BSc International Disaster Management and Humanitarian Response and Spanish / Course details

On the Spanish side of the degree students will study compulsory language units (the number of credits will depend on whether students are ab-initio or post-A-Level) and the study of the culture and history of Spain and Latin America.

Teaching in Spanish in these latter areas is characterised particularly by the historically and politically contextualised study of culture and cultural practices, including in literature, visual culture and music, with thematic focus on such issues as the environment, popular culture, gender, immigration and transnationalisms, and race and ethnicity.

Crucial here is the understanding of language skills being informed by intercultural awareness and cultural knowledge being mediated by linguistic skills.

On the HCRI side of the degree students critically explore contemporary and historical issues within the broader fields of international disaster management; peace and conflict studies; and humanitarian response.

The thematic focus of the HCRI degree significantly overlaps with that of Spanish.

For instance, the investigation of environment, gender, migration, cultural norms and behaviours, power, politics, and popular culture.

As such, students will be able to apply their theoretical understanding of these broader ideas and contextualise them in different disciplinary and empirical areas.

Furthermore, teaching within HCRI is very much research led, and draws on contemporary and historical case sites from across the world.

Most of these cases are in countries where English is not the principal language.

For example, students will explore issues such as resilience, peacebuilding, relief aid, maternal mortality, and refugees in diverse contexts including Puerto Rico, China, Haiti, Venezuela, Mexico, Iraq, Japan and Cameroon.

This will make the content particularly engaging and relevant for students of Languages.

In the first, second and final year students will follow core compulsory and optional introductory modules on both sides of the degree.

In their final year students will also have the option of taking a dissertation on either side of the degree alongside their core language units and other optional units.

Students will be allocated a dissertation supervisor according to existing procedures for the respective subject areas.

Students will also be able to take one free-choice unit at levels 2 and 3, though they will not be required to do so.

In the third year of the degree students will undertake a period of residence abroad according to the School's established residence abroad requirements and provision.

It is likely that many students on this degree combination will want to undertake work placements with relevant organisations where possible; but students will also be able to take up the offer of a study placement at one of the existing partner universities in the region of study.

The course unit details listed below are those you may choose to study as part of this programme and are referred to as optional units. These are subject to change and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this programme. Although language units may show here as optional, they are a mandatory part of your modern languages degree and you will take the units relevant to your level of language in each year of study. It Is compulsory to study language at all levels of your modern languages degree.

• Provide a critical insight into destabilising events and develop an understanding and appreciation of disaster risk reduction and humanitarian response.
• Develop knowledge and understanding of key issues which inform the debates on disaster risk reduction and humanitarian response.
• Develop academic knowledge in risk and vulnerability analyses, disaster preparedness and response and the integration of development and humanitarian action.
• Foster an informed attitude on ethical issues related to humanitarianism, including international actions taken by governments, inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations in response to disasters of both natural and human origins.
• Develop strategic research methodologies and techniques, including data gathering, collation, analysis and dissemination of results in disaster risk management and humanitarian action contexts.
• Provide a comprehensive grounding in the Spanish language, literature, culture, history and linguistics, enabling you to become proficient enough in the language to live and work effectively in a Spanish-speaking environment. 
• Give students the opportunity to learn Catalan.

Insight from the field

As an International Disaster Management and Humanitarian Response student, you’ll have the opportunity to undertake field study – either here in the UK or overseas.

You’ll learn how your knowledge of disaster management and humanitarian response might be applied in the context of real-life hazards and vulnerabilities.

Residence abroad

You will  study and/or work  for up to a year in a Spanish-speaking country or countries to improve your communicative language skills in a native-speaker environment.

Your year abroad will offer the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of life in a Spanish-speaking country, and further develop your language skills.

Industry partnerships

Our pioneering partnerships with specific national and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) shape the real-world focus of our teaching, as well as offering strong industry links to key career destinations for graduates.

Partners include Save the Children, International Alert, Medecins Sans Frontieres, The Overseas Development Institute, ALNAP, Mines Advisory Group (MAG), and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

HCRI is also a World Health Organization collaboration centre.

You will also benefit from the Spanish Department's close relationship with Manchester's branch of the Instituto Cervantes, a centre for the promotion of Hispanic Cultures, which organises a range of activities throughout the year.

The IDMHR part of the degree is 100% coursework based.

This involves a variety of assessment types including essays, policy briefs, blogs, book reviews and reflective writing.

On the Spanish side of the degree, you will be assessed in various ways, including:

• written and oral examinations;
• presentations;
• coursework (which may include library research, linguistic fieldwork and data collection, or web-based research);
• in your final year, you can do a dissertation based on a research topic of your choice.

Assessment methods vary from course unit to course unit - see individual course unit listings for more information.