs](<a href=“http://www.chds.us/?partners/institutions]Center”>http://www.chds.us/?partners/institutions)</p>
<p>So a lot depends on your particular interests, and what you might plan to do with such a major. If you have an interest in one of more of the particular areas listed above, you might be able to combine some of them in your studies through various major/minor/certificate combinations, though you probably couldn’t come up with quite the same combination as the ER curriculum. I’ll leave it to you to search for the particular schools that offer the areas that interest you.</p>
<p>zapfino thanks a lot, your post was very helpful.
I’ve found that interdisciplinary program at woodrow wilson in Princeton is also very “nice”, and in some aspects similar to that in Embry Riddle. Though it will be very hard for me to transfer to Princeton.
Yesterday I did some research on other similar programs and it seems that some schools in UK, particularly St.Andrews, Kings College and Brunel University offer great programs in Security studies.
zapfino, can you rate this program in Embry Riddle? Is it highly regarded in prospective fields?</p>
<p>Damn…they don’t have transfer admission.</p>
<p>Take a look at the Jackson School at the University of Washington
[Jackson</a> School of International Studies - Office of Student Services](<a href=“http://jsis.washington.edu/advise/catalog/is_ba.shtml]Jackson”>http://jsis.washington.edu/advise/catalog/is_ba.shtml)
and the Dept. of International Relations at Boston U.
[International</a> Relations Boston University](<a href=“http://www.bu.edu/ir/]International”>The Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies)</p>
<p>University of Maryland University College offers some of these programs.
Note that this is not the University of Maryland that you might be thinking of, either in College Park or in Baltimore County. It’s a separate arm mostly aimed at serving non-traditional students, working adults, etc. It wouldn’t be a traditional “college” experience, as far as I can tell. But they do offer majors and certificates in related areas.</p>
<p>You shouldn’t specialize your education in something like this unless you are already working in a related field.</p>
<p>If you are interested in security and intelligence, learn Computer Science and learn how to apply it to fields like IT Security and Forensics. Or major in something like Accounting, which is the backbone of most major investigations (money tracing). You can use GIS to aid geospatial intelligence efforts.</p>
<p>There are other examples, but the point is to give yourself a specialized skill, but with broad employment opportunities.</p>
<p>If you are set on going to school for this sort of thing I’d just do a Poli Sci or IR major.</p>
<p>This type of degree will do nothing to help you work in this field, it just won’t. I’d only recommend if you are currently in the military and want to make the jump into the officer ranks.</p>
<p>As a police officer, programs in intelligence appeal to me. I am aware of the UK status of security and intelligence studies. </p>
<p>Kings and Brunel are the top providers for such programs probably in Europe. Then again, maybe our institutions opt for UK study for reasons of politics.</p>
<p>Ok intel people… want a degree in Intel? Look at schools around DC, JMU, GMU, Georgetown, UMD, GWU. GMU and JMU offer intel degrees and GIS degrees because they can get their students internships at places like NGA, DIA, FBI, and CIA. If that isn’t for you look into Stats I know a lot of analysts with Stats degrees and Economic degrees. You have to look at the Intel field like you would Engineering, “what specialty do you want to get into?”.</p>
<p>Area studies is another route into Intelligence. Pick the geographic region that most interests you and focus on that, with International Relations and other social studies coursework.</p>
<p>If you want to venture out of DC, look at Mercyhurst University. They have an intelligence studies program.</p>
<p>But as a 25+ year Intelligence professional, I will tell you most people in the field don’t take a degree majoring in it. As other posters have noted, they major in a specific field and then apply that in Intelligence. For many years there have been Masters programs in Security Studies; it makes sense to specialize after you have amore broad-based education.</p>