MSc Global Development (Environment and Climate Change)

Fees for entry in 2027 have not yet been set. For reference, the fees for the academic year beginning September 2026 were as follows:

• MSc (full-time)
  UK students (per annum): £14,700
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £30,500

The fees quoted above are fully inclusive of tuition, administration and computational costs.

Fees for entry are subject to yearly review. The University reserves the right to increase your tuition fee by up to 7% each year for courses lasting more than one year, including to reflect rising costs associated with delivering our educational and wider student experience. Postgraduate fees information .

Always contact the admissions team if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.

International student CAS deposit

Self-funded international applicants are required to pay a deposit of £2500 towards their tuition fees before a confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) is issued. Some applicants will be required to pay a higher deposit. More information on tuition fee deposits .

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

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• Learn more about - student finance options for UK students .
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• Graduates of The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University can receive a 10% discount on their master's degree tuition fees as part of our Manchester Alumni Loyalty Discount scheme.

Development and migration have always been intimately linked and it is hard to envisage change in society without also thinking of the movement of people. Social, economic and political changes inevitably affect patterns of migration, whether at the local, national or regional level. Likewise, changing the distribution of the population will affect the social and economic potential of a region. Academic debate on the relationships between migration – both internal and international – and development has ebbed and flowed over many decades: among other things contesting the impacts of urbanisation, rural depopulation and the ‘brain drain’. In the last twenty years there has been a great surge of interest, focusing on the potential for international migration to make a positive contribution to local and national development in origin areas, and support for development that might reduce the need for people to migrate. The aim of this course will be to introduce students to these ongoing academic and policy debates, illustrated with examples of migration practices, development interventions and policy initiatives from different regions of the world.

The course aims to:

• Provide a broad understanding of the different theories proposing causal relationships between migration and development
• Analyse different forms of migration and their relationship to development and social change
• Examine the impacts of migration for those moving, their families and wider communities at national and local level in areas of origin and destination.
• Critically evaluate migration policies and their relationship to development

 Successful completion of the course should equip students to:

• Critically evaluate the relationship between different forms of migration, development and social change and analyse the claims and counter-claims in contemporary academic debates
• Show a good understanding of current migration trends and key definitions of different forms of mobility
• Demonstrate knowledge of different approaches to migration and understand the contradictions and challenges of incorporating migration into the analysis and practice of development.
• Analyse the impacts of migration at different levels of analysis

The course unit will be delivered in nine weekly sessions complemented by three tutorials. Each session will broadly outline the key theoretical issues and debates on the themes, followed by or interspersed with class discussion or other activities.  The tutorials are designed to allow critical thinking and argument based on key readings, class presentations, films and other group activities focused around different case studies. Through guided reading students are expected to develop knowledge of migration theories, experiences and policies and their relationship with development.

• Written assignment (3,000 words)

This general list gives you some essential references for the module. You will find most of these books and papers in the University Library. During each lecture session important readings relevant to that session will be pointed out to you. However, you are expected to do the essential reading (usually two articles) prior to the lecture.

Appleyard, Reginald T. (1989) “Migration and Development: Myths and Reality”, International Migration Review, 23(3): 486-499.

Castles, Stephen, Hein de Haas, and Mark J. Miller. 2014. The Age of Migration: international population movements in the modern world. Fifth edition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

de Haan, Arjan. 1999. "Livelihoods and poverty: The role of migration - A critical review of the migration literature."  Journal Of Development Studies 36 (2):1-47.

Glick Schiller, Nina, and Thomas Faist. 2010. Migration, Development, and Transnationalization: a critical stance. New York: Berghahn Books.

Kothari, Uma. 2002. Migration and Chronic Poverty. Chronic Poverty Research Centre Working Paper 16. Manchester: Institute for Development Policy and Management, University of Manchester.

Massey, Douglas S., Joaquín Arango, Graeme Hugo, Ali Kouaouci, Adela Pellegrino, and J. Edward Taylor. 1998. Worlds in motion: understanding international migration at the end of the millennium, International studies in demography. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Phillips, Nicola, ed. 2011. Migration in the Global Political Economy, International Political Economy Yearbook Series. Boulder, CO and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers. [section The Migration-Development Nexus]

Skeldon, Ronald. 1997. Migration and Development: a global perspective. London: Longman.

Sørensen, Ninna Nyberg, Nick Van Hear, and Poul Engberg-Pedersen. 2002. "The Migration-Development Nexus: Evidence and Policy Options State of the Art Review." International Migration 40 (5):3-48.

UNDP. 2009. Human Development Report 2009 - Overcoming Barriers: Human Mobility and Development, Human Development Report. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.