Study programme

An academic year at International Development Management consists of four blocks, each with one or two courses. You will spend about 15 hours in the classroom each week, and about 25 hours for teamwork and individual assignments. Year 1 is a more general year, after which you deepen your knowledge in years 2 and 3 with elective courses, two internships and a minor. You finish your study programme with a graduation assignment at an organisation or company.

Five themes play a major role throughout your studies: 

1. Environmental justice
2. Disaster management and conflict prevention
3. Social inclusion and diversity
4. Healthy food and resilient communities
5. Equitable and sustainable value chains

Year 1: The basics

In this year, you first focus on the international cooperation sector. Then you delve deeper into themes, together with lecturers who have a lot of experience in the field. For instance, you will investigate a climate crisis, learn what a production chain looks like and investigate equality and inclusiveness. You gain tools and skills, which you put into practice during a trip abroad. And you will start learning a new language such as Spanish, and strengthen your academic English.

You follow these (and other) subjects in year 1:

• History of international development
• Climate and environmental crises
• Exploring food chains
• From inequality to inclusion

Year 2 and 3: deepening and practice

The second and third years are dedicated to further deepening. In year 2, you do a ten-week internship at home or abroad, for example at Oxfam Novib, Amnesty International, Fairtrade International or the Red Cross. You then do research for an organisation such as Save the Children or World Vision, learn about power structures and select your electives based on the five themes.

You start year 3 with a major multidisciplinary course. You work on an issue together with students from other study programmes. This allows you to solve a problem from different perspectives. This is followed by a 20-week internship or a minor (think: Conflict Studies, Sustainable Agriculture and Consumption and International Relations).

Year 4: Graduation

If you did an internship in the third year, you would now do a minor. And vice versa. Finally, you throw yourself into a graduation assignment. You choose your own company or organisation and help think about the subject and the final product (such as a report, video or course).

This is what your studies could look like:

Year	Period 1	Period 2	Period 3	Period 4
1	History of international development Working methods in international development	Exploring food chains Climate and environmental crises	From inequality to inclusion Inspiring change	Equitable and resilient food systems
2	International internship	Applied research Strength in transition	2 elective courses (such as Disasters & conflicts or Fair trade)	Assignment from the professional field Elective course: Environmental justice or Social inclusiveness
3	Multidisciplinary subject on stakeholder processes		Minor
4	Internship		Graduation project

 

You will encounter these five themes:

Environmental justice

The relationship between nature and humans is at risk. You will learn about environmental degradation, historical injustices and human rights inequalities. And you work on sustainable solutions to restore that relationship.

Disaster management and conflict prevention

The quantity, complexity and impact of disasters are increasing. Understanding the interaction between disasters and conflicts is crucial. You devise solutions to increase the resilience of local populations and plan for emergency response and disaster prevention.

Social inclusion and diversity

Exclusion of minority groups, discrimination and polarisation are commonplace. You will explore advocacy and human rights, working towards an inclusive society.

Healthy food and resilient communities

Everyone has the right to access affordable, good and culturally appropriate food. But this is not the reality for a lot of people. You develop solutions to make communities healthy and resilient, through equitable access to food.

Equitable and sustainable value chains

Many production chains of everyday products such as cotton, coffee and cocoa, are unsustainable and unfair. You will look for ways to empower small-scale producers, and make the chain more equitable, inclusive and sustainable.

Graduated?

Congratulations! You may call yourself Bachelor of Science (BSc) ‘International Development Management’. From now on, the world of sustainability, justice and international cooperation is open to you.

Check out your career opportunities