MSc International Development: Environment Climate Change and Development / Course details

MSc International Development: Environment, Climate Change and Development links environmental understanding grounded in the physical sciences with study of the social and economic bases of global sustainability.

Over the past two decades, environmental challenges have risen to the top of the global agenda.

As a result, there is a pressing need for policymakers, planners and managers to understand the environmental dimensions of development.

The course is therefore perfect if you're looking to benefit from research-led teaching - by world-class academics - that examines both mainstream sustainability and radical alternatives for sustainable global development.

This course will:

• Provide an interdisciplinary training to equip you with an understanding of the environmental and climate change dimensions of development trends and interventions.
• Provide you with a thorough conceptual framework and the skills necessary to analyse effectively the relationships between environmental issues, climate change and development processes, and make judgments about policies and their implementation.
• Provide critical insights into the key strategies, policies and practices currently employed to promote climate change adaptation, mitigation and sustainable development.
• Develop professionally-oriented skills related to formulating, investigating and implementing different approaches to promoting climate change adaptation, mitigation and sustainable development.
• Provide a wide range of options for advanced training in areas of specialist expertise relevant to environment, climate change, and development.
• Develop advanced competencies in transferable areas, including developing reasoned arguments, gathering, organising and using evidence and information from a wide variety of sources, undertaking both team-based and independent work to deadlines, and both written and verbal forms of communication.
• Assist you in developing your specialist area of expertise within the field of environment, climate change, and development, and applying your understanding and skills through supervised individual research culminating in a dissertation.

• We're the largest development-focused teaching and research institute in Europe, and have been at the forefront of development studies for more than 60 years.
• We're ranked 6th in the UK and 10th in the world for development studies (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2019).
• Our research was ranked first in the UK for impact and second in the UK for quality in the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014).
• We have numerous scholarship opportunities for outstanding applicants.
• The combined field experience of our staff covers 60 countries, and we've trained almost 10,000 individuals from more than 170 countries.
• This master's course includes fieldwork, giving you the opportunity to observe development interventions in situ and to reflect on how theoretical explorations of development are operationalised in the real world. Recent destinations include Uganda, South Africa and Cyprus. Find out more at  Fieldwork .

An overseas field visit is an integral part of the course. Recent fieldtrip locations have included Uganda, Ghana, Sri Lanka and India.

Please note that field visits may be scheduled at any point during the course, including during University vacations. You are expected to be available to attend.

Part-time students complete the course over 24 months. There are no evening or weekend course units available; you should, therefore, discuss course requirements with the Programme Director and seek approval from your employer. Timetabling information is usually available from late August. You can discuss course unit choices during induction week with the Programme Director.

The taught elements of the course, carrying 120 credits overall, is continuously assessed by a variety of methods (eg project-based reports, essays), involving largely individual submissions, but also elements of group work.

You must also complete a 12,000-15,000 word dissertation on a topic of your choice approved by the Programme Directors. You are encouraged to base your dissertation on topics of direct professional concern.