Course description
The MA Development Studies provides an interdisciplinary programme of study designed to develop an understanding of problems and processes of change in the developing world with particular attention to social, political and environmental aspects. There is a strong emphasis on gender and development in a global context, on Non-Governmental Organisations in development and on the impact of globalisation on development.
The degree is intended both as a key qualification in its own right but also as a first-year of training for those considering proceeding to PhD research at Hull and elsewhere. It will be of interest both to those students wishing to enter a career in the field of development and those development practitioners wishing to further their theoretical and practical knowledge.
Course Structure for Full-Time Students (1 year)
The compulsory core module, Theorising Development extends across the first two semesters. Students will study a programme of key optional, general optional and research training modules, selecting modules in consultation with the programme director. The first two semesters are devoted to teaching and assessment of those modules, whilst the third semester is devoted to a dissertation. Students must achieve a total of 180 credits. A total of 120 credits must be taken in taught modules over the two semesters with a minimum of 50 in any one semester. The dissertation has 60 credits attached.
Course structure for full-time students: 180 credits
-Core Module Theorising Development (Long Thin, S1&2) 20 credits
Semester One
Key Optional Modules
(Select 40 credits in total over semesters 1 & 2, normally 20 each semester)
-Encountering Development: Why Gender Matters 20
-Environment and Development in Africa 20
-Democratization, Nationalism and Ethnicity in Asia 20
General Options
(Select 40 credits over semesters 1 & 2)
-Key issues in Identity Politics & Policies I: Diversity 20
-Resources and Development 20
-Environmental Policy Processes 20
-Contemporary Research in Human Geography 20
-International Trends in Public Management 20
-Gender, Ethnicity & Crime 20
-Management in Education 20
-Aquatic Resources Development and Planning 20
-French Language 1 for Graduate linguists (ab initio) 20
-Spanish Language 1 for Graduate linguists (ab initio) 20
-Italian Language 1 for Graduate linguists (ab initio) 20
-German Language 1 for Graduate linguists (ab initio) 20
Research Training Modules
(minimum of 10 credits, maximum of 40 over two semesters)
-The Research Interview 10
-Survey Methods and Questionnaire Design 10
-Ethnographic Practice 10
-Philosophical Issues in Applied Social Research 10
Other optional modules, within the CASS teaching programme are available, subject to
agreement with the Programme Director.
Semester Two
Key optional Modules
-NGOs, Governance and the Development Process 20
-Current Perspectives in Gender and Development 20
-Globalisation and Poverty 20
General Options
-Key issues in Identity Politics & Policies II: Equalities 20
-The Slave Trade, Abolition and Suppression 20
-International Development Law 20
-Gender and Social Development in Francophone West Africa 20
-Fisheries Development Studies 20
-Contemporary issues in Environmental Technology 20
-Gender, Class & Education 20
-eLearning, Context, Management and Implementation 20
-Dispute Settlement in the World Trade Organisation 20
-Education Policy 20
-Comparative Criminology 20
-French Language 2 for Graduate linguists 20
-Spanish Language 2 for Graduate linguists 20
-Italian Language 2 for Graduate linguists 20
-German Language 2 for Graduate linguists 20
Options 2 (minimum of 10 credits, maximum of 40 over two semesters)
-Quantitative Data Analysis 10
-Computing with SPPS 10
-Qualitative Data Analysis 10
-Central Issues in Applied Social Research 10
Semester Three
-Dissertation - Development Studies 60
(To be completed over the Summer period)
Course Structure for Part-Time Students (2 years)
Students must achieve a total of 180 credits. In year one a total of 80 credits must be taken in taught modules, comprising the core module, Theorising Development, 2 key optional modules and 2 research modules. The third semester will be devoted to research on the dissertation. In year two a total of 100 credits must be achieved, comprising 2 general optional modules and the completion of the dissertation.
Year One
(80 credits over semesters 1 and 2)
Core Module: Theorising Development 20
2 Key optional modules 40
2 Research modules 20
Semester 3
Begin dissertation research
Year Two
(100 credits over Semesters 4 & 5)
2 General optional modules 40
Complete dissertation research 60
