This week, I'll be attending FEMA's 13th Annual Higher Education Conference in Emmitsburg, MD. If a college or university has an existing emergency management or homeland security program, or wants to develop one, this is the place to be. The attendance has grown as quickly as the number of programs being offered. This year, there are more than 400 attendees.
We all know the number of degree programs has exploded in the past several years - these are the latest numbers from the conference background material.
How can you know if those programs meet any kind of agreed-upon standards for curriculum or competencies? You can't. Yet. But that is a different blog - watch for it in the next few days.
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We all know the number of degree programs has exploded in the past several years - these are the latest numbers from the conference background material.
- There are over 180 collegiate "emergency management" programs in the United States with approximately another 100 colleges and universities either investigating, proposing or developing some sort of hazard, disaster and emergency management program (degree, certificate, minor, concentration, track, focus area, specialization and the like).
- There are about 75 colleges and universities we are aware of which have some sort of homeland security, homeland defence, terrorism or terrorism-focused security studies program. There are several dozen other colleges investigating the development of some sort of homeland security program.
- In addition, there are approximately 60 schools with emergency management programs - mostly in public health and medical sectors.
How can you know if those programs meet any kind of agreed-upon standards for curriculum or competencies? You can't. Yet. But that is a different blog - watch for it in the next few days.
