Program Overview

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MSc Global 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

M9S3

Entry Requirements

We will consider all applications with 2:2 (or international equivalent) or higher.

Course Overview

The MSc Global Development programme provides a solid interdisciplinary social science formation in development theory and practice and develops students’ capacities for independent and critical analysis.

Development Studies is a dynamic field concerned with processes of change in the South —social and economic, political and cultural — and the major policy challenges they present to efforts to overcome poverty and insecurity.

Structure

Students must take 180 credits per year comprised of 120 taught credits (including core, compulsory and optional modules) and a 60 credit dissertation.

Core Module

• Dissertation in Development Studies - 60 credits

Compulsory Modules

• Theories of Development - 15 credits
• Policy and Practice of Development - 15 credits
• Political Economy of Development: Foundational Concepts - 15 credits
• Political Economy of Development: applied topics and policy debates - 15 credits

Guided Modules

• Development Practice - 15 credits
• Civil society, social movements and the development process - 15 credits
• Gender and Development - 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
• Structural Change and Economic Development in Africa - 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
• International Development Virtual Placement - 15 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.

We do this through a mixture of lectures, and more student-centred learning approaches (including tutorials and seminars). Teaching combines innovative use of audio-visual materials, practical exercises, group discussions, and weekly guided reading and discussions, as well as conventional lecturing.

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 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)