As a master’s degree holder in international relations, you are a hot cake waiting to be unleashed on the world. Your master’s degree removes all limitations on your path towards a successful career.
This is because your chance of getting good job will never be limited to Nigeria alone; you will have chance and opportunity of getting good job in several other countries. You are already an international personality!
If you want to make any impact in international relations, you need a master’s degree in that course. You should not just go for the degree because you want higher pay or better working places; you should go into the degree because of the benefits of self improvement and contributing to the world on a wider scope.
Before you ever apply for master’s degree in international relations, you need to decide on the particular type of degree you want to apply for. Are you applying for academic degree or professional degree? Professional degree is best for you if you plan on building a career in international affairs arena.
Those going for academic degree will end up in classrooms, and university departments and they will be focused mainly on specific discipline in international relations. This is unlike a professional master’s degree holder in international relations, whose scope is multifaceted and multidisciplinary.
Master’s degree in international relations will enable you develop your language skills. You will have the opportunity to learn new languages that will make you acceptable globally. Your organizational skills too will be developed a great deal than ever before.
The program helps to improve on your analytical skills and your interpersonal skills, making you able to work as a member of a team and this will further enhance your professional abilities.
In order to make an impact in the profession, it is very important that you have a post-degree objective already in place. This will enable you chart your course even while the degree program is ongoing. Determining what you want to do after the program helps you to determine the particular area of international relations to focus on.
Some of the popular areas of international relations you can focus on are
- International finance
- Human rights
- International development
- International security.
Aside choosing your career path in international relations, you also need to decide on the choice of institution. There are so many institutions offering masters degree in international relations in Nigeria today. Unfortunately, not all of them offer in-depth training.
You need to properly access each of the schools and decide if they offer the program quantitatively before you register. One of the best ways to determine how reliable an institution is will be to ask past master’s degree in international relations students, who have graduated from that particular institution.
What to Consider
When investigating the institution, you need to provide answers to the questions below:
- Do they offer networking opportunities and career services?
- Are there alumni of the school already working in your chosen area of specification?
- Does the school require proficiency in any particular language before you can apply for master’s degree in international relations?
- Does any of the members of staff in the faculty have interest or involved in your particular area of interest?
- How many courses will you have to take in that your area of interest?
- What are the specialties the school actually offers?
- What are the core courses required by the school at first degree level for admission into your particular area of interest in international relations?
It takes time to apply for the program and you need to provide good answers to the questions above so that you will not end up wasting your time and money on application processing. Make sure the program you apply for will enable you achieve that your long-range career goals.
Some Benefits
Some other benefits of having master’s degree in international relations are highlighted below:
- You will have opportunity to develop a network across the globe and this can help link you to your next big job in any part of the world.
- It prepares you for your workplace and impute into you relevant career development course works and programs.
- Your workplace can enable you link up with those who can help you up to that dream job in international relations.
Requirements
- Ideally, you are supposed to already have working experience in related field, but many of the schools in Nigeria do not consider this; many even offer admission to students, who just finish their first degrees.
- Most of the institutions in Nigeria offering masters degree in international relations require candidates to possess bachelor’s degree in any recognized university in Nigeria or aboard.
- Some schools also demand that any applying candidate must be Foreign Service Officer that is already admitted into Diplomatic Cadre in the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- You are required to provide letters of recommendation and attach same to your application form
- You are expected to attach a cover letter to your résumé too detailing why you desire to study the course and what impact you feel the course will have on you and the general populace.
Requirements differ from one school to another; this is why you need to properly investigate the school’s admission procedures and know their requirements before you apply for master’s degree in international relations in that school.
Some institutions accept only one recommendation letter, but there are some other ones that insist on at least two recommendation letters. The letters can be written by your undergraduate degree project supervisor.
It can be written by a professor, either retired or in service. Make sure anyway that the said recommender writes positive things about you and that they should also add something unique in the mix to make your application stand out.
Application form is downloaded online. All documents are also attached to the application form right online. Needless to say, you are required to add your contact address on the application form for easy contact by the school authority.
You may also want to compare the cost of registration as demanded by individual schools before applying for master’s degree in international relations in that institution. Make sure the course is accredited in the particular institution before you apply there.
please how will i know the school in nigeria to go for my masters in International Relation,