Development Studies is a dynamic field concerned with processes of change in the South - social and economic, political and cultural - and the major policy challenges they present to efforts to overcome poverty and insecurity.ÊThe Development StudiesÊprogramme offered byÊSOAS University of LondonÊprovides a solid interdisciplinary social science formation in development theory and practice and develops studentsÕ capacities for independent and critical analysis.Ê

Highlights include:

• the meanings of development and the challenges it faces

• neoliberalism and its critiques

• industrialisation, labour and capital

• state failure, poverty and insecurity

• gender and class analysis

• NGOs, civil society and social movements

• globalisation, commodity chains and trade

• the agrarian question, peasantry and land

The MSc programmeÕs emphasis on transferable analytical skills has been of great benefit to the many graduates who have returned to, or taken up, professional careers in development in international organisations, government agencies and non-government organisations. Students also benefit from the wide range of modules on offer, both within the Department and across the School, allowing them to create individualised interdisciplinary programmes.

Careers

A postgraduate degree from the Department of Development Studies at SOAS will further develop your understanding of the world, other peoplesÕ ways of life and how society is organised, with an emphasis on transferable analytical skill. These skills have been of great benefit to the many graduates who have taken up professional careers in development in international organisations, government agencies and non-government organisations. This, in addition to your detailed subject knowledge, will also equip you with a set of other specific skills, including: critical skills; the ability to research extensively; a high level of cultural awareness; and the ability to solve problems.