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Academic education for humanitarian workers

  • Page updated onMarch 16, 2025
Academic education for humanitarian workers
Photo: Bruno Abarca

There is no single path to access the most common professional profiles in international cooperation and humanitarian action in health. A simple glance at multiple professional cooperation profiles on Linkedin and job offers on any platform allows you to see the great diversity of options to achieve similar work objectives, or at least within the same professional sector.

In any case, a good education is essential for aid workers. In many cases, candidates are typically required to have a solid academic background in public health, international cooperation, and project management.

Undergraduate education and intercalated BSc courses in global health

While a university degree does shape future career options in humanitarian action, it only goes so far. In fact, only a minority of professionals, even within health-focused humanitarian organizations, have undergraduate degrees in health sciences. Many roles call for skills in fields like administration or social sciences. Furthermore, postgraduate studies, short-course certifications, and sector-specific experience can help shape one’s career path in various directions. That said, there are many positions in international health cooperation that do require a degree in medicine, nursing, or pharmacy, though only a few specify a particular field or specialization. Often, any of these degrees will suffice if (of course) the candidate meets the additional qualifications.

In the UK and other countries, several universities offer intercalated courses (Bachelor of Science or BSc) in global health, humanitarian aid, international disaster management, and related fields. These one-year programs are only available by integrating them partway through the undergraduate studies of certain related degrees. This approach, which is virtually unknown in countries like Spain (and many others), allows students who have already completed several years of their degree to finish a study plan similar to a master’s program before graduation. Additionally, it offers a great opportunity to learn or improve a different language (English in this case), experience living abroad, and start building connections with others who may one day work in the sector from different contexts.

Postgraduate training for international health aid workers

Masters and diplomas in public health

Training in public health, global health, or humanitarian health, whether completed nationally or abroad, is not only a requirement for many positions in international health cooperation but is practically a highly desirable foundational background for any of them. This type of training is also often accessible to individuals from both health sciences and social sciences, enabling public health work to be truly multidisciplinary.

There are countless Master's (and diploma) programs in Public Health, each with different curricula. Generally, all of these programs focus on addressing health, health issues, and their determinants from a population perspective. They typically cover subjects such as epidemiology, statistics, research methods (both quantitative and qualitative) in health sciences, health systems and their components, health service management, health policies, ethics in public health, and health promotion, among others.

These programs, however, are often focused on the health context and health systems of the countries where they are offered and barely touch on global health or humanitarian health action in any depth. At most, they might offer an elective related to health in humanitarian contexts. Such courses typically cover only basic aspects of humanitarian architecture (such as humanitarian actors or the humanitarian coordination system) and briefly address some health priorities in humanitarian settings.

Masters and diplomas in global health and humanitarian health

Global health master's programs, which are less common than public health master's programs, cover topics such as epidemiology and global health issues, health systems (across a wide range of countries and contexts), global health policies, and research methodologies in global health. These programs also address the realities of middle- and low-income countries, focusing on priorities such as reproductive and maternal health, child health, vaccination, malnutrition, mental health, and infectious diseases. They even offer several elective courses that allow for deeper exploration of humanitarian health issues.

Depending on the curriculum, these educational programs may also cover topics related to the health issues of refugees, health and conflict, health in relation to poverty and development, climate change, disasters, and gender inequality as a determinant of health.

However, most master's programs and diplomas in global health do not cover general aspects of international cooperation and humanitarian action, or practical aspects related to how to assess the needs of the population, design relevant actions, implement them, and monitor and evaluate them.

Masters and diplomas in humanitarian health action

Some master's programs address humanitarian action from a specific sector such as health, covering in part both specific health issues and everything related to the functioning of the humanitarian system in emergencies or the management of the project cycle. These programs, however, are scarce. Fortunately, some master's degrees in public health or global health also allow a selection of subjects (or "concentration") adapted to different topics, which can make it possible to develop a curriculum tailored to the needs of the student.

Masters and diplomas in international cooperation, humanitarian action and project management

Those who already have an adequate background in public or global health may choose to complete it directly with a program of studies that covers those aspects of international cooperation and humanitarian action that they are unfamiliar with.

Many universities offer master's programs in these fields, featuring various titles and curricula. The curricula of these courses are designed to train students in the management of international cooperation projects and programs. To achieve this, they include subjects on sociology, economics, and the geopolitical context of different countries and regions, as well as project cycle management, social science research, international development cooperation policies, and the involved actors. Additionally, they cover topics such as human rights, gender, the environment, and migration. Some of these master's programs provide specific training in humanitarian action, distinguishing it from more transformative development approaches.

Other master's programs focus directly on humanitarian action, exploring topics related to conflicts, forced displacement, international humanitarian law, disaster risk management, and even humanitarian logistics in greater depth than other programs.

Some institutions offer specialized courses that are shorter than a master's program and often much more practical. These courses usually cover more specific topics, such as project and program management in cooperation and humanitarian action. The best programs, like those from the Institut Bioforce, include a field placement period (sometimes up to six months) and are highly regarded by numerous humanitarian and international cooperation organizations.

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