Description
Please note if you started your studies from May 2015 onwards (Route A), you must complete your study by 31 December 2022. If you started before May 2015 (Route B), you must have completed your study before 31 December 2021. If you would like to discuss your options with one of our advisers, please contact us.
This masters degree addresses the needs of development managers as well as other professionals who work in development contexts, local and global. Study promotes a better understanding of the complex processes labelled ‘development’, with a particular focus on dealing with conflict and on building the institutions that make development sustainable. The degree culminates in a research project which enhances both your research skills and your understanding of a development management problem. Throughout, this degree helps build a range of development management skills and encourages critical reflection on how development is managed at present and creative thinking on how it might be managed better.
Key features of the course
- Explores the complexity of ‘development’ locally and globally
- Critically analyses development management, challenges conventional thinking and encourages the creation of better approaches
- Builds a range of understandings and skills – conceptual, professional, and practical – for managing development
- Builds the research skills needed to create evidence-based understandings of development management problems and make cases for change
- Links academic learning and professional practice, to the benefit of both
Planning your studies
You should normally hold a bachelors degree from a UK university (or equivalent), or have had experience of working, in a paid or voluntary capacity, in a development agency (local or international).
If you are a non-graduate we suggest that you contact us for advice before registering on your first module.
Your spoken and written English must be of an adequate standard for postgraduate study. If English is not your first language, we recommend that you will need a minimum overall score of 6 and minimum score of 5.5 in each of the four components: reading, writing, speaking and listening under the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). Please see the IELTS website for details.
How long it takes
Most students study this qualification in three years by studying 6 six-month modules in succession, though some take one or 2 six-month breaks during their studies. The minimum time to complete is eighteen months, by studying two modules at the same time for 3 six-month periods. We do not recommend this, but it might suit you if you have no other major time commitments during that period.
Career relevance and employability
Development agencies across the world increasingly require qualifications at masters level for their staff, and this degree is well-regarded by employers. The value of the degree will vary according to your situation. If you're already working in development, particularly if you have responsibility for development interventions, you will find your practice challenged and developed. If you are a professional – engineer, health worker, educationalist, banker, for example – working in development contexts, you will develop an understanding of those contexts, and a grasp of the skills necessary to negotiate them. If you're thinking about moving into development work, you will find a guide to the world you are entering and build up a variety of skills needed to work in that world.
More specifically, this masters degree builds a range of competences that are vital for people engaged in development and for the agencies (in all sectors) that employ them.
These competences cover the whole range of development management processes, from problem identification, through policy development, project and programme design, planning and implementation, to evaluation and critical assessment. They include:
- knowledge and understanding of particular development problems – most obviously poverty and inequality – and of ways of thinking about and responding to these problems
- strategic thinking, including mapping and modelling skills, both about development problems and about the relationships, particularly between organisations, that are required to manage these problems and bring about solutions
- negotiation and brokering skills that make possible joint action in contexts characterised by differences, often conflicts, of interests, values, meanings and agendas
- practical skills for creating, establishing and evaluating development policy, projects and programmes
- research skills that are fundamental for establishing evidence-based policy and practice.
In addition, you will be encouraged to develop the critical reflection that is essential if policy and practice are to be improved.
Given this, you can be confident of the value of your MSc to any organisation concerned with bringing about good change.
Careers and Employability Services have more information on how OU study can improve your employability.
Modules
There are two routes through this qualification:
- Route A for students starting their studies from May 2015 onwards
- Route B for students who started their studies before May 2015. You must have completed your studies before 31 December 2021.
For both routes, we recommend that you study Capacities for managing development (T878) before Institutional development (TU872).
Whichever route you follow, you must finish your MSc with The development management project (TU874).
Route A – to gain this qualification, you need 180 credits with:
90 credits from the following discontinued modules:
Compulsory modules |
Credits |
Next start |
- Capacities for managing development (T878)
|
30 |
|
- Conflict and development (T879)
|
30 |
|
- Institutional development (TU872)
|
30 |
|
Plus 60 credits from this list (or 30 credits from this list plus 30 credits from any other postgraduate module):
Or, subject to the rules about excluded combinations, the discontinued modules B716, BXFT716, D837, ET821, K827, T877, TD866, TU811, TU812.
Plus 30 credits from the discontinued:
Compulsory module |
Credits |
Next start |
- The development management project (TU874)
|
30 |
|
Route B – to gain this qualification, you need 180 credits with:
60 credits from the following discontinued modules:
Compulsory modules |
Credits |
Next start |
- Capacities for managing development (T878)
|
30 |
|
- Institutional development (TU872)
|
30 |
|
Or the discontinued modules, TU870, TUXX870, TUZX870
Plus 90 credits from this list (or 60 credits from this list plus 30 credits from any other postgraduate modules):
Or, subject to the rules about excluded combinations, the discontinued modules B713, B716, BXFT716, B800, B820, B822, B856, B880, B882, BXX822, BZX822, BZX713, BZX820, D820, D830, D831, D832, D833, D837, D860, D861, ET821, K827, T860, T861, T863, T877, T879, T889, T890, TD866, TU811, TU812, TU871, TU875, TXX860, TXX861, TXX863, TUXX871, TUZX871, TUXR873, TUXX875.
Plus the discontinued:
Compulsory module |
Credits |
Next start |
- The development management project (TU874)
|
30 |
|
You should note that the University’s unique study rule applies to this qualification. This means that you must include at least 60 credits from OU modules that have not been counted in any other OU qualification that has previously been awarded to you.
Learning outcomes
The learning outcomes of this qualification are described in four areas:
- Knowledge and understanding
- Cognitive skills
- Practical and professional skills
- Key skills
Read more detailed information about the learning outcomes, and how they are acquired through teaching, learning and assessment methods.
Credit for previous study elsewhere
If you have already completed some successful study at postgraduate level at another institution you may be able to transfer credit for this study and count it towards this Open University qualification. If you wish to apply to transfer credit you must do so as soon as possible as it may affect your choice of OU modules. If you are awarded credit for study completed elsewhere, you may find that you need to study fewer OU modules to complete your qualification with us.
Visit our Credit Transfer site for more information and details of how to apply for credit transfer.
On completion
On successful completion of the required modules you will be awarded an MSc in Development Management entitling you to use the letters MSc (Dev Mgmt) (Open) after your name. You will have the opportunity of being presented at a degree ceremony.
The classification of your degree will be based on your best 120 credits of study. You will be awarded the degree with:
- distinction if you obtain a distinction in 90 credits, including the 30-credit compulsory project module plus at least one of the other compulsory modules and you obtain a merit or above in a further 30 credits
- merit if you obtain a merit in 120 credits including the 30-credit compulsory project module and at least one of the other compulsory modules.
Regulations
As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the qualification-specific regulations below and the academic regulations that are available on our Student Policies and Regulations website.
How to register
If you want to study for this qualification, read the description and check you meet any specific requirements (for example, some of
our qualifications, require you to be working in a particular environment, or be sponsored by your employer). Then select the
module you wish to study first and ensure it is suitable for you before following the registration procedure for that module.
During the registration procedure you will be asked to declare which qualification you are studying towards.
See a full list of modules available for this qualification