Global Development

Global development is the study of why standards of living, life expectancy, political freedom, and opportunity vary so dramatically across the world, and of what interventions, policies, and structural changes can make those distributions more just and more sustainable. It draws on economics, sociology, political science, geography, and history, using different disciplinary lenses to illuminate questions that are too complex to be seen fully from any single angle. Where development economics focuses primarily on growth and income, global development as a broader field also asks about power, colonialism, gender, ecology, and the contested meanings of development itself.

At the University of Manchester, this three-year degree gives you a multidisciplinary education in the theory and practice of development. You will engage with debates about aid, trade, and investment; about the politics of international institutions such as the World Bank and the United Nations; about the environmental sustainability of development pathways; and about the perspectives of communities in the global south who are the supposed beneficiaries of development efforts. Manchester has one of the UK's most research-active development studies communities, and you will engage with current debates in the field throughout your studies, developing the analytical skills needed to think critically rather than simply accepting received wisdom about what works and why.

Graduates work across a wide range of organisations engaged with global development questions. International development agencies, non-governmental organisations, multilateral institutions, and charitable foundations all hire graduates with development expertise. Government departments including the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and HM Treasury employ people with the analytical and policy skills developed in this degree.

Research institutes and consultancies working on development projects provide further opportunities. Some graduates continue to postgraduate study, developing specialist expertise in areas such as development economics, international law, humanitarian action, or specific regional studies, while others move into journalism, advocacy, or social enterprise roles.