Introduction

Picture: UNESCO Chair of Philosophy for Peace Archives

There is not only one way to understand peace, but rather there are as many ways of making peace(s) as there are different people and cultures.

This is one of the ideas that sustains the foundation of the International Master in Peace, Conflict and Development Studies (PEACE Master) of the Universitat Jaume I (UJI), Castellón, Spain, in the framework of the UNESCO Chair of Philosophy for Peace. The curriculum promotes specific education in peace theories, conflict, development, humanitarian aid, peace cultures, democracy, human rights, communication by peaceful means, gender and postcolonial studies. It also stresses peaceful conflict prevention and transformation.

This PEACE Master has been approved as an Official Degree by the Valencian Government (Generalitat Valenciana) in the Decree 44/2006, March 31st (DOGV núm. 5233, de 04.04.2006) and published in BOE 157, 3/7/2006, issued on June 22, 2006. It is part of the Official Postgraduate Program (Programa Oficial de Postgrado, POP), International Studies in Peace, Conflict and Development Studies, which also includes the Doctorate Program. This is why this Master is equivalent to an MA and an MPhil. It follows the convergence process of European Higher Education Area within the Bologna Framework, the current Spanish Law (Royal Decree 56/2005, January 21st), the Valencian Government Regulations and the academic criteria of UJI.

Until spring 2002, the program has taken place in the Bancaja International Center for Peace and Development Studies (CIBPD). As of October 2002, the program was relocated to the University campus. We would like to express our gratitude to the CIBPD for all the years that it has provided the program's infrastructure in the Center of Castellón, which has contributed to the strenght and success of the program. From October 2002, the Bancaja-Caja Castellón Foundation continues to provide the infrastructure in support of our administrative services in the CIBPD of the University Campus.

The PEACE Master encourages the students to work inside as well as outside the classroom. Although the courses reflect the quality of our international faculty, an important part of the education is developed by means of the interaction among/between the students, professionals and graduate students with previous rich experiences and also sharing experiences outside the classroom. Through the different learning activities we tend to create an intercultural community which integrates cultures in order to make peace.

The faculty of the PEACE Master mainly consists of professors and instructors from universities, organisations and institutions throughout the world. Given this structure, we are able to attract some of the best instructors in the world from varied disciplines. The nature of small class size (normally between 15 to 25 students per course) also allows students a high level of accessibility to their teachers.

A student enrolled in this program should be prepared to find him or herself sitting next to students from Bosnia, Bhutan, China, Nicaragua, Rwanda or Russia, to name just a few of the countries which our students call home. The individuals themselves often reflect the cross pressures and dislocations from the modern world. Some will have experienced wars and violent conflicts that the rest of the world has only known through the media.

Upon completion of a semester all the students will have had cultural perceptions and assumptions about other societies, as well as one's own, challenged, and in many cases significantly modified, as a new web of relationships comes to form the student's life. Our staff has seen intimate friendships develop between students from very diverse backgrounds. We believe that this program provides students with an understanding of peace, conflict and development that goes beyond merely academic understanding.

Our effort is to create a diverse community of learning focusing on our most difficult and most important problems. Inevitably students learn that solutions to these problems can only begin to occur if they recognise and begin to understand the various cultures that create this rapidly changing world. The educational experience in the PEACE Master of UJI is therefore a microcosm of the foundations of conflict transformation by peaceful means; for it fosters the respect and understanding of others' ways of life.