The Northwest University of Political Science and Law in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, established a school specializing in anti-terrorism courses on Jan 16 to meet the growing demand for security personnel.

The school will award bachelor’s and master’s degrees and doctorates in anti-terrorism studies. Students will be required to take courses in conventional disciplines such as law, politics and ethnology in addition to anti-terrorism courses to cultivate interdisciplinary competency. Enrolment of the first class of undergraduate students is now underway.

The school is a teaching and research institute for personnel training and theoretical study, and will serve as a think tank, the university said.

“It is an urgent and strategic demand to have anti-terrorism specialists for the country at present and for a fairly long time into the future,” said Jia Yu, president of the university.

Jia believes there is an urgent need for professionals in intelligence analysis, detection, preventing and combating terrorism activities, and emergency management. Specialists with educational backgrounds in both anti-terrorism and interdisciplinary competency will be needed by departments of justice, law enforcement, ethnic and religious affairs, social work offices at grassroots levels, and public services, according to Jia.

The school will cultivate a group of people qualified in policy making and analysis, educational research and international cooperation, Jia added.

The school will be required to build a personnel cultivation system featuring multi-level and multi-type anti-terrorism courses, Jia said.

The undergraduate students will be taught law and anti-terrorism, postgraduate students will be trained to be masters on anti-terrorism law and regulations, and doctoral students will become experts on solving key problems concerning national stability and security, according to the university.