MSc Migration, Mobility and Development
| Program start date | Application deadline |
| 2024-09-01 | - |
Program Overview
MSc Migration, Mobility and Development
Key Information
- Start date: September
- Duration: 1 year
- Attendance mode: Full-time or part-time
- Location: On Campus
- Fees:
- Home: £12,220
- International: £25,320
- Course code: L6V2
- Entry requirements: We will consider all applications with 2:2 (or international equivalent) or higher.
Course Overview
The MSc in Migration, Mobility and Development programme offers you the opportunity to combine study and analysis of critical perspectives on development and the related field of migration studies.
Structure
- Dissertation in Development Studies (60 credits)
- Migration and Development: analytical and policy perspectives (15 credits)
- Migration and Development: contexts and engagements (15 credits)
- Guided options - List A (30 credits)
- Political Economy of Development: Foundational Concepts (15 credits)
- Political Economy of Development: applied topics and policy debates (15 credits)
- Theories of Development (15 credits)
- Policy and Practice of Development (15 credits)
- Guided options (minimum 30 credits)
- Civil society, social movements and the development process (15 credits)
- Gender and Development (15 credits)
- Development Practice (15 credits)
- Issues in Forced Migration (15 credits)
- Fundamentals of research methods for Development Studies (15 credits)
- War to Peace Transitions (15 credits)
- Security (15 credits)
- Borders and Development (15 credits)
- Global Commodity Chains, Production Networks and Informal Work (15 credits)
- Agrarian Development, Food Policy and Rural Poverty (15 credits)
- Aid and Development (15 credits)
- Migration and Policy (15 credits)
- Labour, Activism and Global Development (15 credits)
- Energy Transition, Nature, and Development in a Time of Climate Change (15 credits)
- Environment, Governance and Development (15 credits)
- Global Health and Development (15 credits)
- Cities and Development (15 credits)
- Feminist Political Economy and Global Development (15 credits)
- Global Approaches to Peace (15 credits)
- Structural Change and Economic Development in Africa (15 credits)
- Open options (maximum 30 credits)
Teaching and Learning
Our teaching and learning approach is designed to support and encourage students in their own process of self-learning, and to develop their own ideas, responses and critique of international development practice and policy.
- Dissertation: In addition to the taught part of the masters programme, all students will write a 10,000 word dissertation.
- Contact hours: All Masters programmes consist of 180 credits, made up of taught modules of 30 or 15 credits, taught over 10 or 20 weeks, and a dissertation of 60 credits.
Employment
A degree from the Department of Development Studies at SOAS will further develop your understanding of the world and how society is organised, with specific focus on violence and conflict, the role of aid, refugees and forced migration. Graduates leave with a range of transferable skills, including critical thinking, analytical skills and cultural awareness.
Recent graduates have been hired by:
- Amnesty International
- BBC World Service
- British Embassy Brussels
- Department for International Development
- Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)
- Embassy of Japan
- Government of Pakistan
- Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office
- International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
- International Labour Organization (ILO)
- KPMG LLP
- Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
- National Health and Medical Research Council
- Overseas Development Institute
- Oxfam
- Royal Norwegian Embassy
- Save the Children UK
- The World Bank
- Thinking Beyond Borders
- US Department of State
- UN World Food Programme
- UN High Commissioner for Refugees
- WaterAid
Scholarships
- Tibawi Trust Award
- Commonwealth Shared Scholarships
- Felix Non-Indian Scholarship
- Felix Scholarships
- Sasakawa Studentships
- SOAS Master's Scholarships (Home)
Staff
- Dr Paolo Novak, Senior Lecturer in Development Studies
Research
- Border crossings: Exploring history and community through virtual reality at the 75th anniversary of the Partition
- London International Development Centre Migration Leadership Team
- Research and Evidence Facility: Informing migration policy in the Horn of Africa
- Drugs & (dis)order
- The AGRUMIG project: "Leaving something behind"
- Industrial Development, Construction and Employment in Africa (IDCEA): A comparative analysis
Program Outline
Degree Overview:
MSc Migration, Mobility and Development
This program offers students the opportunity to study and analyze critical perspectives on development and its relationship to migration. The core course of the program uses diverse disciplinary and epistemological perspectives to approach the complex themes of this field, drawing from debates in Sociology, Geography, Politics, and Anthropology.
- It confronts students with different epistemological perspectives for resolving the challenges associated with the study of migration and development, including:
- Reframing traditional approaches to migration policy
- Studying the relationship between migration and climate change, conflict, and development
- Examining the role of advocacy and the impact of borders on migration
- The program draws on the expertise of our staff in development, migration, and forced migration contexts and encourages inter- and trans-disciplinary dialogue with other relevant departments and centers within SOAS.
- Students also have opportunities to take work placements as part of their degree. This year, MSc students were offered placements in the International Organisation for Migration, the London International Development Centre, and various international NGOs.
- Ranked 3rd in the world for Development Studies (QS World University Rankings 2024)
- A unique opportunity to gain a placement in a partner organization working in international development through the International Development Placement module (virtual delivery) available in this program.
- All modules engage with questions of the climate crisis, recognizing its impact and interaction with processes of inequality and change.
- Our staff specializes in a range of thematic areas including:
- Sustainability and climate change
- Migration and displacement
- Conflict
- Humanitarian action
- Labor
- Political ecology
- Aid and institutions
This program has been developed to meet the needs of people working, or hoping to work, in:
- International agencies
- Humanitarian organizations and NGOs
- Students intending to go on to carry out PhD research The program attracts applicants with a variety of academic and working backgrounds. We welcome:
- Those with experience in the field of migration and/or development
- Students without relevant work experience who can demonstrate:
- A strong interest in the major themes of the program
- A strong first degree, preferably in a social science field
Outline:
Students must take 180 credits, comprised of:
- 120 taught credits:
- Core module: This module is required for the degree program and must always be taken before moving on to the next year.
- Optional modules: Students design their intellectual journey by choosing optional modules that interest them, while maintaining a strong grasp of fundamentals.
- A 60-credit dissertation
Core Modules
Development and Migration
This module reflects the department's diverse disciplinary and epistemological concerns. It approaches the study of migration and development through:
- Political economy
- Decolonial
- Postcolonial
- Institutionalist perspectives It also draws from debates in the fields of Sociology, Geography, Politics, and Anthropology to engage with policy-making processes, and strives to conceive innovative avenues for political intervention. The core module addresses topics such as:
- The political economy of migration
- Colonialism, coloniality, and race
- Trafficking
- Integration and citizenship
- Diaspora, transnationalism, and autonomy of migration
- Security
- Climate change and conflict
- Migration advocacy
- Borders
Optional Modules
Civil Society, Social Movements, and the Development Process (15 credits)
This course focuses on social movements in relation to civil society and the development project itself. It examines some current positions on theorizing "civil society" and "new social movements".
Development Practice (15 credits)
This module provides an introduction to development practice by examining some of the key challenges and constraints faced by development practitioners in the light of trends in development theory and policy. It is divided into three subject areas: A range of planning and management tools and frameworks employed by governments, donor agencies, and NGOs are examined. These include tools associated with:
- Project cycle management, including log frame analysis
- Participative planning and management
- Monitoring and evaluation frameworks The organizational challenges for improved development practice are examined. This involves analysis of capacity building challenges, including those relating to:
- Management
- Culture
- Leadership
- Learning How development agencies relate to one another, and approaches to coordinated action, are examined with a particular focus on:
- Managing external relations
- Building alliances
- Advocacy
Issues in Forced Migration (15 credits)
This module provides an introduction to the study of forced migration in the developing world and aims to provide students with a broad understanding of:
- Varieties of forced migration
- Causes and consequences of displacement
- Key contemporary questions in the field It follows the sequence of historical development: An assessment of:
- Key features of pre-industrial society in the area
- Impact of European imperial domination Sets the scene for contrasting responses to the challenge of modernity in the 20th century Major ideological undercurrents produced by this confrontation:
- Adaptation to vs. rejection of “Western” modernity within Islam
- Rise of populist nationalism
- “Socialist” radicalisation of “developmentalist” regimes The post-Cold War U.S. war drive turned the region into the central arena of the so-called “clash of civilisations”. The region’s overall anaemic long-term growth performance—except Turkey—points to massive structural problems that constitute the main factors in the Arab uprising that unfolded in 2011. The dynamics of this ongoing regional upheaval are thoroughly examined.
Security (15 credits)
This module examines the meanings and agents of security, acknowledging shifts from the traditional notion of national security:
- Security is conceptualised in this module as a pattern of relations designed to manage risk through collaboration, competition, and compromise
- Its opposites are:
- Vulnerability
- Insecurity
- Terror The module investigates processes and phenomena that pose direct threats to groups of people and, in doing so, potentially destabilize or aggravate situations. Famine, financial volatility, and AIDS undermine people physically, politically, and psychologically, and on occasions result in further forms of insecurity as people resist, retaliate, or take advantage of the situation.
Famine and Food Security (15 credits)
This module considers food security as a desired outcome of:
- Local livelihood choices and strategies
- Government policy
- Development strategies
- Global distributions of power All of these factors impact the range of possible steps that can be taken to ensure a reliable supply of food. As such, food security is considered to be the lens through which wider livelihood and human security is achieved.
Agrarian Development, Food Policy, and Rural Poverty (15 credits)
This modules aims to enable students to understand and evaluate major policy debates on the role of agriculture in development. To do so, the course will consider in some depth the relevant theoretical and empirical literature on: The necessary conditions for structural change in agriculture-dependant societies The operation of agricultural factor and commodity markets, including international markets The nature of rural societies and the characterisation of farmers The nature of food markets and the role of agriculture in improving welfare Both mainstream and heterodox approaches will be investigated
Migration and Policy (15 credits)
This module provides students with the opportunity to engage critically with the complex configurations of institutions, politics, and normative claims that underpin migration-related policy. It also challenges students to explore alternative policy approaches.
The Working Poor and Development (15 credits)
This module aims to enable students to understand the interaction between “the working poor” and “development”. As part of this, students will learn how a development approach that focuses on laboring groups fundamentally differs conceptually from a perspective focusing on poverty. This leads to different developmental solutions.
Natural Resources, Development and Change: Putting Critical Analysis into Practice (15 credits)
This module discusses approaches to “doing development politically” as currently practiced in the field of natural resources management and governance. It focuses on how critical analysis has been translated into “transformative” frameworks and approaches to development:
- In government
- In NGO/CSO projects and programmes
Water Justice: Rights, Access and Movements (Development Studies) (15 credits)
This module examines “water justice” in the global South from a combined Development Studies and Law perspective. It explores the themes of:
- Water rights / right to water
- Modalities of access to water
- Social movements on water issues
Energy Transition, Nature, and Development in a Time of Climate Change (15 credits)
This course is intended for students interested in analyzing how climate change, especially the discourse and policies around it, might be leading to a new global configuration of social forces around:
- Extractive industries
- Renewable energy Adopting a political economy approach, this course will focus on how different actors are trying to influence and navigate the changing global discourse on climate change and energy transition in order to push their agendas and understandings of sustainable development.
- Actors examined include:
- Fossil fuel sector (oil, gas, and coal)
- Agribusiness
- Nation-states from the South and the North
- Civil society organizations
- Social movements
Water and Development: Commodification, Ecology and Globalisation (Development Studies) (15 credits)
This module examines “water and development” in the global South from a combined Development Studies and Law perspective. The three main themes in the course are the:
- Commodification/marketisation of water
- Political ecology of water
- Global water governance and conflict
Environment, Governance and Development (15 credits)
This course introduces students to the major debates surrounding environment and development, and provides a broader understanding of the North-South dimensions of environmental governance. In this course, students will be engaged in the debates about governing the environment at various scales, and how they interlink with dynamics of development. The environment is an ideal arena to examine this because of the transboundary nature of environmental change, which necessarily implies policies that link the local and the global through a series of networks ranging from states to NGOs to international organisations.
Global Health and Development (15 credits)
This course fills a gap in the subjects offered under the Development Studies (and other Departmental) programme(s). Health and disease has been a major feature of development policy, both in the recent period (Millennium Development Goals), and historically (since the world’s
Home student fees: £12,220 per year Overseas student fees: £25,320 per year Please note that fees go up each year.
