GDP Requirements

The GDP is a rigorous three semester program that provides students with breadth of training in the various facets of international development as well as in depth training in a chosen concentration track: Governance and Political Economy, Environment and Development, or International Public Health.  The program consists of 12 classes plus a foreign language examination.

Requirements of the Program

  • Three core courses in global development policy
  • One course in economics
  • One statistics/methods course (varies with chosen track)
  • A final capstone course
  • Sixteen credit hours of coursework in a chosen track
  • Eight credit hours of elective coursework
  • Passing grade on foreign language examination

Coursework

Development Policy Core Courses

  • GRS GE 600 Environment & Development:  A Political Ecology Approach
  • GRS IR 701 Introduction to International Relations
  • SPH IH 770 Poverty, Health, and Development

Economics Course

  • GRS IR 704 Global Economic and Development Policy

Statistics/Methods Course

All students take a statistics/methods course. The specific course taken will depend on the track chosen by the student. See the section below on Track Courses for details.

Capstone Course

All students in both the Global Development Policy and the Global Development Economics programs take a capstone course in their second year, GRS IR 798: Global Development Capstone. This is a project based course in which students, working in groups, design and carry out an interdisciplinary policy analysis comparable to those performed for a government or nonprofit agency.

Track Courses

Students in the Global Development Policy program choose to concentrate in one of three tracks: Governance and Political Economy, Environment and Development, or International Public Health. Each track includes a required statistics/methods class plus a further 16 credits of coursework, consisting of two or more required courses and one or more optional courses. Students take the required courses for their track and then select sufficient optional track coursework to bring their total credits in the track up to at least 16 credit hours (not including the credits for the statistics/methods class).

Click on the title of the track to see detailed information on the requirements and course options for that track.

Governance & Political Economy

Environment & Development

International Public Health

Elective Courses

Students take sufficient elective coursework to bring their total credit count up to 48 credits. For students in the Governance and Political Economy track and the Environment and Development tracks, this will mean two regular courses. Because the School of Public Health offers coursework with varying credits, the number of courses taken by students in the International Public Health Track will vary, but students must take sufficient elective coursework to bring their total credit count up to at least 48 credit hours.

Elective coursework may be chosen from the optional track courses of any of the three tracks. Students are welcome to take coursework from outside of their own track, but they must satisfy any prerequisites for the courses that they take.

Elective coursework can also be selected from the graduate level regional studies offerings of a variety of departments at BU. An extensive listing of regional studies class offerings can be found by perusing the course listings for the various IR Department regional tracks. Students may take any of the regional studies courses listed there and can also petition the IR Director of Graduate Studies for approval to take a regional studies class that is not on one of those lists.

Students may also talk with the coordinator for their track to inquire about the possibility of taking other coursework to fulfill the elective requirement, if that coursework fits in with the intent of the degree program and helps prepare students for their intended career paths.

Students should take note that while 500 level classes in the Geography and International Relations departments are graduate level courses, 500 level classes in the School of Public Health are undergraduate level courses and as such can not be taken towards the GDP degree.

Language Requirement

All students in the Global Development Policy program must fulfill the IR Department’s Foreign Language Requirement. More information about this requirement can be found here.

Grade Requirement

In accordance with Graduate School of Arts & Sciences (GRS) policy, students must achieve a grade of B- or higher to receive degree credit for any course. Any grade lower than a B- will be considered as failing.

Time to Degree Limit

In accordance with GRS Policy, all courses and examinations must be completed within three years of matriculation into the program.