Master in Development Management

The Master's Programme in Development Management is part of the Norad's Programme for Master Studies (NOMA) 2006 - 2013.
The NOMA programme is implemented by a network of universities from the South and the North. University of Agder's (UiA) main partner in the programme is the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka. The other partners are Mzumbe University in Tanzania, Mekelle University in Ethiopia, Makerere University in Uganda, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana and United Nations University, Japan.

Next intake of students will be autumn semester 2012.

Picture from face-to-face session in South Africa, Hammanskraal Township.

Entrance requirements and enrolment

Entering students will need to have at least a bachelor`s degree in a social science discipline, with a mimimum concentration of 80 ECTS in a relevant major area. Relevant fields of specialisation are development studies, geography and other fields of social science, such as political science, sociology, or anthropology, business and public administration other areas of management. In addition, applicants need to have a strong command of the English language, oral and written. They must be familiar with the use of computers and the Internet. Preferably applicants should have relevant working experience, e.g. within teaching, administration, management, research or relevant project work.

The programme seeks to recruit students who are interested in working with development programmes internationally or in their home country. Applicants should have an interest in seeking careers in NGOs and national and international institutions, or in special "development" roles of public service or business administration. The master programme may qualify for admittance to relevant doctoral programmes. Further information about the application procedures and requirements can be found on the application form.

Scholarships

Please note that for the intake in 2012 there are no scholarships available.

International applicants

Self-financed international applicants from countries outside EEA must submit proof of adequate financial means of NOK 90 800 with the application and will need to apply for a residence permit to study in Norway. (Original bank statement in your name (stamped, signed and dated by a bank official) or original bank statement in your sponsor’s name (stamped, signed and dated by a bank official) + an original letter of support from the person named on the bank statement.) Although the programme is based on e-learning with face-to-face sessions, it is required that self financed international students perform their studies at UiA.

Idea behind the study programme

The Development Management Programme is primarily concerned with development, and with facilitators and obstacles to development, whether these are environmental or social, economic or political. On a global level, several interacting factors have led to increased pressure on the environment, such as population growth; over-exploitation and mismanagement of natural resources and environmental pollution. This also means discussing how some countries have progressed to a very high level of income without having strong resource endowments, how other countries have been able to develop by making effective use of their natural resources, how some countries have been able to propel periods of strong growth by excessively exploiting their resource base, and how some countries seem to be prone to "cleptocratic" and dictatorial rule - amazing riches to the few and poverty to the many.

The relevance of the study programme

A serious constraint in many poor countries is the lack of managerial competence. Such competence is needed for the development and implementation of policies and practical solutions to social, economic, and environmental challenges. It is clearly recognised both by national and international institutions that there is a need to increase the competence and capacity that can contribute to a positive development process. In Norwegian development co-operation, this aspect has been given high priority.

Programme objectives

The objective of the study programme is to familiarize students with theories and findings concerning development, and to offer managerial tools to practical problems. Solutions to problems need to be sought from at variety of disciplines, including economics and the functional areas of management, political science, sociology, anthropology, and geography. A wide variety of institutional contexts need to be considered, including local and international private business, non-government organizations, central and local governments, international and national regulatory and donor institutions. In addition, graduating students will be well skilled in cross cultural communication and collaboration.

Teaching methods

The Master's Programme is innovative in its linking of education and research on sustainable development with new information technologies, with a particular emphasis on on-line learning (e-learning pedagogy). Most of the teaching, instruction, tuition and supervision will take place on the Internet through the Fronter Learning Management System. As the pedagogics has a social constructivist approach, group work, discussions and joint assignments are important. Each student is expected to participate actively, taking his or her share of responsibility for own learning as well as taking part in the development of an optimal learning environment.

The study programme

The Master?s Programme in Development Management is a four semester full time study programme, covering 120 ECTS (credits).

(ECTS = The European Credit Transfer System)

Half of the third semester (15 ECTS) and the whole of the fourth semester (30 ECTS) will be fully devoted to the writing of a master?s thesis - building upon coursework and personal experiences, and focusing on problems and issues of high interest to the individual student and the societies and institutions they represent.

Students are encouraged to do fieldwork (collect her/his own data from the field, most often in some combination with data from literature sources) in connection with the master's thesis. We will encourage students to do fieldwork in a developing country as we consider this experience to be of particular value for research on environment and development issues. Co-operation is a fundamental idea for the entire Development Management programme, also for the thesis work.

Face-to-face sessions

The beginning of the first semester starts with a face-to-face session of 2-3 weeks where students, professors and tutors will meet. The first face-to-face meeting will be at the University of Agder, Kristiansand, in August.The idea of the first face-to-face session is to get to know each other, have a brief introduction to learning resources, computer technology and applied pedagogics. The second face-to-face session will take place at the end of May / beginning of June (4 weeks), second semester, and will normally be at University of Ruhuna in Sri Lanka. Norwegian students can apply for addidtional scholarships/loans from Lånekassen in connection with face-to-face sessions and fieldwork in developing countries. The face-to-face session will cost about NOK 10 000 pluss air ticket. This includes internal travel in Sri Lanka, food and accomodation.
Note! The face-to-face sessions are compulsory.

University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka

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