Economics and Finance for Development
MSc
- Duration
- Start date
- Location
Suitable for applications.
Placement Year
You can choose to include an internship as part of your course, in which case you will study over 15 months rather than a year. To do this, you should initially register for the one-year programme and then transfer to the 15 month programme when you have secured a placement, any time up until the middle of Semester 2.
The internship / placement further enhances the development of professional experience and practical skills during your Masters programme, integrating practitioner community engagement with your academic studies.
This element is student-centred and student-led, and therefore the initiative for identifying and applying for internships is driven by you. Academic staff can facilitate and support the identification of suitable opportunities with leads and suggestions, help with the writing of applications, and provide supporting letters of reference. They provide customised preparatory training before, and mentoring support during, the placement or internship.
The internship / placement can be taken with an organisation anywhere in the world. You'll need to detail your proposed activities and receive approval before the opportunity is finalised.
Once the internship / placement is complete you'll return to the programme, submit a completion report summarising key learning points, and then undertake your Masters dissertation. Students often use their placement period and experience to inform and shape their dissertation.
Learning and assessment
Most teaching is lecture or group-based for modules, while individual supervisors provide specialist guidance during dissertation writing (starting in Semester 2). Hence, as the programmes progresses, the main learning method gradually becomes more individualised and student-centred.
The programme starts with an intensive induction week to develop your learning and personal development planning skills and to provide an introduction to IT and library resources. Additional group and one to one support is provided for you if you require it. You are introduced to academic writing, research and analytical skills as part of the preparation for writing your dissertation.
To ensure the systematic development of knowledge of key subjects, modules are assessed by a variety of assessments in addition to essays and formal examinations. Group work, where the assessment may be based on a report or a presentation, provides you with both team work experience and practice in different ways of expressing arguments and information. Some modules may also use problem-solving exercises or ask you to develop a portfolio of your work. Please see the appendix for further details.