Development perspectives
The aim of the course is to provide students with a solid grounding in the key theories and debates relating to development. The first part of the course will offer an introduction to ‘development' from a historical perspective and an examination of new and alternative development paradigms. The second part of the course will focus on development strategies with an overview of the key issues and actors involved in development promotion. This will include classes on: the structural factors and policies that affect levels of development; the different contexts in which development takes place; and some of the key actors in development. The course will conclude with an assessment of various frameworks and tools that are currently being used in development management.
Cross-sector Partnerships
Students will explore the emergence of a partnership paradigm in which pressing economic, social and environmental challenges are addressed through crosssector collaboration. They will be encouraged to critically explore the concept of 'partnership' through an analysis of arguments for and against partnering and consideration of the process issues encountered when building partnerships between the private and public sectors and civil society.
Management and measurement of sustainable development projects
To ensure projects meet their development goals they need to be well managed taking into account environmental and social criteria. This module introduces the students to the Benefit-Cost analysis approach and its implementation to measure projects´ sustainability impact.
Sustainability policies and programmes in International Organisations and the EU
This course analyses the role and responsibilities of the different institutions commissioned with the development, articulation and implementation of the new guidelines for policy making and change. The review of these bodies will include the role of the UN, multilateral institutions and international NGOs. The course also presents the structure of EU institutions, with particular emphasis on the latest Sustainable.
- Development and the environment
Environmental and Energy challenges
This course is divided into two main subjects:
> Environmental Pollution: we will focus on providing a general understanding of major environmental issues such as water, air and soil pollution as well as the loss of biodiversity and its global implications for the planet.
> Conventional and Renewable Energies: different energy technologies will be reviewed from conventional forms such as coal combustion, to clean sources such as biomass, solar, wind and water. Students completing this course will gain a critical understanding in assessing the pros and cons of each of these energy options. The nuclear debate will also be addressed.
Environmental Economics and Accounting
Environmental economics is an emerging discipline but also a controversial approach proposed to deal with current environmental challenges. It grows, evolves and changes day after day within a very dynamic framework. Environmental economics designs new instruments for the environmental policy such as the monetary valuation of ecological resources, the carbon markets or the ecological taxes. Thousands of articles are being developed every day trying to come up with new ways to protect the earth using economic instruments. But at the same time we may find that, after all, environmental economics is a very old way of thinking economics…
Environmental Liability and Lobbies
Through this subject students will better understand the political and legal context of environmental liability. They will review some of the most famous cases of environmental liabilities from the past years in terms of their economic, social and environmental consequences. Additionally students will get to know what lobbying is, how this activity is being carried out in the world, particularly in Washington and Brussels, and they will gain skills to carry out lobbying activities by themselves.
Sustainability policies and programmes in International Organisations and the EU
This course analyses the role and responsibilities of the different institutions commissioned with the development, articulation and implementation of the new guidelines for policy making and change. The review of these bodies will include the role of the UN, multilateral institutions and international NGOs. The course also presents the structure of EU institutions, with particular emphasis on the latest Sustainable.
Environmental Impact Assessment and Strategic Impact Assessment
We will be studying the methodology with which positive and/ or negative environmental (and social) impacts of a project can be assessed. This evaluation must be carried out prior to making major decisions and investments.
- Corporate responsibility and reputation management
Introduction to Corporate Responsibility or What is a responsible business
The course will study the intricate relations between successful sustainability strategies in the current business environments, paying specific attention to governance issues and business ethics. The importance of developing a strategic corporate approach to intangible management will be discussed, with emphasis placed on practical assignments, debates and role-playing.
Moreover, this module will show how Stakeholder Management (SE) represents both a result of continuous improvement in public relations and corporate communication and an essential tool for CSR, since it is through SE that we know the content of material (relevant) issues for the organization.
Integrating CR into business strategy and operations
Students will study how Corporate Responsibility can be integrated into the company's strategy as a way to maximize the benefits for the company, and the use of the Balanced Scorecard as a tool to implement the strategy in operational levels.
Risk and Reputation Management
Risk and Reputation will also be addressed in this module. The increasing pace of change, customer demands and market globalization put risk management (RM) high on the agenda of companies and executives. All projects and every decision made involve a certain degree of risk, and RM offers the conceptual framework and tools to identify it and respond to it, at different levels: strategic, business and project levels. "It takes years to consolidate a good corporate reputation and only five minutes to destroy it".
Mainstreaming CR into the funcional areas
Furthermore, students will learn how an organization can take advantage of corporate responsibility for its day-today business, and how to integrate CR into the different areas of the company, such as Human Resources, Supply Chain, Finance, Marketing, Communications, Quality and Environmental Management, or Corporate Philanthropy.
OpenCR in Small and Medium Enterprises
The module will also analyze how Small and Medium Enterprises adopt CR approaches. This part of the subject is definitively an "on hands" workshop that shows the way through which any SME can integrate CR and Sustainability in its strategy and be able to report it to its stakeholders.
Sustainability Indicators
In "Sustainability Indicators", students will work on the tools and techniques that CR professionals use when identifying key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess and manage businesses from a sustainable development perspective. More that 50% of the aspects that should be monitored by KPIs are company-specific, as opposed to general aspects of sustainability. Once students are familiar with the analytic framework, they will move on to the next phase: to assess sustainability performance.
International Standards and CR
In "International Standards and CR", the different international Regulations, Norms & Standards related to Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability aspects will be explored: environmental management, human rights, social audits, accounting, international rankings and ratings, etc.
Sustainability Reporting
Finally, students will learn how to create clear and dataprecise sustainability reports (e.g. using the Global Reporting Initiative- GRI). Clear CR reports help feed information to the markets, develop strategies, engage with special investor relations firms, inform internal stakeholders and bring many other benefits for the organization.
Business and Sustainability
This last module tries to combine the different topics studied in the previous subjects. In this sense, topics such as Social Entrepreneurship, Socially Responsible Investment, Inclusive Businesses, Technology and Development or Fair Trade, among others, will be covered.
Elective subjects or study abroad (30 hours)
Students should select from the range of available modules/subjects a maximum of 3 credits (30 contact hours) which will enable them to increase and adapt their learning capacity based on their conceptual interests, area of specialisation and future professional sector.
* Sustainable Cities, Agenda 21
* Rural Development
* Water and Development
* Energy and Development
* GIS (Geographic Information Systems)
International experience
Students have the possibility to participate in a 1-2 week international experience where the group will attend classes at one of our prestigious partner institutions. The fees of this study abroad programme are not included in the IMSD global cost.
Final project
The Final Project should present an in-depth study of a specific problem or case in sustainable development (energy, rural development, private-public partnerships, corporate responsibility, eco-efficiency and eco-design…) using research methodology and data; it should also propose innovative solutions and sustainable change.
