School of Social and Political Science

Our approach to teaching International Development is driven by the mission to help prepare the next generation of researchers, educators, and practitioners to address major local and global challenges. At the heart of this approach lies a vision that understands International Development as a field that is in constant transformation. As established ideas fall out of favour and new innovations replace longstanding models, we aim to integrate change into a teaching model that is both future proof and sensitive to the realities of the present.

 

Another ambition of our teaching is to equip students with two essential and complementary foundations: a strong ability to scrutinise and analyse international development processes and realities with critical thinking, grounded in high-quality research; and a strong ability to make such research matter for international development practice. We see research as a crucial key driver of positive change in the world. As such, many of our courses involve students in both academic and practice-oriented assignments, ranging from book reviews and essays to policy briefs and reports.

 

We further equip students to look beyond official policies and institutions of International Development by putting people first: learning to understand International Development practice and theory from the bottom-up perspective of people's experiences. With a large diversity of staff members who have specific national, regional, and technical expertise, we are able to bridge specific culturally grounded worlds in concrete places with wider global and transnational connections and processes.