ObjectivesStudents who complete the masters will: * understand current practice and thinking about development; * comprehend the relations between development and environmental conditions, gender and urbanisation and culture; * know and be able to use some of the techniques employed in development planning.
Academic titleMaster of Development Studies (CWT)
Course description2 year/200 point program
Duration: 2 years full-time / up to 6 years part-time
* one compulsory subject (usually completed in the first year of enrolment)
* 3 core subjects at 400 level and 3 core subjects at 500 level
* elective subjects to complete the total 200 points required
* Students must complete at least 100 points at 500-level
Students planning to enrol in a Minor Thesis must consult with the course coordinator prior to enrolment. To be eligible to enrol in the minor thesis students must have completed at least 50 points of subjects at the University of Melbourne and received an average of at least 75% for those subjects. Please see Minor Thesis Option below for more information.
Written permission from the course and subject coordinators must be obtained prior to enrolling in: Development Studies Minor Thesis, Governance & International Institutions
1 and half year/ 150 point program
Duration: 1.5 years full-time / up to 3 years part-time
* one compulsory subject (usually completed in the second semester of enrolment)
* at least three core subjects
* elective subjects to complete the total 150 points
* Students must complete at least 100 points of 500-level subjects
Students planning to enrol in a Minor Thesis must consult with the course coordinator prior to enrolment. To be eligible to enrol in the minor thesis students must have completed at least 50 points of subjects at the University of Melbourne and received an average of at least 75% for those subjects. Students must have completed or be concurrently enrolled in the subject Field Methods for Development. There are a further two subjects that count as electives towards the overall masters degree but are considered core within the Minor Thesis option: Explanation & Understanding, and Directed Study in Development.
Written permission from the course and subject coordinators must be obtained prior to enrolling in: Development Studies Minor Thesis, Governance & International Institutions
1 year/100 point program (500 level, coursework only)
Duration: 1 year full-time / up to 2 years part-time
* one compulsory subject
* at least two core subjects
* elective subjects to total 100 points
Minor Thesis Option (available only in 200 or 150 point program: Upon completion of a minimum of 50 points in the 200 or 150 point programs, students may enrol in the Development Studies Minor Thesis (50 points). Course coordinator approval is required for entry to Minor Thesis. Students are strongly advised to consult the course coordinator for course and subject planing at an early stage of study. Eligibility for application to the Minor Thesis is based on the following criteria:
• overall grade average of 75% or above in the first 100 points (400 level) of the 200 point program, or the first 50 points in the 150 point program;
• Completion of pre-requisite subject Field Methods in Development;
• Submission of an application form which includes a thesis abstract, well structured research proposal, and an Ethics Checklist. Additional Requirements for undertaking the Minor Thesis include the following two additional subjects as part of electives:
• Directed Study in Development
• Explanation & Understanding
Note: Students are expected to complete Explanation & Understanding in the semester prior to their commencement of the thesis, and to complete Directed Study in Development in first semester of their thesis which is taken over two consecutive semesters.
200 Point Program
First 100 points
Compulsory subject
Subject Semester Credit Points
121-545 Understanding Development
This subject forms an introduction to the main past and current theories of development, involving the approaches of several social science disciplines. It also considers many of the major issues in development, including the environment, gender, hum... Semester 1 12.50
Core subjects (400- Level):
Subject Semester Credit Points
121-408 Civil Society, NGOs and the State
In the nearly two decades since the end of the Cold War, the world has witnessed a remarkable rejection of the big plans and projects that characterized the period of high-modernization that existed between the Bretton Woods pact of 1944 and the end ... Semester 1 12.50
121-415 Migrancy, Home and Exile
The accelerated speed, frequency and commonality of the movement of people through space is an increasingly ubiquitous feature of the modern world. Consequently, migration studies has developed as an established field of enquiry, encompassing discipl... Semester 2 12.50
121-462 Health and Development
This subject examines the relationship between health and political economic development in the world system, particularly in developing countries. It draws upon medical anthropology and health sociology in addressing issues such as the social origin... Semester 1 12.50
121-436 The Geopolitics of Peace and Development
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
121-461 Gender Issues in Development
This subject will focus on feminist engagements with development theory. Case studies will consider the place of women and men in rural social orders, the relationship between gender, the environment and ethnicity, the gendered dimensions of governan... Semester 2 12.50
121-460 Field Methods for Development
The subject will focus on ethnographic or qualitative methods, particularly as they apply to development work. It includes a discussion of varying notions of ethnographic or qualitative research, including the notion of praxis the merger of theory an... Semester 2 12.50
Elective subjects (400-level):*
Subject Semester Credit Points
166-416 Justice, Democracy and Difference
This subject provides a critical examination of contemporary debates about ideas of justice, democracy and the politics of difference. The subject critically explores both the major liberal approaches to justice alongside critiques of liberal approac... Semester 1 12.50
131-432 Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective
This subject surveys recent developments in feminist theory and feminist methodology within a cross-cultural context. It explores issues involved in present-day debates about feminist epistemology and knowledge, including debates surrounding the rela... Semester 1 12.50
207-404 Agricultural Policies and Trade
On successful completion of this subject students should be able to:explain the reasons for government intervention in the agri-food sectors of several countries, including Australia, and identify the policy objectives being pursued;critically analys... Semester 2 12.50
481-809 Program Evaluation: Forms & Approaches
A conceptual overview of theories, issues and recent practice in evaluation. An inductive/case study approach will be used in which recent evaluation practice will be analysed using frameworks developed by the lecturers. Topics covered include: confl... Semester 1, Summer 25
Notes:
* Additional elective subjects may be selected from the second hundred points: see 100 point program structure below. Some cross-listed electives may require prerequisites and therefore students are advised to contact subject coordinators for approval
Second 100 points
Core subjects (500-level):
Subject Semester Credit Points
121-523 Internship in Development
INTERNSHIP IN DEVELOPMENT IS A CORE SUBJECT (12.5 CREDIT POINTS) AVAILABLE TO POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS IN DEVELOPMENT, ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES AND VARIOUS COGNATE DISCIPLINES AND FIELDS OF STUDY. THE (LOCAL) INTERNSHIP SUBJECT AIMS TO PROVIDE STUDENTS WIT... Semester 1, Semester 2, Summer 12.50
121-532 Environmental Impact Assessment
This subject prepares students for environmental management roles by providing them with the principles of how human impacts on the environment might be detected and managed. The principles will be placed within the legal and social contexts of envir... Semester 1 12.50
121-525 The Political Ecology of Development
The subject provides postgraduate and honours students with a critical understanding of the institutions that regulate the interactions between society and the natural environment, using a political ecology perspective. The topics explored in this su... Semester 1 12.50
121-508 Project Management & Design
An introduction to project management and design from an interdisciplinary and participatory perspective. The principal focus is the project cycle: identification, feasibility and design, appraisal, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. Part... Semester 1 12.50
131-546 Gender, Globalisation and Development
This subject examines the relationships between gender, globalisation and development in selected regions of Asia and the Pacific, drawing on the theoretical perspectives and insights of a number of social science and humanities disciplines. On compl... Semester 1 12.50
131-547 Rethinking Rights and Global Development
This subject explores the theoretical and political issues surrounding ideas of rights and human rights, with special reference to the development process within the contemporary globalising order. It draws on recent critical, feminist and other (re)... Semester 2 12.50
161-591 Development, Culture and Conflict
The end of the Cold War and the announcement of the ‘New World Order’ created a rapidly transforming terrain for the practice of development, humanitarian intervention and aid. Cultural, ethnic and religious conflict is a feat... Semester 2 12.50
161-592 Poverty, Microfinance and Development
Development studies as an academic discipline has its origins in President Harry Truman’s concept of a “fair deal” for the entire world. In his inaugural address on January 20, 1949, he stated that Third World pove... Semester 2 12.50
121-529 Social Impact Assessment and Evaluation
This subject develops the skills to understand and assess the social impacts of development. The different actors involved in shaping and implementing development projects and programmes (the state, international development agencies, non-government ... Semester 2 12.50
121-537 Heritage and Cultural Environments
This subject provides students with advanced level analysis and interpretation of the range of issues associated with cultural resource management. The subject advances student knowledge of cross cultural issues as they relate to resource management ... Semester 2 12.50
Elective subjects (500-level):
Development Studies Program
Subject Semester Credit Points
121-534 Development Studies Special Topics B
This subject involves the study of selected key issues in the field of development studies. It is intended that the subject will assist students in broadening their understanding of development processes and update their knowledge of current debates ... Semester 2 12.50
121-543 Development Studies Special Topics A
This subject involves the study of selected key issues in the field of development studies. It is intended that the subject will assist students in broadening their understanding of development processes and update their knowledge of current debates ... Semester 2 12.50
121-544 International Internship
INTERNATIONAL INTERNSHIP IS AN ELECTIVE (25 CREDIT POINTS) SUBJECT AVAILABLE TO MASTERS LEVEL STUDENTS IN DEVELOPMENT, ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES AND VARIOUS COGNATE DISCIPLINES AND FIELDS OF STUDY. IT PROVIDES STUDENTS WITH THE OPPORTUNITY TO GAIN EXPOSU... Semester 1, Semester 2, Summer 25
121-547 Minor Thesis - Development Studies
Students enrolled in this subject will undertake a piece of research in Development Studies approved by the course coordinator. The research will incorporate an analysis of development theory and practice. On completion of the subject, students will ... Semester 1, Semester 2 50
Geography
Subject Semester Credit Points
121-511 Management of Australian Ecosystems
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
121-512 Integrated River & Catchment Management
Rivers are amongst the hardest of natural resources to manage. They are long and thin, and so maximise the impact of catchment changes; they also focus environmental, social and production pressures. Rivers are the archetypal example of the conflict ... Semester 2 12.50
121-542 Geographical Analysis and GIS
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
School of Social and Political Sciences
Subject Semester Credit Points
166-516 Foundations of Social Policy
The subject engages with contemporary theories of social inclusion and capital with an emphasis on networks and their role in community strengthening, community building and regional economic development. The subject also engages in the role these st... Semester 1 25
166-530 Environmental Policy
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
166-537 Health Politics, Policy & Governance
This subject focuses on critically analysing politics, policy and governance in relation to health. It asks students to examine the institutions, structures and organisations that shape the policy process in health, consider how health problems are d... Semester 1 12.50
166-547 Politics and Business in post-Mao China
Over the past two decades, the role of the Chinese state in the country´s economic development has changed considerably. The state planning agencies no longer decide what and how much should the country... Semester 2 12.50
166-551 Governance & International Institutions
The subject will examine various dimensions of the conflict between national sovereignty and international interdependence which impinge on the nature and institutions of global governance. It will extend students knowledge of the diversity of the fo... Semester 2 12.50
Asian Studies
Subject Semester Credit Points
110-553 Human Rights in Southeast Asia
This seminar will focus on human rights and its critics from a historical and comparative perspective. We will explore the factors that have given rise to radically different conception of rights and justice (i.e. political, economic, cultural, relig... Semester 2 12.50
Engineering
Subject Semester Credit Points
421-609 Technology in Society
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
421-616 Technology Assessment
Nature of technology; nature of technological changes; introduction to production theory; comparative advantage; net national value added; social cost benefit analysis, environmental impact statements; environmental economics; financial analysis usin... Semester 1 12.50
421-619 Energy for Sustainable Development
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
421-625 Case Studies in Development Technologies
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
421-640 Water Supply and Waste Water Management
Water supply for low-income rural and large urban communities; quality criteria; resource allocation; patterns of water usage; sources; extraction; storage and delivery methods; treatment processes; cost analysis, including cost recovery. Waste dispo... Semester 1 12.50
Melbourne School of Land and Environment
Subject Semester Credit Points
207-505 Global Environment and Sustainability
Modernization has led to development pressures that have increasingly disrupted natural systems leading to widespread concerns about the long-term viability of important environmental services, including those critical to food security worldwide. Ca... Semester 1 12.50
207-513 Community Natural Resource Management
The content and learning process are designed to meet the needs of graduates entering careers in all areas of natural resource management. The subject is presented under seven main headings:philosophy and evolution of participation and community mana... Semester 2 12.50
School of Population Health
Subject Semester Credit Points
505-500 Health, Ethics and Society
This subject introduces and critically examines standard conceptual approaches to health ethics and provides an introduction to conceptual approaches within other relevant disciplines. Through the employment of these different conceptual approaches, ... Semester 1 12.50
505-502 Culture, Health and Illness
This subject provides an introduction to critical medical anthropology, a rapidly growing and dynamic endeavour, which provides a link between social anthropology and biological anthropology. While the subject discusses various perspectives in medica... Semester 1 12.50
505-505 Bioethics: The Fundamental Debates
This subject introduces students to the classic debates in bioethics about reproduction, life and death. Specific topics may include: active and passive euthanasia, abortion, organ transplantation, reproductive and genetic technologies (e.g. cloning,... Semester 2 12.50
505-522 Women's Sexual & Reproductive Health
This subject takes as a starting point a consideration of what constitutes sexual and reproductive health over the life course. It provides an overview of key sexual and reproductive health issues in a variety of geographic locations and considers t... Semester 1 12.50
505-531 Control of Sexually Transm. Infections
This subject provides students with an understanding of the epidemiology and determinants of sexually transmissible infections (STIs), including HIV in the developed world. It then uses this information to develop interventions for the control of the... Semester 1 12.50
505-535 Aboriginal Health: Past to Present
Through the use of case studies located along a historical timeline, this subject provides students with a foundational understanding of Aboriginal health from pre-invasion to the present. Along this continuum, Aboriginal health issues are examined ... Semester 1 12.50
505-900 International Child Health
This subject provides an overview and practical guidelines to address international child health issues, including acute respiratory illness, diarrhoea diseases, peri natal conditions, nutritional deficiencies, and communicable diseases. These issues... Semester 2 12.50
505-901 International Adolescent Health
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
505-902 Disability in Developing Countries
This subject is an introduction to the issues and paradigms which influence and shape development responses to disability in low-income settings. Using examples of disability-inclusive development practices from around the world, students will gain a... Semester 2 12.50
505-963 Primary Health Care, Jamkhed, India
This subject will provide students with the opportunity to learn about primary health care within the context of a primary health program in a low income setting in India. Students will learn about the principles of health policy development and prog... Semester 2, Summer 12.50
* Students cannot enrol in more than two 25 point subjects
Permission by a course/ subject coordinator is required in order to enrol in the thesis. A minor thesis can only be undertaken in the 150- and 200-point Masters programs.
Notes: up to 25 points may be taken from outside the approved list of subjects with the approval of the course coordinator. In coursework masters programs where electives are available students may enrol in up to 25 points of language study as approved by course coordinator (usually taken in the first 100 points of a 200 point program.
150 point program
* one compulsory subject (usually completed in the second semester of enrolment)
* at least three core subjects
* elective subjects to complete the total 150 points
* Students must complete at least 100 points of 500-level subjects
First 50 points: see first 100 points of the 200 point program above for subjects
Remaining 100 points: see 100 point program structure below for subjects available at 500-level.
100 point program
(500 level, coursework only)
Compulsory subject:
Subject Semester Credit Points
121-545 Understanding Development
This subject forms an introduction to the main past and current theories of development, involving the approaches of several social science disciplines. It also considers many of the major issues in development, including the environment, gender, hum... Semester 1 12.50
Core subjects (500-level):
Subject Semester Credit Points
121-523 Internship in Development
INTERNSHIP IN DEVELOPMENT IS A CORE SUBJECT (12.5 CREDIT POINTS) AVAILABLE TO POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS IN DEVELOPMENT, ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES AND VARIOUS COGNATE DISCIPLINES AND FIELDS OF STUDY. THE (LOCAL) INTERNSHIP SUBJECT AIMS TO PROVIDE STUDENTS WIT... Semester 1, Semester 2, Summer 12.50
121-508 Project Management & Design
An introduction to project management and design from an interdisciplinary and participatory perspective. The principal focus is the project cycle: identification, feasibility and design, appraisal, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. Part... Semester 1 12.50
121-525 The Political Ecology of Development
The subject provides postgraduate and honours students with a critical understanding of the institutions that regulate the interactions between society and the natural environment, using a political ecology perspective. The topics explored in this su... Semester 1 12.50
131-546 Gender, Globalisation and Development
This subject examines the relationships between gender, globalisation and development in selected regions of Asia and the Pacific, drawing on the theoretical perspectives and insights of a number of social science and humanities disciplines. On compl... Semester 1 12.50
121-532 Environmental Impact Assessment
This subject prepares students for environmental management roles by providing them with the principles of how human impacts on the environment might be detected and managed. The principles will be placed within the legal and social contexts of envir... Semester 1 12.50
131-547 Rethinking Rights and Global Development
This subject explores the theoretical and political issues surrounding ideas of rights and human rights, with special reference to the development process within the contemporary globalising order. It draws on recent critical, feminist and other (re)... Semester 2 12.50
161-592 Poverty, Microfinance and Development
Development studies as an academic discipline has its origins in President Harry Truman´s concept of a "fair deal" for the entire world. In his inaugural address on January 20, 1949, he stated that Third World pove... Semester 2 12.50
161-591 Development, Culture and Conflict
+The end of the Cold War and the announcement of the "New World Order" created a rapidly transforming terrain for the practice of development, humanitarian intervention and aid. Cultural, ethnic and religious conflict is a feat... Semester 2 12.50
121-529 Social Impact Assessment and Evaluation
This subject develops the skills to understand and assess the social impacts of development. The different actors involved in shaping and implementing development projects and programmes (the state, international development agencies, non-government ... Semester 2 12.50
121-537 Heritage and Cultural Environments
This subject provides students with advanced level analysis and interpretation of the range of issues associated with cultural resource management. The subject advances student knowledge of cross cultural issues as they relate to resource management ... Semester 2 12.50
Elective subjects (500-level):
Development Studies Program
Subject Semester Credit Points
121-534 Development Studies Special Topics B
This subject involves the study of selected key issues in the field of development studies. It is intended that the subject will assist students in broadening their understanding of development processes and update their knowledge of current debates ... Semester 2 12.50
121-543 Development Studies Special Topics A
This subject involves the study of selected key issues in the field of development studies. It is intended that the subject will assist students in broadening their understanding of development processes and update their knowledge of current debates ... Semester 2 12.50
121-544 International Internship
INTERNATIONAL INTERNSHIP IS AN ELECTIVE (25 CREDIT POINTS) SUBJECT AVAILABLE TO MASTERS LEVEL STUDENTS IN DEVELOPMENT, ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES AND VARIOUS COGNATE DISCIPLINES AND FIELDS OF STUDY. IT PROVIDES STUDENTS WITH THE OPPORTUNITY TO GAIN EXPOSU... Semester 1, Semester 2, Summer 25
Geography
Subject Semester Credit Points
121-511 Management of Australian Ecosystems
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
121-512 Integrated River & Catchment Management
Rivers are amongst the hardest of natural resources to manage. They are long and thin, and so maximise the impact of catchment changes; they also focus environmental, social and production pressures. Rivers are the archetypal example of the conflict ... Semester 2 12.50
121-542 Geographical Analysis and GIS
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
School of Social and Political Sciences
Subject Semester Credit Points
166-516 Foundations of Social Policy
The subject engages with contemporary theories of social inclusion and capital with an emphasis on networks and their role in community strengthening, community building and regional economic development. The subject also engages in the role these st... Semester 1 25
166-530 Environmental Policy
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
166-537 Health Politics, Policy & Governance
This subject focuses on critically analysing politics, policy and governance in relation to health. It asks students to examine the institutions, structures and organisations that shape the policy process in health, consider how health problems are d... Semester 1 12.50
166-547 Politics and Business in post-Mao China
Over the past two decades, the role of the Chinese state in the country´s economic development has changed considerably. The state planning agencies no longer decide what and how much should the countryÂ&#x020... Semester 2 12.50
166-551 Governance & International Institutions
The subject will examine various dimensions of the conflict between national sovereignty and international interdependence which impinge on the nature and institutions of global governance. It will extend students knowledge of the diversity of the fo... Semester 2 12.50
Asian Studies
Subject Semester Credit Points
110-553 Human Rights in Southeast Asia
This seminar will focus on human rights and its critics from a historical and comparative perspective. We will explore the factors that have given rise to radically different conception of rights and justice (i.e. political, economic, cultural, relig... Semester 2 12.50
Engineering
Subject Semester Credit Points
421-609 Technology in Society
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
421-616 Technology Assessment
Nature of technology; nature of technological changes; introduction to production theory; comparative advantage; net national value added; social cost benefit analysis, environmental impact statements; environmental economics; financial analysis usin... Semester 1 12.50
421-619 Energy for Sustainable Development
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
421-625 Case Studies in Development Technologies
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
421-640 Water Supply and Waste Water Management
Water supply for low-income rural and large urban communities; quality criteria; resource allocation; patterns of water usage; sources; extraction; storage and delivery methods; treatment processes; cost analysis, including cost recovery. Waste dispo... Semester 1 12.50
Melbourne School of Land and Environment
Subject Semester Credit Points
207-505 Global Environment and Sustainability
Modernization has led to development pressures that have increasingly disrupted natural systems leading to widespread concerns about the long-term viability of important environmental services, including those critical to food security worldwide. Ca... Semester 1 12.50
207-513 Community Natural Resource Management
The content and learning process are designed to meet the needs of graduates entering careers in all areas of natural resource management. The subject is presented under seven main headings:philosophy and evolution of participation and community mana... Semester 2 12.50
School of Population Health
Subject Semester Credit Points
505-500 Health, Ethics and Society
This subject introduces and critically examines standard conceptual approaches to health ethics and provides an introduction to conceptual approaches within other relevant disciplines. Through the employment of these different conceptual approaches, ... Semester 1 12.50
505-502 Culture, Health and Illness
This subject provides an introduction to critical medical anthropology, a rapidly growing and dynamic endeavour, which provides a link between social anthropology and biological anthropology. While the subject discusses various perspectives in medica... Semester 1 12.50
505-505 Bioethics: The Fundamental Debates
This subject introduces students to the classic debates in bioethics about reproduction, life and death. Specific topics may include: active and passive euthanasia, abortion, organ transplantation, reproductive and genetic technologies (e.g. cloning,... Semester 2 12.50
505-522 Women's Sexual & Reproductive Health
This subject takes as a starting point a consideration of what constitutes sexual and reproductive health over the life course. It provides an overview of key sexual and reproductive health issues in a variety of geographic locations and considers t... Semester 1 12.50
505-531 Control of Sexually Transm. Infections
This subject provides students with an understanding of the epidemiology and determinants of sexually transmissible infections (STIs), including HIV in the developed world. It then uses this information to develop interventions for the control of the... Semester 1 12.50
505-535 Aboriginal Health: Past to Present
Through the use of case studies located along a historical timeline, this subject provides students with a foundational understanding of Aboriginal health from pre-invasion to the present. Along this continuum, Aboriginal health issues are examined ... Semester 1 12.50
505-900 International Child Health
This subject provides an overview and practical guidelines to address international child health issues, including acute respiratory illness, diarrhoea diseases, peri natal conditions, nutritional deficiencies, and communicable diseases. These issues... Semester 2 12.50
505-901 International Adolescent Health
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
505-902 Disability in Developing Countries
This subject is an introduction to the issues and paradigms which influence and shape development responses to disability in low-income settings. Using examples of disability-inclusive development practices from around the world, students will gain a... Semester 2 12.50
505-963 Primary Health Care, Jamkhed, India
This subject will provide students with the opportunity to learn about primary health care within the context of a primary health program in a low income setting in India. Students will learn about the principles of health policy development and prog... Semester 2, Summer 12.50
* Students cannot enrol in more than two 25 point subjects
Note: up to 25 points may be taken from outside the approved list of subjects with the approval of the course coordinator.