MA in Development

To help improve lives by enhancing livelihoods

Our MA in Development is a full-time, two-year postgraduate programme that prepares you to address India’s pressing development challenges. Through an interdisciplinary curriculum, you will explore how development thinking has evolved, engage with ethical and practical questions, and build a strong foundation in both theory and field-based practice. 

The programme helps you critically examine real-world challenges and equips you with the tools to design inclusive solutions — especially for those most vulnerable. 

The programme equips you to:

  • Address the urgent challenges of our time: From inequality and environmental stress to public service gaps, India’s development issues need professionals who can think critically and act responsibly — this programme prepares you to do exactly that.
  • Understand the systems shaping lives: Learn how social, economic, political, and ethical factors interact in real-world contexts, and why development today requires working with communities, governments, markets, and civil society.
  • Acquire tools that matter on the ground: With a blend of theory, field immersions, and practice-based courses, you’ll build the analytical, ethical, and problem-solving skills essential for effective development work.
  • Build a career that creates change: Whether your path leads to grassroots organisations, policy spaces, research institutions, or development programmes, our MA in Development equips you for roles that contribute meaningfully to a more just and equitable society. 

Why study with us?

Our MA in Development programme offers you: 

  • A unique blend of classroom learning and field experience: This programme combines strong academic foundations with extensive on-ground exposure, helping you understand development where it actually happens.
  • A chance to learn from experts with real field insights: Faculty bring both deep academic knowledge and hands-on experience from working across India’s development landscape.
  • A curriculum with a strong ethical and justice-focused approach: You will examine development through the lens of fairness, inclusion, and the needs of the most marginalised.
  • A 360-degree view of India’s development: Explore how history, society, politics, and the economy shape development — and how different actors like the state, market, and civil society influence change.
  • A supportive, vibrant learning community: Benefit from mentoring, student-led initiatives, community engagement, and opportunities that prepare you for meaningful careers in the social sector.

Programme Structure

Our MA in Development is an 80-credit, two-year, full-time programme that blends rigorous classroom learning with immersive field experiences. You have to complete 10 core courses, 3 field practice components, and 7 electives.

Year 1
Build your foundations in economics, sociology, sustainability, development theory and governance. The year includes a 2‑week field immersion, a 3‑week data workshop, courses on research methods, and a 6‑week summer internship with a development organisation.

Year 2
Deepen your learning through a core course on programme management and your choice of 7 electives from 45 – 55 offerings. You will also design and carry out an 8‑week field project, followed by analysis and presentation of your findings.

 

Course Structure

In the first two semesters, students will be introduced to the foundational courses that will provide the socio-economic, political, environmental, institutional, and normative context within which development takes place.

Our core courses:

  • draw upon disciplinary lenses and tools of some foundational disciplines such as politics, sociology, economics, and ecology for you to develop a deep understanding of the nature of development.
  • build a strong foundation for understanding data, evidence and research methods through a hands-on approach.
  • nurture skills and competencies including project management, social interventions to allow students to engage in development action.

Together, the core courses set the context for key debates in development and equip you with research and analytical skills required for effective action. 
 

In the second year of the programme, you can select from seven electives out of 50+ courses on offer, including one elective in an exciting workshop-mode in Semester III.

The elective courses will strengthen and consolidate the learnings acquired in mandatory courses and allow you to deepen your understanding of specific fields within development such as gender, livelihoods, health and nutrition, public health, environment, and sustainability.

Some electives will also be focused on building competencies in quantitative techniques and technical software while others will emphasise on perspective building.

This is an indicative list.

Click here to know more.

Field engagements are designed to help you gain practical experience, confidence, and capacities to conceptualise new interventions based on your own ideas.
 

The extended field practice components add up to a total of 16 weeks of time in the field, and 19 credits within the programme. In addition, many courses include day-long ​‘Practicums’, where you may go on field visits to different locations or organisations to understand ground realities and certain types of interventions.

Community Learning and Reflection

A two-week exploration of the life experiences of different communities across India where you learn through observation and reflection.

Field Internship

A six-week engagement with an organisation to participate in development action.

Field Project

An eight-week opportunity to ideate and pursue a development intervention that you are passionate about. 
 

Classroom Practices

Our MA in Development programme introduces you to:

  • A seamless mix of classroom learning and field immersion: Concepts are constantly reinforced through real-world exposure, ensuring you understand development through direct experience with communities and organisations.
  • Innovative simulation tools: Signature pedagogical experiences like Janata Express and Surveypura bring community realities and research practice into the classroom, making complex ideas engaging and intuitive.
  • Learning through real projects: Opportunities such as the Winter Field Project and hands-on elective courses allow you to design, test, and implement ideas — from social entrepreneurship models to grassroots development initiatives.
  • Practitioner-led teaching: Regular interactions with grassroots workers, development professionals, and guest experts connect theoretical learning with on-ground insights.
  • Collaborative and inclusive learning environment: Group work, peer learning, and supportive teaching methods ensure learners from diverse backgrounds can meaningfully engage, contribute, and grow.

Our graduates work closely with communities, support grassroots institutions, run development programmes, lead participatory monitoring and evaluation, document field insights, raise resources, and conduct research for policy and advocacy.

You could work with NGOs, social enterprises, producer collectives, CSR and philanthropic foundations, research and advocacy groups, think tanks, or government bodies — there’s a wide range of pathways depending on what excites you.

Since inception, over 1,200 alumni have completed this programme. Many now hold leadership positions in the social sector, some have started their own organisations, and others have pursued PhDs.

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