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).

We know that student finance can be complicated. The links below provide further information to help guide you.

• Learn more about - student finance options for UK students .
• Learn more about - fees and finance for international students .
• 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.

The modern world has been shaped by the movement and settlement of people across the globe over generations. Migration, mobility and displacement are intimately related to processes of social, economic and political change. Migration from rural areas towards cities both stimulate their economic growth and brings huge pressures on urban infrastructure. The movement of people back and forth across boundaries raises important questions about political rights, belonging and identity. The expulsion of enemies, the flight of refugees or the enslavement of people vividly demonstrate the raw exercise of power and abuse of rights.

The aim of this course is to explore various ways of analysing such causes and consequences of migration, mobility and displacement from different disciplinary perspectives. It will provide students with an overview of changes in both patterns of mobility and public perceptions of it. It will critically examine debates about concepts such as integration and belonging, the governance of migration and displacement, and the role of migrants as social and political actors. It will provide students with theoretical and practical knowledge to better understand the many ways in which migration, mobility and displacement make the contemporary world.  

• Provide critical insights into different theoretical and disciplinary perspectives on how migration, mobility and displacement can be understood, measured and explained;
• Provide students with the knowledge and the skills necessary to critically analyse key theoretical and practical issues and debates relating to migration, mobility and displacement;
• Enable students to develop a range of competencies in transferable areas, including developing reasoned arguments, gathering, organising and using evidence and information from a wide variety of sources, undertaking independent work to deadlines, and developing written forms of communication.

On completion of this unit successful students will be able to:

• Critically evaluate different theoretical perspectives regarding the causes and consequences of human mobility.
• Critically reflect upon the implications of assumptions underlying migration debates for social, political and economic change in different contexts.
• Develop arguments to explain how different disciplinary approaches to the study of migration, mobility and displacement can be applied in different empirical contexts.
• Independently gather, select and synthesise data from various sources (including library, electronic and online resources), and to critically evaluate its significance with regard to mobility patterns.
• Present written materials in an appropriate format and style for a professional setting.

Teaching will be organised around 9 sessions. These will be offered as 2-hour interactive lectures (which may include films, student presentations, or other activities)

In addition, 3 tutorial sessions will allow the chance for student-led discussion and exchanges in smaller groups around three broad themes:

• Categorisation and labelling – exploring how different actors use categories such as refugees, IDPs, irregular, undocumented, economic migrant.
• Understanding home
• Debating open borders versus migration management

• Provide students with the knowledge and the skills necessary to critically analyse key theoretical and practical issues and debates relating to migration, mobility and displacement;
• Enable students to develop a range of competencies in transferable areas, including developing reasoned arguments, gathering, organising and using evidence and information from a wide variety of sources, undertaking independent work to deadlines, and developing written forms of communication.

• Critically evaluate different theoretical perspectives regarding the causes and consequences of human mobility.
• Critically reflect upon the implications of assumptions underlying migration debates for social, political and economic change in different contexts.

• Develop arguments to explain how different disciplinary approaches to the study of migration, mobility and displacement can be applied in different empirical contexts.

• Information Retrieval – independently to gather, select and synthesise data from various sources (including library, electronic and online resources), and to critically evaluate its significance with regard to mobility patterns.
• Effective Written Communication – to present written materials in an appropriate format and style for a professional setting.

The formal assessment of the course will be through a written essay submitted at the end of the unit. Each student will be required to write an essay responding to ONE of the six questions that will be given to you by the Course Convenor as soon as these are approved by the external examiner.

In addition, thee will be two formative assessment exercises:

1. In class multiple choice test to review knowledge of basic concepts 
2. Submission of a shortly essay plan for the assessed essay

To students:

• General feedback provided in class to any common issues highlighted by the multiple choice test. 
• Formative feedback provided individually on essay outlines.
• Summative feedback provided for the essay

From students:

• Questions picked up in class
• Feedback from individual students encouraged through office hours
• Students suggest themes or issues to be covered in final discussion panel.
• Course survey at end of unit.

H. de Haas, Castles, S and M. J. Miller (2020). The Age of Migration: international population movements in the modern world. 6^th Edition. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.

Scholten, P. (ed.) (2022) Introduction to Migration Studies: An Interactive Guide to the Literatures on Migration and Diversity. Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-92377-8 

Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, E., Ed. (2020). Refuge in a Moving World Tracing refugee and migrant journeys across disciplines, London, UCL Press. https://www.uclpress.co.uk/products/116728

Gatrell, P. (2019). The Unsettling of Europe: the great migration, 1945 to the present. London, Allen Lane.

Weinar, A. (ed). (2017). Emigration and Diaspora Policies in the Age of Mobility. Cham, Springer International Publishing.

Triandafyllidou, A. (2016). Routledge Handbook of Immigration and Refugee Studies. Abingdon, Oxon; New York, Routledge.

Breteel, C and J. F. Hollinfiled, Eds (2015) Migration Theory: talking across disciplines. New York and London, Routledge

IOM (2019). World Migration Report 2020. Geneva, International Organization for Migration. 2024  https://worldmigrationreport.iom.int/msite/wmr-2024-interactive/