About the Department
The Department of Governance, Peace and Security Studies (GPSS), formerly known as the Centre for Security Studies, began offering security sector training and education in 2007 under the assistance of the Southern African Defence and Security Management (SADSEM) network. Initial training programs in the form of executive short courses focused on three core areas namely; civil-military relations, security sector governance and parliamentary oversight of defence and security. These programs have benefitted over 500 security sector personnel, legislators, media practitioners and civil society organizations among others.
Since 2009, the Department has been running a Bachelor of Arts in Security Studies program, which has trained over 150 graduates to date. The program has grown over the years and has proved to be the most important professional training program for all security sector officer and managers in Malawi. It’s multi-disciplinary nature has made it attractive to candidates from all backgrounds within the defence and security sectors in the Malawi and beyond.
GPSS has emerged from a faculty restructuring process which Mzuzu University implemented in 2017. This process resulted into the creation of a Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in order to bring all elements of social sciences under one roof. Thus, in January 2018, the Centre for Security Studies (CSS) transformed into GPSS within the Faculty of Humanities and Social sciences. By focusing on governance, peace and security studies, the department brings together the disciplines of political science, public administration, public management, and peace and security studies under one roof in such a coordinated and coherent manner that allows for development of knowledge through parallel academic programming. At the same time, the department benefits from the cross-breeding of these sub-disciplines through generation of high quality research. This allows the department the flexibility to introduce more dynamic academic programs for both generic and upgrading students, thereby increasing the competitiveness of Mzuzu University.
In 2020 the Department introduced three more undergraduate programs. These include Bachelor of Arts (International Relations and Diplomacy); Bachelor of Arts (Politics and Governance) and Bachelor of Arts (Development Studies). This makes GPSS one of the biggest Departments in the University according to the number of programs it runs. All the programmes are accredited by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE).