Core Curriculum

The Master of Arts in Development Policy and Practice includes four terms of coursework over a fourteen-month period. The first and last terms will be held on the UNH campus in Durham, New Hampshire, during the summer months. In between the two summer terms, the academic year is divided into two terms of four months each in which a student works on an applied field project and takes courses on-line.

The program offers international and domestic U.S. tracks and is structured around four competency areas:

• Health sciences—including health policy, health systems design and management, nutrition, population sciences, and reproductive health and basic epidemiology of infectious and noninfectious diseases
• Social sciences—including economics, anthropology, sociology, political science, and research methodologies
• Natural sciences and engineering—including agriculture, forestry, water management, energy, and climate and environmental sciences
• Management—including project design, management and evaluation, budgeting and financial management, human resource management, leadership, negotiations, and communication

Successful practitioners must be able to perceive problems from multiple points of view and through a variety of cultural lenses, including traditional academic and policy perspectives, as well as those of the communities and individuals to be served. Viewed in this way, neither traditional approaches (which emphasize theory and disciplinary academic content) nor “pedagogical inversions” (which give primacy to engagement and practice while deemphasizing theory and policy) create well-rounded development practitioners. The MADPP program will examine each of the core disciplinary areas within the cross-cutting lenses of theory, policy, data collection and analysis, and practice.

Degree Requirements

In order to earn the MADPP degree, students must complete 39 credits, including the four-term project requirement with a GPA of 3.0 or higher.

Course of Study

The curriculum is a series of courses designed to help students develop and strengthen interdisciplinary breadth and communication and to build program identity and a sense of community. All courses are 3-credit courses. The twelve required courses comprise 36 credits in total, and students are permitted to take as many electives as time and scheduling allow. Please note that courses offered in semesters 1 and 4 are offered in person on campus during two consecutive summers. Courses offered in semesters 2 and 3 (when students are in their home communities) are offered on-line.

Students have the option to enroll in either the International or Domestic U.S. track. These two tracks share many courses together, but separate where appropriate to focus on the specific aspects of international and domestic U.S. development. Learn more about the courses of study for the International Track and Domestic U.S. Track.