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UNIVERSITY OF CANTERBURY
Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha
Template 2: Qualification Change -2013
Proposal Description
Purpose of the proposal
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The purpose of this proposal is to amend the structure of the Honours programme in Diplomacy and International
Relations. Taught courses in the DIPL degree will be changed from full year to one semester and reduced in size from
0.25 EFTS to 0.125 EFTS. The research component of the degree (DIPL 480) will remain a compulsory 0.25 EFTS course.
Justification
The primary justification for these changes is to improve the educational breadth and attractiveness to prospective
students of the Diplomacy and International Relations (DIPL) Honours programme. The DIPL programme has been a
model for coherent interdisciplinary postgraduate teaching for over a decade. Recently, however, it has been more
difficult to offer an attractive array of courses to students due to the full-year, 0.25 EFTS (30 point) offerings at Honours
level and the reduction in numbers of academic staff teaching in the area of International Relations. Changing from fullyear to single semester, 0.125 EFTS (15 point) courses will allow us to increase our offerings at this level whilst
maintaining a high level of teaching and assessment for our Honours cohort. While this change will be accompanied by a
reduction in the size of the courses on offer, we believe that the selection of courses will allow the students to
significantly develop both the breadth and depth of their knowledge of diplomacy and international relations over the
course of the year.
This change to the courses offered in the DIPL programme will allow students to engage with a wider variety of material
relevant to the study of diplomacy and international relations whilst also allowing us to redeploy teaching resources at
the undergraduate level. The teaching efficiencies are gained by allowing staff that may be on leave for a semester to
teach into the DIPL programme in the other semester. In addition, teaching time is freed up to allow the scheduling of
more courses at undergraduate level, as not all staff will be required to teach two DIPL courses per year.
In addition to providing greater breadth to the subjects taken at Honours level, this change gives greater flexibility to
students, as it allows for new enrolments at the beginning of semester two, which had been impossible with full year
courses. As a result, students who need to complete one or two undergraduate courses prior to taking Honours will not
be required to wait until the following year in order to begin their Honours degree. The 0.25 EFTS research component
of the DIPL programme will not be affected by this change, but students may choose to condense their research
component into a single semester or spread it over the course of a year depending on how they structure the remainder
of their course workload. Importantly, this change will not restrict the opportunity for students to take 0.25 EFTS
courses in other departments, provided that their choices work with their other DIPL courses and are approved by the
Head of the programme.
Finally, the conversion to 0.125 EFTS courses allows us to integrate more easily and flexibly with many of our partner
departments. Firstly, the change creates a consistent EFTS pattern within the Department of Philosophy and Political
Science. Secondly, it allows smoother integration with the existing offerings in Law, which currently stand as 0.125 EFTS
courses. This change permits greater flexibility for students when considering which Law courses may fit with their
programme of study. Furthermore, it has been indicated to us that the availability of courses on international trade
would be considered desirable from an employer perspective, so we are committed to working with other departments
in the university, particularly the Department of Economics and Finance, to add further courses at Honours level that
will work well with our existing offerings. While we have not yet made that arrangement as a part of this proposal, the
fact that Economics and Finance offer 0.125 EFTS courses at Honours level will make the integration of their relevant
course/s into the DIPL programme much easier in the future.
In sum, we believe that through these changes we can continue to offer a programme that is both attractive to potential
students and offers high standard of education at the Honours level as well as achieving greater teaching efficiencies.
We will also maintain and develop the more practical initiatives that have been part of the DIPL programme in the past,
in particular the field trip to Wellington and the series of professional seminars held each year in the fourth term of
teaching. In doing so, the DIPL programme will continue to be a vehicle for the production of highly employable
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graduates and will generate a greater enrolment at Honours level for the Political Science, Law, History and European
Studies programmes.
Acceptability
This proposal has been circulated to a variety of other universities (The Australian National University, The University of
New South Wales (ADFA), Victoria University Wellington, the University of Otago, the University of Auckland), student
groups (UCPols, Artsoc, Lawsoc) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for consultation and responses that have
been received are available on request.
The feedback from the student organisations and from informal discussions with our Honours cohort in 2012 and 2013
show strong support for the move toward semester-long courses. Students are attracted by the flexibility of being able
to start in semester two and by the breadth of offerings. Further, students have tended to support the move toward 15
point courses, as this offers them the chance to engage with more areas that are of interest to them. In short, student
feedback on this proposal is overwhelmingly positive, which gives support to our belief that these changes will lead to
the creation of a more appealing Honours programme that will attract greater student numbers in the years ahead.
Feedback from international relations academics at other universities in Australia and New Zealand is also
predominantly positive. All agree that semesterisation is desirable at Honours level, although there is a suggestion from
Robert Ayson of the Centre for Strategic Studies at Victoria University that .25 EFTS courses might be more manageable
for students at this level. We are aware of the potential workload issues for students and will work hard to ensure that
the assessment workload is commensurate with the 0.125 EFTS loading of each course. There are also some
suggestions for the addition of further courses, particularly in the area of international trade, which we will consider in
the coming year.
In developing this proposal, we have benchmarked against other comparable Honours programmes at other New
Zealand universities. The change to 0.125 EFTS courses aligns our programme with that offered at the University of
Auckland and with the Public Policy Honours programme at Victoria University. This indicates that the conversion to
0.125 EFTS courses is not out of step with other leading Honours programmes in New Zealand.
Goals of the programme
To provide graduate students with a thorough and comprehensive postgraduate training as a basis for either further
research or future career opportunities.
The postgraduate Honours programme in Diplomacy and International Relations at the University of Canterbury was
introduced in 2001, in part after the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade had requested a more focused
and practical training in foreign policy-making and international affairs. The programme is unique in that it offers a
multi-disciplinary introduction to the advanced study of foreign policy and international affairs.
The programme aims to equip students with many skills, foremost of which is a theoretical and historical understanding
of international affairs. Students will learn to assess ideas and problems from a broad perspective, crossing the various
disciplines associated with the study of international relations. This range of transferable skills and qualities makes DIPL
graduates highly employable in a variety of fields including a variety of government ministries and international
organisations as well as preparing students for further study of international affairs at postgraduate level.
Graduate profile
The Diplomacy and International Relations programme endeavours to:
 allow students to develop an advanced knowledge and understanding of selected subjects in the field of
political science.
 enable students to develop existing abilities to find, analyse and critique primary documents, secondary
sources, and other materials relevant to political science.
 enable students to resolve issues both within the field in an original and creative way.
 enable students to engage in creative research in political science.
 reinforce students’ transferable skills such as the ability to communicate effectively.
Educational outcomes
Knowledge and understanding
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Provide opportunities for students to develop and demonstrate:
 an advanced knowledge of the conceptual frameworks, models, principles and ethics of the fields of diplomacy
and international politics.
 an advanced knowledge of the main research procedures employed
 an advanced knowledge of the relevant social, economic, political, historical, philosophical, ethical and cultural
contexts
 advanced knowledge and understanding of current developments in the field
 how the boundaries of knowledge are advanced through research.
Intellectual skills
Provide opportunities for students to develop and demonstrate ability:
 to think critically about the nature and purposes of rules, principles, procedures, and politics.
 to deal with complex problems within international relations, diplomacy and international law, studied both
systematically and creatively, and to show originality in tackling and solving these problems.
Practical skills
Provide opportunities for students to develop and demonstrate ability to:
 assemble information from all relevant source materials within the field
 synthesise the relevant literature and research in relation to a topic.
 undertake independent research in related fields.
Transferable skills
Provide opportunities for students to develop and demonstrate ability to:
 effectively communicate knowledge and or an argument in writing and verbally.
 work effectively on their own and in groups.
 use some electronic information management tools, both basic tools, such as word-processing, email, use of the
world wide web, and some more specialised electronic information retrieval systems and database packages
employed in research and data analysis.
 conduct research using primary and secondary materials, critically analyse research materials, draw
conclusions and extrapolate trends based on their analysis.
Outcome statement
Graduates from the Diplomacy and International Relations Honours programme will have an advanced knowledge of
major issues and theories in the areas of International Relations, International Law, European Studies and History. They
will have also gained insight into the practice of diplomacy and international relations through participation in the field
trip and the professional seminar series. More generally, DIPL graduates will have developed excellent research and
writing skills, the capacity for critical analysis, and improved public speaking and presentation skills. This range of
transferable skills and qualities will make DIPL graduates highly employable in a variety of fields including a variety of
government ministries and international organisations.
Programme overview
The entry requirement for the DIPL degree will remain as it currently stands. Applicants may come from a variety of
backgrounds, but will be expected to have an A- average in their 300 level courses. Following enrolment, students will
be welcomed on an induction day in the week prior to the start of classes. In the first week of the semester, each
student will be advised on course choices and will be assigned a supervisor for their DIPL 480 research project
Students will enrol in two compulsory courses - DIPL401 Diplomacy and International Relations and the 30-point
DIPL480 Supervised Research paper – and will choose five other 15-point courses from those available. DIPL 401
Diplomacy and International Relations constitutes a compulsory ‘core’ course for the degree and will provide an
essential introduction to key principles of international relations and diplomacy for students. This is particularly
important for those who have come from a non-international relations background. Those who start in semester two
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will be advised carefully on the choices available to them and will be required to take DIPL 401 in semester one of the
following year.
DIPL 410 (Principles of Public International Law) will be compulsory for students who wish to take one of the Law
courses, DIPL 411-413. However students will only be able to take one of DIPL 411-413.
The field trip to Wellington (which is optional and not assessed) will take place during one of the teaching breaks and
will involve meetings with a variety of diplomatic officials, government representatives and public servants over a twoday period.
The taught courses available will be:
DIPL 401 Diplomacy and International Relations; DIPL403 Ethics and International Relations; DIPL 404 Intervention and
International Relations; DIPL 405 International Human Rights; DIPL 406 Chinese Politics; DIPL407 Political Economy of
Development; DIPL 408 Special topic; DIPL 409 Special Topic; DIPL 410 Principles of Public International Law; DIPL 411
International Trade Law; DIPL 412 Law of the Sea; DIPL 413 Antarctic Legal Studies; DIPL 420 European Union Foreign
and Security Policy; DIPL 421 European Union Development Policy; DIPL 428 Issues in Modern European History (.25
EFTS)
Of these courses, DIPL 403-407 are co-coded with courses in the Political Science Honours programme; DIPL 420 and
421 are co-coded from the European Union Studies Honours programme; and DIPL 428 is co-coded from the History
Honours programme. DIPL 410-413 are taught by the School of Law.
Confirmation of NZQA exit level of qualification to go on the New Zealand Qualifications Framework
NZQA Level 8
Proposed teaching/delivery methods
Each 0.125 EFTS course will consist of 24 contact hours spread evenly over the 12-week semester. Classes will involve a
combination of lectures, seminars and discussion. The supervised research paper (DIPL 480) will be based primarily on a
regular supervisory meeting with some additional classes on research design and methods scheduled at the beginning of
the semester. There is an optional field trip to Wellington and a series of professional seminars held in term 4 each year.
Assessment procedures
Assessment varies across the courses offered in the DIPL programme. The most common forms of assessment will be
essays and examinations. Some courses will also require oral presentations, journals, and reports. Given the reduced
EFTS values of these courses, it is envisaged that each course will require the submission of around 4,000-5,000 words
of written research work. DIPL 480 will require the completion of an 8,000-10,000-word dissertation. There will be
various ‘landmarks’ (research plans, partial drafts and oral presentations) that students will be expected to meet over
the course of their DIPL 480 research and failure to meet these landmarks on the required date will result in loss of
marks off the final submission. Student assessment workloads will be closely monitored in the first years of the
programme to ensure that they are both manageable for the students and sufficiently rigorous for Honours level.
Resources
No new resources will be required for these changes. The university currently has sufficient physical facilities, expertise
and library resources to provide a high quality degree in this area. The structure of this degree also means that staff
expertise is drawn upon from a variety of areas (POLS, EURO, LAWS, HIST) across the university.
Plans for monitoring programme quality
Assessment for this course will be externally monitored through an existing arrangement with the Department of
Political Science and International Relations at Victoria University. In addition, staff from contributing programmes will
review the DIPL degree on an annual basis. All courses will be subject to regular teaching and course surveys and
enrolments in courses will be closely monitored to ensure that a popular and high-quality set of courses is available to
students. Care will also be taken in managing periods of staff leave to ensure that courses central to the degree can be
offered each year.
Calendar Form
Qualification Regulations
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UC Calendar 2013 Page 302: Schedule to the Regulations for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honours: Diplomacy
and International Relations
DELETE entry for Diplomacy and International Relations
INSERT
DIPL 401, DIPL 480, and five courses from DIPL 401-429 subject to the approval of the Programme Co-ordinator.
Students may choose no more than two courses from DIPL 410-413, and one of these courses must be DIPL 410.
P. A major in any subject and, normally, an A- grade point average in the 300-level courses. Applicants with a B+
average in their 300 level courses are encouraged to apply and will be considered on a case-by-case basis, with
preference given to applicants who have completed their undergraduate degree in history, law, political science,
and/or a language other than English. Candidates with professional backgrounds in international affairs may be
accepted under some circumstances.
UC Calendar 2013 Page 534 Diplomacy and International Relations: Postgraduate Courses
DELETE DIPL 401-427 inclusive
DELETE
DIPL 429-443 inclusive
INSERT
Entries for: DIPL 401 Diplomacy and International Relations, DIPL 403 Ethics and International Relations, DIPL
404 Intervention and International Relations, DIPL 405 International Human Rights, DIPL 406 Chinese Politics, DIPL 407
Political Economy of Development, DIPL 408 Special Topic, DIPL 409 Special Topic, DIPL 410 Principles of Public
International Law, DIPL 411 International Trade Law, DIPL 412 Law of the Sea, DIPL 413 Antarctic Legal Studies, DIPL 420
European Union Foreign and Security Policy and DIPL 421 European Union Development Policy.
Prescription entry for new courses.
DIPL 401 Diplomacy and International Relations
0.1250 EFTS
This course offers an introduction to the main paradigms in international relations and the analysis of foreign policy and diplomacy.
P: Subject to the approval of the Programme Director
DIPL401-14S1 (C) Semester 1
DIPL 403 Ethics and International Relations 0.1250 EFTS
This course reviews topics in political philosophy that are pertinent to international relations and international law: e.g. sovereignty,
world poverty, just and unjust wars.
P: Subject to the approval of the Head of School
R: POLS 401 before 2014; POLS 403 EQ: POLS 403
DIPL403-14S2 (C) Semester 2
DIPL 404 Intervention and International Relations 0.1250 EFTS
This course examines the theory and history of intervention in international relations. A variety of contemporary examples of
humanitarian intervention are studied in order to shed light on the ongoing difficulty of using military force for the promotion of
human rights.
P: Subject to the approval of the Head of School
R: POLS 422 before 2014; POLS 404
EQ: POLS 404
DIPL404-14S1 (C) Semester 1
DIPL 405 International Human Rights
0.1250 EFTS
This course examines the growth of the human rights movement over the past 70 years and problems associated with creating a
universal set of human rights norms. Topics include cultural relativism vs. universal norms, economic vs. political rights, and
individual vs. group rights.
P: Subject to the approval of the Head of School
R: POLS 420, DIPL 418 before 2014; POLS 405
EQ: POLS 405
DIPL405-14S2 (C) Semester 2
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DIPL 406 Chinese Politics
0.1250 EFTS
This course uses an issues-based approach to help students develop an in-depth understanding of Chinese politics in the current era.
P: Subject to the approval of the Head of School
R: POLS 411 and DIPL 431 before 2014; POLS 406 EQ: POLS 406
DIPL406-14S2 (C) Semester 2
DIPL 407 The Political Economy of Development
0.1250 EFTS
This course examines the historical major economic, political, and social changes in the world economy. These include factors
contributing to increases in economics performance, changes in the form of government, technological change (including
industrialization), and episodes of integration and disintegration of the global economy. The course will also survey the impact of
colonialism and the development of the nation-state and examines the theoretical approaches to economic development and
growth.
P: Subject to the approval of the Head of School
EQ: POLS 407, ILAP 671
DIPL407-14S2 (C) Semester 2
DIPL 410 Principles of Public International Law
0.1250 EFTS
P:Subject to the approval of the Programme Co-ordinator
R :LAWS 324; DIPL 402 before 2014.
An introduction to the foundations of public international law with emphasis on its sources, actors and issues including jurisdiction
and state responsibility.
2014, Semester One
DIPL 411 International Trade Law 0.1250 EFTS
An examination of the major agreements and institutions relating to international trade and development.
Subject to the approval of the Programme Co-ordinator
Semester Two
LAWS 338; DIPL 402 before 2014.
DIPL 412 Law of the Sea 0.1250 EFTS
An introduction to the law of the sea as codified by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
P: Subject to the approval of the Programme Co-ordinator R: LAWS 364; DIPL 402 before 2014.
DIPL412-14S1 (C) Semester 1
DIPL 413 Antarctic Legal Studies 0.1250 EFTS
Not offered in 2014
An introduction to the legal regime that manages activities taking place in Antarctica and on (or in and under) the Southern ocean
and to the challenges it faces.
P: Subject to the approval of the Programme Co-ordinator R: LAWS 336; DIPL 402 before 2014.
DIPL 420 European Foreign and Security Policy 0.1250 EFTS
This course examines current European Union foreign policy activities which include peace and reconciliation; a growing security
role for Europe in terms of an autonomous EU military capacity; and an international diplomatic role.
P: Subject to the approval of the Programme Co-ordinator
R: EURO 410, DIPL 426 before 2014 EQ: EURO 457
DIPL420-14S1 (C) Semester 1
DIPL 421 EU Development Policy 0.1250 EFTS
This course examines current European Union Development policy and addresses humanitarian and poverty initiatives, the
implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, trade preferences as well as the growing securitization of Development
under the EEAS.
P: Subject to the approval of the Programme Co-ordinator
R: EURO 410, DIPL 426 before 2014
EQ: EURO 458
DIPL421-14S2 (C) Semester 2
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