MSc in
globalisation and development
Additional skills include the identification and
evaluation of development interventions aimed at
remedying the adverse effects of global tendencies
on sustainable development in general and on the
poorer and weaker groups in society in particular,
thereby aiming to strengthen the agency of the
latter.
L ocal institutions and poverty reduction
The Master focuses on the analysis of the
interaction between external and domestic
actors at the interface of global, national and
local arenas and development processes, in order
to identify the changing opportunities for and
constraints to beneficial institutional change for
inclusive, sustainable development and poverty
reduction.
Programme content
The Master in Globalisation and Development
approaches development as the outcome
of intensifying global-to-local-to-global
interactions. It introduces a multi-disciplinary
perspective to analyse opportunities and
threats to poverty alleviation and environmental
sustainability associated with these interactions
in low and middle-income countries at both the
national and local levels.
Most of our students are engaged (or aspire
to become engaged) in interventions, (social)
businesses, policy or advocacy which promote
inclusive and sustainable development, whether
as professionals or as researchers.
Applicants to this Master must show a keen
interest in challenges for poverty reduction and
sustainability related to economic and financial
globalisation, mobility and migration, value chains
and/or climate change and environmental crises.
12 · master programmes
The objective of the Master pr ogramme is to
provide these students with a solid understanding
of the current global development context in all
of its dimensions (worldwide markets for goods
and services, capital and labour/migration, the
planetary challenge of sustainable development
in this era of environmental crisis/climate change).
It offers insight and tools with which to analyse
and improve the impact of the global context
on local development and poverty alleviation
in the Global South and vice versa. As such due
consideration is given to the complexity of local–
global interactions in the multifaceted arenas of
globalisation.
Successful students will be able to identify the
opportunities of the evolving global context, in
addition to assessing and remedying the risks
and threats associated with the globalisation of
the sustainable development challenge. They
will also be able to identify and assess policy and
programme interventions for more effective and
adequate local, national and global development.
In this context, special attention is paid to the
way in which these interactions can produce
inequality and poverty, as well as how they can
promote wellbeing. Each student can focus on
one or two policy challenges at the local–global
interface and follow a tailormade study trajectory.
(e.g. inclusive value chains and/or microfinance;
the global financial architecture; international
migration; impact of trade policies; access to
land; governance of natural resources; the climate
change challenge; promotion of gender justice; …)
Candidates are actively involved in development
or poverty-reduction initiatives, in micro-level
or meso-level projects and programmes and/or
in macro-level policy makers. Professionally, the
candidates hold middle or upper management
or policy (or policy research) positions; ideally,
these also entail at least some experience at the
interface between different policy levels (e.g.
international to local, national to international)
or between different arenas (e.g. civil society –
government, government – international forums
and institutions, INGO – national NGO).
The programme is intended for participants
who have work experience or an interest in
pursuing careers in local, regional and/ or national
government institutions; at research institutes or
universities; in (social or green) businesses, local
NGOs, advocacy or entrepreneurial associations;
or in international organisations (e.g. with
international NGOs, bilateral and multilateral
institutions) or multinational corporations.
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