Aims of the course:
- To introduce students to the concept of globalisation, especially economic globalisation and the interaction of this process with international development.
- Students will explore the theoretical underpinnings of globalisation and its practical manifestation in different regions of the world. Instead of taking a short-term view, students will discuss the similarities/differences between the current era of globalisation and earlier eras.
- Using empirical evidence and case studies, students will be asked to critically analyse whether the process of globalisation has had a positive impact on international development or has led to further accentuation of differences between low and high income countries.
Course content overview:
- Teaching Week 1 - This course will begin with an introduction to the process of globalisation with an emphasis on economic globalisation. Participants will be given an overview on earlier eras of globalisation and the differences between contemporary and historical globalisation.
- Teaching Week 2 - This week students will look at why globalisation remains a contentious issue. Based on a number of examples, we will look at the differential impact of globalisation on developing countries in various regions of the world.
- Teaching Week 3 - This week students will look at the emergence of Global Value Chains (GVCs) and the impact on agriculture in developing countries. Using a number of examples, in this week students will look at the growth of non-traditional agricultural exports (NTAEs) from developing countries and the impact on land concentration, labour, changing diets and food security across developing countries.
- Teaching Week 4 - This week stays with the theme of GVCs and will explore issues of rising concentration and importance of trans-national corporations (TNCs) in various sectors of the economy. Using diverse examples, students will look at the Global Business Revolution and the impact on firms from developing countries.
- Teaching Week 5 - This week students will consider the wide-ranging and important contemporary issue of labour migration, the rising importance of foreign remittances in many developing countries and the link to economic development in developing countries.
Schedule (this course is completed entirely online):
Orientation Week: 21-27 October 2019
Teaching Weeks: 28 October-1 December 2019
Feedback Week: 2-8 December 2019
Each week of an online course is roughly equivalent to 2-3 hours of classroom time. On top of this, participants should expect to spend roughly 2-3 hours reading material, etc., although this will vary from person to person.
While they have a specific start and end date and will follow a weekly schedule (for example, week 1 will cover topic A, week 2 will cover topic B), our tutor-led online courses are designed to be flexible and as such would normally not require participants to be online for a specific day of the week or time of the day (although some tutors may try to schedule times where participants can be online together for web seminars, which will be recorded so that those who are unable to be online at certain times are able to access material).
Unless otherwise stated, all course material will be posted on the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) so that they can be accessed at any time throughout the duration of the course and interaction with your tutor and fellow participants will take place through a variety of different ways which will allow for both synchronous and asynchronous learning (discussion boards,etc).
A Certificate of Participation will be awarded to participants who contribute constructively to weekly discussions and exercises/assignments for the duration of the course.
