USA Today reports on the growth of homeland security courses in the most prestigious universities across the country:
There has been huge growth in the popularity of security-related programs since 2002, when the Department of Homeland Security was created, says David Silverberg, editor of the trade magazine Homeland Security Today.
The programs began popping up at community colleges and online-only institutions five or six years ago, and now they are being offered at some of the nation's most prestigious universities.
"Homeland security has developed as a discipline, and it took time for people to realize that it was a discipline," Silverberg says. "People think of homeland security as just screeners at the airport, and it is way more than that."
In the spring of 2007, Homeland Security Today published its first educational directory, with a list of 81 institutions with homeland security programs. The most recent directory, published last fall, had nearly twice that number.
Silverberg says the growth in academic programs mirrors the job market. The Department of Homeland Security, a labyrinthine federal department made up of 22 agencies with more than 200,000 employees, is just the beginning, he adds.
Every state has its own homeland security framework, and job seekers in the private sector, even in seemingly unrelated fields such as nursing and law, find the courses are a résumé builder, he says.
You can earn your online Associate's degree in Homeland Security or your Bachelor's in Homeland Security from Everest University.
