MSc in International Development Studies

The program provides an understanding of global social, political and economic change. The degree provides a critical understanding of the history and current dynamics of globalization, and its impact on societies and environments.

What can you use this qualification for?

Students find employment in a wide range of national and international institutions, government agencies, non-governmental development organizations, multilateral and bilateral aid organizations, businesses, research and teaching institutions.

What will you learn?

The degree is distinguished by its combined use of research-based pedagogy and real-world study and practice as the foundation to understand what development means, and how it is practiced in a complex and changing global context. Students will gain a solid grounding in the concepts, theory, and practice of international development, and will learn about conditions for human development at the local and global levels, as well as the relationships between development and ecological processes.

Short description

The degree is organized as a full-time program over a 2-year period with 120 study points. All teaching is in English; basic requirements regarding English qualifications must be met. The degree consists of a series of courses including a Masters thesis. Students have the choice of a 30 or 60-point thesis. Students are encouraged to write their thesis on the basis of research carried out in ‘field’ conditions in the global North and South. The first year consists of coursework covering development theory and policy, research methodology plus elective subjects. Field courses, providing valuable practical experience, are offered as electives and are usually followed by field research for the Master thesis. Students design an individual study plan during the first semester. Compulsory courses can be waived for students with a strong background in the subject. The thesis is usually written in the final spring semester.

You will understand the connections and political and economic processes in the global North and South, and acquire the necessary analytical and practical skills to work in the field of international development.

Learning outcomes

After completing this study program the students should have the following competencies:

Knowledge:

• Understand the meaning of development, the various approaches and theories related to the dynamics of development, and the critique of these.

• A specialized insight into a particular area of development, for example, poverty, food security or institutions.

• Knowledge of theories and knowledge of understanding of different conceptions of development, including the disciplinary and interdisciplinary interpretations.

Skills:

• Utilize the competence in planning and carrying out field research, project management, and development work, critically assess new academic developments, within the development studies field as well as policy directions.

• Carry out interdisciplinary analyses of development issues and evaluate past experience of various policy instruments in collaboration with colleagues from other academic fields.

• Use various understandings and methods of social relations and drivers of change.

• Analyse old and new directions within social sciences in understanding poverty, wealth accumulation, rights evolution and conflict.

• Evaluate and use primary, secondary and tertiary sources of data.

• Develop a critical perspective on power relations, ethical issues, and conflicts of values related to social and environmental processes of change.

• Contribute to social innovation and propose new solutions to development challenges.

General competence:

• Plan and carry out independent research, develop innovative research questions and engage critically in policy formulation and project development.

• Solve theoretical and methodological and project and policy problems.

• Apply knowledge in new settings such as development, private sector management or teaching.

• Participate in networks, negotiations, and public debates, and be able to collaborate with people from different cultural backgrounds and academic fields.

NMBU's research and study programmes are enabling people all over the world to tackle the big, global challenges regarding the environment, sustainable development, how to improve human and animal health, renewable energy sources, food production, and land- and resource management.

Campus Ås

Campus Ås houses Norway's largest interdisciplinary academic environment in the life sciences.

The Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) consists of seven faculties, of which six are located at Campus Ås and one is partially located at Campus Adamstuen (until 2019):

• Biosciences
• Chemistry, Biotechnology, and Food Science
• Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management
• Landscape and Society
• School of Economics and Business
• Science and Technology
• Veterinary Medicine

A new research and teaching building for veterinary science will open in 2020, meaning all seven faculties at NMBU will then be consolidated in Ås. The Norwegian Veterinary Institute will move to Campus Ås at the same time.

Campus Ås is also home to one of Norway's most beautiful parks, with a number of historical buildings, as well as Ås Farm, where research and teaching on traditional livestock are conducted.

Campus Ås covers a total area of 600 hectares in the municipality of Ås.

Two other major institutions are also co-located with NMBU at Campus Ås: key parts of the Norwegian Institute of Food, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Research (Nofima) and the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO).

Campus Adamstuen

Campus Adamstuen is home to Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. The faculty is Norway’s only institution of higher education for veterinarians with competence in two distinct academic fields: veterinary medicine and veterinary public health.

Veterinary medicine addresses animal health and well-being. Key areas include knowledge about diseases, diagnostics, and treatment. The field includes both production animals, including farmed fish, and companion animals.

Veterinary public health pertains to all aspects of preventing the spread of disease from animals to humans and is a field that is in increasing demand.

On 1 January 2014, the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science (NVH) and the University of Life Sciences (UMB) were merged to form the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), consolidating research and teaching on the entire biological production chain under a single umbrella. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine comprises four departments at Campus Adamstuen:

• Basic Sciences and Aquatic Medicine (Basam)
• Food Safety and Infection Biology (Matinf)
• Production Animal Clinical Sciences (Prodmed)
• Companion Animal Clinical Sciences (Sportfamed)

Campus Adamstuen is also home to the University Animal Hospital, consisting of the Companion Animal Clinic, the Equine Clinic, and the Production Animal Clinic.

The University Animal Hospital treats sick animals from the entire country and is closely linked to the research and educational activities at NMBU School of Veterinary Medicine.

The Norwegian Veterinary Institute is a biomedical research institute that shares premises with Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Campus Adamstuen. The Norwegian Veterinary History Museum is also located here.

Campus Adamstuen is scheduled to close in 2019, and NMBU School of Veterinary Medicine and the University Animal Hospital will then move into state-of-the-art veterinary premises at Campus Ås, meaning all three faculties will finally be co-located in one place. The Norwegian Veterinary Institute will move to Campus Ås at the same time.

A brand new veterinary science research and teaching building are currently being built at Campus Ås.

Faculty of Veterinary Medicine also has a division located in south-western Norway: the Section for Small Ruminant Research in Høyland, Sandnes.