International Development

Hello. I'm interested in International Development and, in particular, education but I wasn't quite sure whether to put it in the social sciences or education part so I just posted it here.

Basically, I'm very passionate about education and I'm teaching English abroad now but I'm not sure I want to be teaching forever. I want to know more about policy and projects regarding education and I think I could put my languages to good use in international development.

Does anyone else here study International Development or International Education? Where do you study it? I tried to search but mostly stuff about international students coming to the UK came up. I just want to know if there's anyone else here that does it :smile:

Reply 1

Klix88

17

I just googled "postgraduate international development" and the first entry was a a list of Masters degrees from UEA, including an MA Education & Development.

http://www.uea.ac.uk/international-development/postgraduate-taught-degrees

Reply 2

xJessx

OP

18

Thank you for replying! Yes, I googled it and found some courses I'm interested in but I meant, where do you study it if you are an International Development student and what is people's background so I can have an idea of what extra curricular stuff the unis like and what I can do to increase my chances :smile:

Reply 3

btfl

3

I study IDS for my undergrad and when I was looking into MA programs, SOAS, Manchester and LSE stuck out as top schools, after Oxbridge. UEA, Sussex, Birmingham and Warwick are also worth a look. If I recall KCL has a program too but its more economics focused, and I remember looking at Edinburgh as well.

Just look at the course structure of each school, some are more focused on the cultural/social side of development which fits you better, others are focused on economic development. SOAS has a lot of variety so might wanna look there! After Oxbridge though, SOAS and LSE require the highest grades.

Good luck! IDS is a really frustrating degree academically... I don't know how its academically framed in the UK but in Canada there's so much contestation, criticism and internal debate that it pushed me to look into other programs haha

Reply 4

Maya_Lorde

3

Original post by xJessx

Hello. I'm interested in International Development and, in particular, education but I wasn't quite sure whether to put it in the social sciences or education part so I just posted it here.

Basically, I'm very passionate about education and I'm teaching English abroad now but I'm not sure I want to be teaching forever. I want to know more about policy and projects regarding education and I think I could put my languages to good use in international development.

Does anyone else here study International Development or International Education? Where do you study it? I tried to search but mostly stuff about international students coming to the UK came up. I just want to know if there's anyone else here that does it :smile:

Hey hope this isn't too late but I'm planning on doing my masters in International Development and Education. I've been accepted at Sussex and Warwick but more likely to choose Sussex because of scholarship opportunity. I'd be an international student.

Reply 5

username2789280

13

Original post by btfl

IDS is a really frustrating degree academically... I don't know how its academically framed in the UK but in Canada there's so much contestation, criticism and internal debate that it pushed me to look into other programs haha

From my passing encounter with Development Studies at undergrad level, I would say this is the case. I'd urge OP not to be put off by this - the contestation and criticism at the end of the day is so vibrant and charged because the stakes are high.

OP - if you're the kind of person who wants to go into NGO/development work in the future, a lot of these courses (particularly the ones not heavily focused on economics - Sussex and SOAS in my understanding are often quite radical in this respect) will problematise your assumptions in a big way and make you think very carefully about development. This is a good thing! There's a lot goes on in the international development world that is problematic and overall not very good for its so-called 'targets'. For my two cents, the world doesn't need any more Home Counties heroes and their white-mans-burden attitudes riding on their white horses into post-conflict zones without having done some serious thinking about it first, so it's a good choice to study it at postgrad in my opinion.

It isn't all doom gloom and hopelessness, though - we had a talk from a lecturer at SOAS the other day who's just coming out with an excellent book about development projects in Mozambique. Highly, highly critical but with actual practical policy recommendations for improvement at the end of it.

I don't mean to sound preachy, but development pushes my buttons, sorry! Good luck!

Reply 6

Klix88

17

Original post by tomv46

From my passing encounter with Development Studies at undergrad level, I would say this is the case. I'd urge OP not to be put off by this - the contestation and criticism at the end of the day is so vibrant and charged because the stakes are high.

OP - if you're the kind of person who wants to go into NGO/development work in the future, a lot of these courses (particularly the ones not heavily focused on economics - Sussex and SOAS in my understanding are often quite radical in this respect) will problematise your assumptions in a big way and make you think very carefully about development. This is a good thing! There's a lot goes on in the international development world that is problematic and overall not very good for its so-called 'targets'. For my two cents, the world doesn't need any more Home Counties heroes and their white-mans-burden attitudes riding on their white horses into post-conflict zones without having done some serious thinking about it first, so it's a good choice to study it at postgrad in my opinion.

It isn't all doom gloom and hopelessness, though - we had a talk from a lecturer at SOAS the other day who's just coming out with an excellent book about development projects in Mozambique. Highly, highly critical but with actual practical policy recommendations for improvement at the end of it.

I don't mean to sound preachy, but development pushes my buttons, sorry! Good luck!