International Development MSc
16 Months Full-Time | January Start

The purpose of this module is to develop the participant’s ability in study skills and English language skills for academic purposes.

The module is designed to develop the participants as independent learners. The module is supported by a teaching and learning plan which outlines the formal sessions, together with the tutor-directed study and independent reading. An interactive approach to seminars will draw upon the directed learning undertaken and participants’ own experience of study skills. Directed learning will centre upon a range of activities including pre-reading, preparation for interactive activities and use of the discussion board on the e-learning platform.
Independent learning will focus upon the participants identifying those skills which they need to develop and understand through a range of learning activities that might include extended reading, and reflection. The sessions will attempt to follow the principles set out by the CEM model (Sloan and Porter, 2008)

This module will engage with the political dilemmas we face in international relations today, and the concept, theories and practices that inform our decision-making in response. You will analyse a range of issues, such as the question of global solidarity in relation to issues such as under-development, natural catastrophes, conflict or human rights violations, the relative significance of culture, sovereignty and self-determination, and concepts such as consent, responsibility and autonomy.
You will investigate these dilemmas in light of international law, (power) politics and ethics, and how each inform, enable or constrain action. You will develop an appreciation of the problem of the indeterminateness of our knowledge of specific issues that despite their indeterminateness still require political action (including non-action).

In this module you will demonstrate advanced and independent critical thinking skills about the research process and a specific, substantial topic of your choice. In doing so you will develop robust, coherent and substantiated, advanced academic arguments in an identifiable area of enquiry. There are a number of options for the dissertation: literature-based, empirical, or placement-based dissertations. In formulating, research, and writing your dissertation you will be guided by your dissertation supervisor. The dissertation is the culmination of your taught experience and will enable you to deploy the skills develop during the taught programme.

This module will enable you to develop your knowledge and understanding of the tools, techniques and approaches that shape development research and development practice.

The first part of the module will cover an overview of development research, a recap of the key techniques used to enable data collection, and an exploration of the challenges researchers engaged in international development face around research practicalities and ethics. You will, through a range of group activities, develop your own ability to plan research projects in the context of development practice.

The second part of the module will explore the tools, techniques and approaches that development practitioners’ use. These will include stakeholder analysis, needs assessment and monitoring and evaluation. This part of the module will also explore key debates around participatory methodologies and livelihoods approaches to development research and practice.

Each session will explore academic debates around the method, tool or technique as well as examples of those approaches in practice. Throughout the module you will actively engage in planning and developing research and practice interventions and will respond to real world challenges that development practitioners and researchers regularly face.

How can we explain the continued presence of poverty in many parts of the world? How does development happen? What does development actually mean? This module will critically debate theories of development and the roles of key actors including international organisations, the state, transnational civil society, NGOs and local communities. This will include the different and often contrasting and contradictory roles these actors play, and the ways in which this is captured in different approaches to development theory.

The module will begin by examining debates within development theory and the different propositions that were made to overcome the ‘development impasse’ between state and market led approaches, and post-colonial critiques of traditional development theories espoused after World War II (modernisation theory, dependency theory and World Systems Theory). The module then goes on to explore the meaning of development and ideas of Orientalism, before examining the mainstream neoliberal development project. The module will then engage with a range of critical responses to development, including postcolonialism, the work of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum and the capabilities approach; alter-globalization; cosmopolitanism; and feminist approaches to theorising development, as well as alternative theoretical approaches coming from the Global South.

What are some of the key problems in international development? How can we provide solutions for poverty, hunger, environmental degradation, health and sanitation? This module provides you with an opportunity to explore contemporary development challenges and to develop problem solving skills around real world issues.

The module will bring together the theory and methods part of the programme. Topics you will explore include – but are not limited to – poverty and inequality, hunger, health, sanitation or environmental degradation. You will learn about confliciting theories of solving these problems, contested debates about what poverty and inequality mean and how they are produced and who produces them, and what the best ways are to combat widespread problems such as hunger or environmental pollution.

This is an innovative experiential module that will involve you preparing for, taking part in and reflecting on an overseas study visit. Visits will take place in various locations and will draw on the expertise, partnership, and overseas experiences of the teaching staff. You may visit India, Indonesia, Peru, Uganda or other countries representative of the Global South where teaching staff maintain well-established research projects and professional relationships. The location of each study visit will be advertised in advance.

Through this module you will (a) seek to develop a sound knowledge and understanding of the development trajectory of the country/region you are visiting, (b) engage with key civil society development actors and educational partners in that context, (c) deepen your understanding of development practice, (d) develop key transferrable fieldwork skills and (e) develop a critical appreciation of the importance of experiential learning in your own personal and academic development.

The central part of this module will be your experiences whilst overseas in which you will be supported through a range of activities to engage with development practitioners and development challenges as well as the cultural life of the location visited. In order to prepare you for this, workshop will focus on cultural awareness training, the development of core fieldwork skills and planning for enhanced group work activities.

This module aims to provide you with a critical understanding of the key contemporary experiences, policies and debates that characterize international development in a time of significant geopolitical change and shifting relationships. The module will enable you to develop cutting edge and nuanced analyses of the changing landscape of international development, and to locate a range of important actors in the global development arena. The module critically debates historical relationships between aid and development, and the predominance of western development agendas and approaches; the emergence of new state and non-state actors, and with this new forms of development cooperation that may transcend the traditional and hierarchical North-South aid relationship; and the implications for development theory and practice. Practical exercises will apply your understanding of geopolitical change and its impacts, to real-world case studies.