| English
In many developing nations, poverty, stagnation, poor governance and similar issues have constantly made their development goals unattainable. While the study and research of these issues have gained prominence worldwide in the last decades, most attention has been given to the means of achieving economic growth while overlooking the means to achieve social development. However, many social correlates of economic development – lack of a social safety net, missing care systems for the highly vulnerable, and inadequacies in the development of education and public health – have plagued many developing economies today and will further delay the development of other late developers in the future.
The Master’s Program in Development Studies of Contemporary Development (DSCC) aims to contextualize and analyze the processes that have shaped underdevelopment in developing countries, specifically in China, and the many responses to them. Conducted by Beijing Normal University (BNU)’s School of Social Development and Public Policy (SSDPP), the program seeks to locate the policy framework of social development firmly within evidence-based theories and practices, and adopts a grounded and multi-disciplinary approach to issues of social development such as social welfare, poverty reduction, migration, gender, public health, civil society, etc., for students interested in pursuing a career in government bodies, development agencies, research institutions, and non-governmental organizations.
The program is taught in English by top Chinese and international scholars and practitioners in relevant fields, and its curriculum combines lectures and seminars with field visits and internships. At the end of the program, students are expected to have a deeper understanding of China’s development processes and their implications, and should have gained critical skills in analyzing development policy and undertaking development research.
