About the Department

The Department of Global Development and Planning at UiA is Norway´s oldest research community within development studies. The department was the first in Norway to establish an interdisciplinary elementary course in development studies back in 1981. In the years since then, the staff and subject portfolios have grown so as to also encompass social geography, planning and communication.

The department´s academic staff is made up of researchers with teaching and research experience in poverty issues, globalisation and political economy, state and welfare politics in the South, rural/urban migration, natural disasters and crisis management, climate and environmental issues, social movements, gender, integration and mobility, city and regional planning, local development and participation processes.

The department has, since the start, focused strongly on building international networks. Within the development field, we have had wide-ranging co-operation with university and research communities in Africa, Asia and South America. The social planning and communications field has collaborated equivalently with European and North American communities.

One of the department´s master’s specialisations is built upon a particular digital platform and has been developed in collaboration with international partners in Africa and Asia. Different exchange agreements and a net-based master´s programme has provided the department with an international student population. We also offer campus-based master´s teaching.

The department´s interdisciplinary approach to the social sciences is reflected today in the educational programmes offered, comprising of bachelors degrees in development studies and social planning and communication, different masters´ programmes and a separate PhD programme.

The department offers:

• Two bachelors’ programmes: Development Studies and Social Planning and Communication.
• A master´s programme in Global Development and Planning, which includes two specialisations: Development Management and Social Planning and Global Powers of Change.
• A PhD programme with Specialisation in Global Development and Planning