Gain the skills and on-the-ground experience needed to respond to humanitarian crises around the world.

Please note that SIT will make every effort to maintain its programs as described. To respond to emergent situations, like COVID-19, however, SIT may have to change or cancel programs.

Why a Master's in Humanitarian Assistance and Crisis Management?

Political upheaval, natural disasters, forced displacement, public health emergencies, and other major events have resulted in humanitarian crises on a massive scale. Through excursions, fieldwork, and experiential learning across at least three continents, this program gives you hands-on, graduate-level training in humanitarian assistance and crisis management.

Spend your first two semesters in Amman, Jordan, and Kampala, Uganda, which together host nearly 3 million refugees, observing humanitarian crises in starkly different geographical, political, and cultural environments. Interact with aid workers, NGOs, and refugees, as you witness humanitarian assistance and advocacy in action.

Along the way, you will design and implement crisis management plans and humanitarian programs that will aid and protect populations affected by disasters. You will also learn how to create contingency plans to assess and approach risk to ensure the safety and well-being of yourself and others in high-conflict environments and emergency situations.

On a 10-day field study trip to Istanbul, Turkey, a country that hosts the largest population of refugees in the world, you will gain expertise in humanitarian policy, diplomacy, and advocacy. Meet with the United Nations refugee agency, National NGOs, the Turkish Red Crescent, and other key organizations engaged in relief, protection, advocacy, and humanitarian diplomacy.

In your final semester, you will put your learning into practice during a 12-week field practicum at a humanitarian aid organization in Jordan, Uganda, or a place of your choosing. You will also complete a capstone paper reflecting on the experience.

Designed to prepare the next generation of leaders in humanitarian assistance and crisis management, this unique master’s degree gives you the skills and on-the-ground experience you need to stay ahead of critical issues stemming from the world’s rising number of humanitarian crises.

Program Sites

Amman, Jordan

Spend the fall semester in Jordan, home to millions of refugees and displaced persons from Palestine, Iraq, and Syria. Jordan currently hosts 2.2 million Palestinian refugees, whose displacement constitutes the longest-standing refugee crisis in the world; and 661,000 Syrian refugees registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), although it is estimated that the total number is closer to 1.5 million. You will get firsthand exposure to the humanitarian response and program of various NGOs, INGOs, and UN agencies, most notably, UNHCR, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the United Nation’s International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), during emergency, post-emergency, and resettlement phases, in collaboration with the host government.

Kampala, Uganda

You will spend the spring semester learning from Uganda’s approach to refugees and comparing its refugee policies with Jordan’s.

For more than five decades, Uganda has provided asylum to people fleeing war and persecution. When renewed conflict broke out in South Sudan in July 2016, an unprecedented number of refugees came to Uganda, doubling the refugee population in less than seven months. Uganda has since become the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa, with refugees making up 3.5 percent of the country’s total population of 39 million. Uganda currently hosts more than 1.35 million refugees, the majority from South Sudan (75 percent), the Democratic Republic of Congo (17 percent), Burundi (3 percent), and Somalia (3 percent).

With an open-door policy, Uganda maintains one of the most progressive approaches to refugee protection. The government grants refugees freedom of movement and the right to seek employment, establish businesses, and access public services such as education on par with nationals. Uganda is also party to key refugee conventions and international human rights treaties.