Institute of Development Studies

Why Study at IDS?

Our teaching and learning programmes are embedded within the work of the Institute's research which is organised in five closely linked multidisciplinary teams and a growing number of international, multi-partner research projects. The core questions we address, reflected in everything we do, are:

• How the poorest countries can compete better in a global economy
• How to meet the governance challenges facing states and societies in the South
• How science and technology – and knowledge more broadly – can be shaped to accelerate poverty reduction
• How to support efforts by civil society and government institutions to realise social justice
• How individuals, organisations and institutions manage the risk and vulnerability arising from increasing exposure to multiple shocks.

Each of our programmes uses a combination of larger group teaching, smaller tutorials and individual study and they are designed to enable students to study in ways that will be useful for their future professional lives. Links are made across the different programmes, giving students access to the wide range of expertise and experience available at IDS while allowing in-depth focus on certain areas. An extensive programme of lunchtime seminars introduces students to a wide range of internal and external speakers reflecting the broad interests of the Institute. 

We use a diverse range of teaching approaches and methodologies that reflect the complexity of Development Studies, and which are carefully selected to meet the learning outcomes of each course.

All of our work, both in our research and teaching, draws extensively on the knowledge management approach championed by the acclaimed family of knowledge services based at IDS. Resources available to students include the British Library for Development Studies (BLDS) Europe's most comprehensive research collection on economic and social change in developing countries.

Find out more About us