 Master / Postgraduate Diploma in Contemporary Diplomacy 
The Master / Postgraduate Diploma in Contemporary Diplomacy offers working diplomats and international relations professionals an opportunity for accredited postgraduate level education. The programme includes a 10-day residential workshop in Malta followed by 16 to 20 months of online study. The residential workshop focuses on practical skills, while online areas of study range from the building blocks of diplomacy (Diplomatic Theory and Practice, Bilateral Diplomacy, Multilateral Diplomacy) through to contemporary topics (Language and Diplomacy, Development Diplomacy, E-Diplomacy and more).
Flexible: You design your study programme, deciding on the Postgraduate Diploma or Master’s degree, and selecting from our wide range of courses. You decide when and where to study, and even when to begin. Practical and Affordable: Programme fees cover participation and accommodation for the ten-day workshop in Malta and the entire online course tuition. Even better, with online study you don’t need to leave your job and lose income. All you need is a computer connected to the Internet! Relevant: Courses cover traditional and contemporary topics in diplomacy, and are kept relevant through discussion of current events and trends. Faculty members include practising and retired diplomats with both theoretical expertise and practical experience in the field. Personalised: During the residential workshop you meet your classmates and lecturers, extending your professional network. The personalised approach continues during the online courses, with small group sizes. The emphasis is on learning together, drawing on the experience and knowledge of participants as well as lecturers. Effective: The programme is highly rated by former participants, who have seen immediate and lasting benefits ranging from personal development to career advances.
The Master/Postgraduate Diploma in Contemporary Diplomacy has European postgraduate accreditation through the Faculty of Arts at the University of Malta, making it recognised worldwide.
Programme Structure The Master / Postgraduate Diploma in Contemporary Diplomacy consists of a compulsory 10-day workshop in Malta followed by 16 to 20 months of online learning, including writing a Master's dissertation. The option of completing up to two of the online courses before enrolling in the programme offers additional flexibility. Please see University of Malta Accredited Courses to learn more about this option. The programme language is English, giving non-native speakers a valuable opportunity to practise and hone their skills at expressing and explaining work-related concepts in this international language. Faculty members include high ranking practising and retired diplomats as well as renowned academics in the field of diplomacy and international relations. For further details please visit our faculty page.
The compulsory residential workshop focuses on building skills used in diplomatic practice. Seminars are drawn from the following:
You will need a notebook or laptop computer for participation in the Malta workshop. If you cannot bring a computer with you, please contact us for assistance (we can offer the use of a desktop terminal in the workshop room). An important benefit of the workshop is meeting other course participants and faculty members face-to-face. This personal contact makes the online learning phase richer and more rewarding. Participants tell us that they keep in touch with classmates and faculty members long after the programme ends and the resulting professional network is highly valuable in their work.
Phase 2: Choose your Online Courses During the online learning phase, you return home and complete five online courses of your own choice, each lasting ten weeks. Participants usually choose one course during each of the five sessions of the programme, although two courses may be taken simultaneously if this suits your schedule better. Participation in the programme involves seven to ten hours of study time per week (based on taking one online course at a time). Courses cover a wide range of both traditional and contemporary topics in diplomacy, many of them not taught elsewhere. Please see the provisional schedule below, and visit our Course Catalogue for a full list of courses and their descriptions. Interaction takes place via the Internet through an online classroom. Each week, participants read the provided lecture text, adding questions, comments and references in the form of hypertext entries. Lecturers and other participants read and respond to these entries, creating interaction based on the lecture text. During the week, participants complete additional online activities (for example, further discussion via blogs or forums, quizzes, group tasks, simulations or short assignments). At the end of the week, participants and lecturers meet online in a chat room to discuss the week’s topic. Evaluation is based on participation and several assignments for each course. Discussion and interaction with course lecturers and among participants improves and enhances individual study of course topics. We keep online class groups small to allow for rich collaborative learning. After successful completion of the introductory workshop and the online learning phase, you may choose whether to receive the Postgraduate Diploma or to proceed with writing your Master's dissertation. Phase 3: Write your Dissertation If you aim for the Master in Contemporary Diplomacy degree, you will prepare a 25 000 word dissertation on a topic of your choice under the personal online guidance of a research supervisor selected from Diplo's faculty members. You may decide whether to write your dissertation over a four month or eight month period.
Provisional Schedule for 2011 (subject to possible changes)
Introductory Workshop in Malta: 31 January - 9 February, 2011 Online Learning Session 1: week of 21 February to week of 25 April, 2011
Online Learning Session 2: week of 9 May to week of 11 July, 2011
Online Learning Session 3: week of 25 July to week of 26 September, 2011
Online Learning Session 4: week of 10 October to week of 12 December, 2011
Online Learning Session 5: week of 20 February to week of 23 April, 2012
Who Should Apply This programme will be of interest to:
Words from Former Participants Giving up employment to study full time was not an option. Diplo gave me the opportunity to continue learning, attain academic knowledge and proved an extremely flexible and pragmatic solution. Lively class interactions, coherent approaches, quite challenging observations with a very professional, supportive and extremely friendly team will keep you motivated and on right track. I would never have expected communication with someone from the other side of the world to be so eloquent and efficient. Alban Dermaku - Project Officer, International Civilian Office / I can now train younger diplomats who enter the diplomatic service with the knowledge and theoretical expertise that I have gained through the PGD programme. I definitely highly recommend this PGD programme to all who wish to equip themselves with the necessary knowledge for the 21st Century and beyond! Anne Namakau Mutelo - Deputy Director, Western and Eastern Europe, Bilateral Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Namibia The course was extremely fulfilling and beneficial to me and has prepared me even more for my new career path in the Diplomatic Service. Although challenged sometimes, I truly enjoyed all of the courses offered in the programme, they will all become very useful to me. The Bilateral and Multilateral courses in particular are very relevant to my daily assignment as a Foreign Service Officer. I fully recommend the course not only to Diplomats and Foreign Service Officers, but to individuals who are interested in expanding their knowledge and experience in a global environment. Sandra N. Poitier - Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Bahamas
Financial Assistance DiploFoundation offers a limited number of partial scholarships to assist diplomats from developing countries to attend the Postgraduate Diploma in Contemporary Diplomacy only. Candidates wishing to be considered for these scholarships should include a letter outlining their interest in the course and their financial situation with the application package. Financial assistance is not available to cover the additional fees for the Master's programme. As Diplo's ability to offer scholarship support is limited, candidates are strongly encouraged to seek scholarship funding directly from local or international institutions. Our guide to “Finding Scholarships for Online Study” may provide you with some useful starting points.
Tuition The fee for the Postgraduate Diploma in Contemporary Diplomacy is 7930 euros. The fee can be paid in instalments, with the first instalment due upon acceptance into the programme. After successful completion of the Postgraduate Diploma, participants who choose to continue to the Master's degree pay an additional fee of 2470 euros. The fee covers:
The fee does not include travel expenses to Malta for the workshop. A non-refundable application fee of 100 euros must be submitted with the application package. On acceptance into the programme, the amount of the application fee will be deducted from the course fee.
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