MSc Development Studies
SOAS University of London
Key Information
Campus location
London, United Kingdom
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
1 - 2 Year
Pace
Full time, Part time
Tuition fees
GBP 14,270 / per year *
Application deadline
Request Info
Earliest start date
Request Info
* full-time fees: UK £14,270; Overseas £23,800. Part-time 2 years fees: UK £7,135/year; Overseas £11,900/year. Part-time 3 years fees: UK £4,710/year; Overseas £7,855/year
Introduction
Mode of Attendance: Full-time or part-time
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. This programme provides a solid interdisciplinary social science formation in development theory and practice and develops students’ capacities for independent and critical analysis.
Highlights include:
- The meanings of development and the challenges it faces
- Neoliberalism and its critiques
- Industrialisation, labour and capital
- State failure, poverty and insecurity
- Gender and class analysis
- NGOs, civil society and social movements
- Globalisation, commodity chains and trade
- The agrarian question, peasantry and land
The MSc programme’s emphasis on transferable analytical skills has been of great benefit to the many graduates who have returned to or taken up, professional careers in development in international organisations, government agencies and non-government organisations. Students also benefit from the wide range of modules on offer, both within the Department and across the School, allowing them to create individualised interdisciplinary programmes.
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Ideal Students
Who is this programme for?
The programme attracts applications from students with a variety of academic and experiential backgrounds. We welcome applications from those who have worked in a broad field of development, but also from students without relevant work experience who can demonstrate a strong interest in, and understanding of, development issues. A good first degree in social science is preferred.
Admissions
Curriculum
Structure
Students must take 180 credits per year comprised of 120 taught credits (including core, compulsory and optional modules) and a 60 credit dissertation.
Dissertation
- Dissertation in Development Studies
Core Modules
A core module is required for the degree programme, so must always be taken and passed before you move on to the next year of your programme.
- Theory, policy and practice of development
- Political Economy of Development
Compulsory Modules
A compulsory module is required for the degree programme, so must always be taken, and if necessary can be passed by re-taking it alongside the next year of your programme.
- Choose modules to the value of 30 credits from the Development Studies modules list below.
Optional Modules
These are designed to help students design their own intellectual journey while maintaining a strong grasp of the fundamentals.
Choose module(s) to the total value of 30 credits from:
- Module(s) from the Development Studies list below to the value of 30 credits.
- Open option modules to the value of 30 credits from another department.
- Module from the Development Studies lists below to the value of 15 credits.
- Open option modules to the value of 15 credits from another department.
Non-Assessed Module
All MSc students in Development Studies are eligible to attend the one-term, non-assessed module Economics for Beginners, which introduces students to basic concepts in microeconomics, macroeconomics, development economics, and statistics and econometrics.
List of Modules (subject to availability)
- Agrarian Development, Food Policy and Rural Poverty
- Aid and Development
- Battlefields of Method: Approaches to International Development Research
- Borders and Development
- Cities and Development
- Civil society, social movements and the development process
- Development Practice
- Environment, Governance and Development
- Energy Transition, Nature, and Development in a Time of Climate Change
- Famine and food security
- Fundamentals of research methods for Development Studies
- Gender and Development
- Global Commodity Chains, Production Networks and Informal Work
- Global Health and Development
- Issues in Forced Migration
- Marxist Political Economy and Global Development
- Migration and Policy
- Natural resources, development and change: putting critical analysis into practice
- Neoliberalism, Democracy and Global Development
- Problems of Development in the Middle East and North Africa
- Security
- The Working Poor and Development
- Migrant Labour in the Global Economy
- Water and Development: Conflict and Governance
- Water Resources: Justice and Governance
Important notice
The information on the programme page reflects the intended programme structure against the given academic session.
Career Opportunities
Employment
A postgraduate degree from the Department of Development Studies at SOAS will further develop your understanding of the world, other peoples’ ways of life and how society is organised, with an emphasis on transferable analytical skill. These skills have been of great benefit to the many graduates who have taken up professional careers in development in international organisations, government agencies and non-government organisations. This, in addition to your detailed subject knowledge, will also equip you with a set of other specific skills, including critical skills; the ability to research extensively; a high level of cultural awareness; and the ability to solve problems.
Graduates have gone on to work for a range of organisations including:
- 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
- National Health and Medical Research Council
- Overseas Development Institute
- Oxfam
- Public Sector Reform Unit - Government of Sierra Leone
- Republic of Mozambique National Parliament
- Royal Norwegian Embassy
- Save the Children UK
- The World Bank
- Thinking Beyond Borders
- U.S. Department of State
- UN World Food Programme
- UN High Commissioner for Refugees
- WaterAid
Types of roles that graduates have gone on to do include:
- Chief Economist
- Global Communications Director
- Director for Climate Change and Environment
- Head of Research and Consultancies
- Development Director
- Regional OVC programme coordinator
- Head of Operations
- Country Director
- Bureau Chief
- Desk Officer on Pakistan Affairs
- Policy Analyst
- Partnership Liaison Officer
- Fundraising and Communications Manager
- Development Policy Officer
- Environmental Economist
- Journalist
- Human Rights Officer
- Country Director - Indonesia
- Relationship Banker - Africa Desk
- Policy Analyst/Economist
English Language Requirements
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