MSc in Development Studies

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Programme Code: TMDV

Department: International Development

For students starting this programme of study in 2025/26

Guidelines for interpreting programme regulations

Classification scheme for the award of a taught master's degree (four units)
Exam sub-board local rules

Full-year programme. Students must take courses to the value of six half-units and a dissertation as shown.

Students who choose to concentrate their electives and dissertation in a certain topic area may elect to have a specialism in "African Development”, “Population Studies”, "Applied Development Economics" or "Environment" attached to their degree certificate and transcript. To obtain the specialism indication, students must meet the criteria below.

**African Development**: Students must take DV418 and DV435, and their dissertation topic must be approved as being appropriate for this specialism.

**Population Studies**: Students must take two courses from DV411, DV444, or MY476 and their dissertation topic must be approved as being appropriate for this specialism.

**Applied Development Economics**: Students must take DV494 plus two from DV490, DV491, DV492. Please note that there is limited availability for this specialism.

**Environment:** Students must take two courses from the following: DV411, DV413 and DV415, and their dissertation topic must be approved as being appropriate for this specialism.

If no such election is made, the degree certificate will state “Development Studies” without further specification.

Please note that places are limited on some optional courses. Admission onto any particular course is not guaranteed and may be subject to timetabling constraints and/or students meeting specific prerequisite requirements.
	Course code, title (unit value)

Paper 1	DV468 Development: History, Theory and Policy (0.5)

Paper 2	DV410 Research Design and Dissertation in International Development (1.0)
	DV445 Cutting Edge Issues in Development Thinking & Practice (0.0)

Paper 3	A minimum of two courses from the following: DV407 Poverty (0.5)
	DV411 Population, Development and Environment: an Analytical Approach (0.5)
	DV413 Environmental Problems and Development Interventions (0.5)
	DV418 African Development (0.5)
	DV423 Global Political Economy of Development (0.5) #
	DV424 International Institutions and Late Development (0.5)
	DV428 Managing Humanitarianism (0.5)
	DV433 The Informal Economy and Inclusive Development (0.5)
	DV458 Key issues in Global Health and Development (0.5)
	DV465 Labour, Social Services and Development (0.5)
	DV477 Rural Livelihoods, Agrarian Transformation and Development (0.5) #
	DV494 Foundations of Applied Econometrics for Economic Development Policy (0.5)
	MY476 Population Analysis: Methods and Models (0.5) # (withdrawn 2026/27)

Paper 4	Up to three half units from the following: A DV415 Global Environmental Governance (0.5)
	DV421 Critical Perspectives on Global Health and Development (0.5)
	DV432 China in Developmental Perspective (0.5) # (withdrawn 2026/27)
	DV434 Human Security (0.5) (suspended 2026/27)
	DV435 African Political Economy (0.5)
	DV444 Quantitative Analysis in Health and Sustainable Development (0.5) # (suspended 2026/27)
	DV453 Health and International Development Consultancy Project (0.5)
	DV454 Gender, labour markets and social change in the Global South: theory, evidence, public action (0.5) (suspended 2026/27)
	DV455 Advocacy, Campaigning and Grassroots Activism (0.5)
	DV456 Population, Health and Development: Evidence and Projections (0.5) # (suspended 2026/27)
	DV457 Sexual and Reproductive Health Programmes: Design, Implementation and Evaluation (0.5)
	DV462 Forced Migration and Refugees (0.5)
	DV464 Democracy and Development (0.5)
	DV465 Labour, Social Services and Development (0.5)
	DV472 Capitalism and Development: a history (0.5)
	DV480 Development Transformations: The Political Economy of Colonialism, Revolution and Reform (0.5)
	DV483 Digital Development and Socioeconomic Development (0.5)
	DV490 Economic Development Policy I: Applied Policy Analysis for Macroeconomic Development (0.5) #
	DV491 Economic Development Policy II: Microeconomic Analysis (0.5) #
	DV492 Economic Development Policy III: Government Policy Analysis (0.5) #

Footnotes

# means there may be prerequisites for this course. Please view the course guide for more information.

A: Paper 4: An appropriate MSc level course from another Department in the School on approval of the course instructor and the Programme Director of the MSc Development Studies

Note for prospective students:
For changes to graduate course and programme information for the next academic session, please see the graduate summary page for prospective students. Changes to course and programme information for future academic sessions can be found on the graduate summary page for future students.

MSc in Development Studies

Course code, title (unit value)

Footnotes