IDSC Course of Study

MASTER’S DEGREE REQUIREMENTS

The master’s degree in International Development and Social Change requires a minimum of 12 graduate course units. These include five required core courses, including a final MA project, two skills courses, and five elective courses to form the student’s field of specialization.

REQUIRED CORE COURSES

IDCE 360 Development Theory provides a critical overview of classical and contemporary theories of development across many disciplines. Encourages thinking historically, politically and analytically about the multiplicity of development processes and the complex relations of power that underlie them.

IDCE 361 Development Program and Project Management develops skills in needs assessment, project design, implementation, management, budgeting, scheduling, work plans, and monitoring/evaluation.

One Graduate-level Economics Course, such as:

IDCE 30217 Economic Fundamentals for International Development introduces economic history, as well as microeconomics and macroeconomics to the non-economists, while illustrating practical applications of these techniques to real-world development situations.

IDCE 30291 Research Design and Methods (or its equivalents IDCE 305, IDCE 390, IDCE 30212, IDCE 30291) reviews topics in social research design and methodology including problem definition, research strategies, sampling, data collection techniques and procedures, and proposal writing.

IDCE 30213 Final MA Project Unlike other courses, the final MA project is the culmination of the IDSC Masters experience. Therefore this credit needs to be taken as part of the 12-credit IDSC Program under the mentorship of core IDSC faculty.

IDSC Skill Courses (a sampling, 2 required)

Skill courses include:

• IDCE 30229 Program Monitoring and Evaluation
• IDCE 30292 Participatory Development Planning
• IDCE 30231 Humanitarian Assistance in Complex Emergencies
• IDCE 30275 Gender in Development Planning
• IDCE 30207 Gender, Militarization and Development
• IDCE 352 Technology and Environmental Assessment
• IDCE 30206 Technology and Sustainability: Perspectives from the Global South
• IDCE 30201 GIS and Community Profiles: Mapping Strategies for Planning and Community Development
• IDCE 30212 Research Design and Methods (or its equivalents IDCE 305, IDCE 390, IDCE 30212, IDCE 30291)
• IDCE 388 Vector GIS

IDSC Elective Courses to form an area of specialization (a sampling, 5 required)

Students select electives to focus their research, deepen their understanding of, and develop an area of specialization in one of the following areas: conflict and development, culture and development, political economy, gender and development, resource management, community-based development, health and development, education and development, or geographical information systems.

Courses might include:

• IDCE 30269 Raced Nature, Gendered Developments: The Political Economy of Environmental Conservation
• IDCE 30243 Seeing Like a Humanitarian Agency
• IDCE 30256 Peasants, Rural Development and Agrarian Change
• IDCE 354 Beyond Victims and Guardian Angels: Third World Women, Gender and Development
• IDCE 304 International and Comparative Analysis of Community Development
• IDCE 341 Management of NGO Organization
• IDCE 30221 Education and Development
• IDCE 30248 Gender and Health
• IDCE 373 Social Movements, Globalization and the State
• IDCE 369 Religion, Identity and Violence in a Globalizing World
• IDCE 353 International Political Ecology

Please view Clark's official Academic Catalog for a complete listing of course offerings.

Final MA Project:The final MA project of the MA degree is the culmination of the IDSC experience. Students have three options to choose from in completing their degree requirements: a research paper, practitioner paper, and thesis. IDCE 30213 is the course unit designation for the final project. IDSC students register for one credit in either the fall or the spring semesters of their second year, or half credit in each semester of their second year. Students will be graded on a pass/fail system, with high pass given to students with exceptional academic merit.