Societal Safety and Emergency Preparedness (BYS220)
The purpose of this course is to give the students a good understanding of what societal safety is and how to establish emergency preparedness for managing incidents and crises.
Course description for study year 2025-2026. Please note that changes may occur.
Facts
Course code
BYS220
Version
1
Credits (ECTS)
10
Semester tution start
Spring
Number of semesters
1
Exam semester
Spring
Language of instruction
Norwegian
Time table
Content
The course gives an introduction to society safety, with emphasis on emergency preparedness planning and crisis management. Topics covered will be understanding of central concepts, vital functions in the society, prevention, different types of crises, organization of crisis preparedness and crisis management, management and decision making during handling of crises, emergency preparedness planning (analyzing emergency preparedness needs with the use of risk and vulnerability analyses and emergency preparedness analyses, dimensioning of emergency preparedness, and development of emergency preparedness plans for dealing with incidents), and the connection between emergency preparedness and the ability to deal with crises, in addition to how prevention, emergency preparedness, and crisis management contribute to the societal safety. It will be used different examples of crises and cases for emergency preparedness planning and crisis management.
Learning outcome
After completing the course, the students should develop:
Knowledge about
- Central concepts related to societal safety and emergency preparedness.
- Methods and principles that are used in the work with societal safety and emergency preparedness
- The relationship between prevention and emergency preparedness, and emergency preparedness and crisis management.
Skills in
- Use of methods and principles for planning the work on societal safety.
- Use of methods and principles for planning the emergency preparedness.
- Assessment of development of and design of emergency preparedness plans.
- Assessment of responsibility, situation awareness and decision-making during management of crises.
General competence about
- Quality of the work on societal safety and emergency preparedness.
- Critical reflection about how prevention and emergency preparedness contribute to societal safety.
- Application of concepts, methods, and principles in discussion of challenges related to the work on societal safety and emergency preparedness.
Required prerequisite knowledge
None
Recommended prerequisites
BYS100 Risk Society, BYS120 Risk and vulnerability analysis
Exam
| Form of assessment | Weight | Duration | Marks | Aid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Written exam | 1/1 | 5 Hours | Letter grades | None permitted |
Digital exam on campus.
Course teacher(s)
Course coordinator:
Morten SommerHead of Department:
Tore MarkesetMethod of work
The teaching will be organized as lectures and discussions.
Overlapping courses
| Course | Reduction (SP) |
|---|---|
| Crisis and societal safety (BSA250_1) | 10 |
Open for
Bachelor's studies in sociology, political science, economic subjects, media, as well as students at the Faculty of Science and Technology at UiS who have been admitted to security-related bachelor's programmes.
Course assessment
The faculty decides whether early dialogue should be conducted in all or selected groups of courses offered by the faculty. The purpose is to gather feedback from students for making changes and adjustments to the course during the current semester. In addition, a digital evaluation, students’ course evaluation, must be conducted at least once every three years. Its purpose is to collect students` experiences with the course.