Aims of the course:
- To introduce students to the field of international development by looking at a range of contemporary issues and themes.
- To teach students about the history, theory and practice of international development, using a variety of case studies and examples from around the world.
- To encourage students to critically assess and analyse the successes and failures of international development.
Course content overview:
- This course will begin with an introduction to key themes in international development, with an overview of why poverty exists and why certain areas of the world face greater development challenges than others. Participants will examine case studies of poverty reduction plans, and take a look at contemporary issues such as livelihoods, migration, and remittances.
- Participants will look at global food security by first taking a look at arguments that population growth rates are unsustainable. The course will then delve into the political, social, and economic causes of famine, malnutrition, and food insecurity.
- Participants will look at the fight to eradicate poverty and provide development for the world’s poor, specifically through the lens of the humanitarian aid and development aid focused on meeting the Millennium Development goals. Participants will look at examples of non-western aid, and at the question of whether there are any viable alternatives to aid as we know it.
- The course will look into urbanisation and global environmental change, examining both the opportunities and challenges presented by the growth of global cities and megacities.
- Participants will consider the wide-ranging and important contemporary issue of sustainable development, as opposed to development as economic growth, especially in a context of climate change.
Schedule (this course is completed entirely online):
Orientation Week: 9-15 September 2019
Teaching Weeks: 16 September-20 October 2019
Feedback Week: 21-27 October 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.
What our students say - December 2018
“This course provided a very good introduction to the main issues in international development. It made me aware of the complex interrelation between various factors and made me think about possible solutions.”
