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As part of a larger re-organization of academic schools in 2012, the School of Development Studies has been incorporated into the School of Built Environment and Development Studies together with the schools of Community Development, Architecture Planning and Housing. Each of these, with the addition of Population Studies will operate as a discipline in the new School. The Centre for Civil Society will continue to be part of the new school.
Development Studies and Population Studies aim to be a world leaders in the study of the political economy of development and demography, and in the pursuit through research, training and activism of social and economic justice, both locally and globally.
For an on the ground glimpse at what it is like to study in our programmes, see our YouTube clip.
Specialising in critical, interdisciplinary analysis of development theory, policy and practice, we offer several post-graduate degrees - by coursework and research - with the rigour, flexibility and currency matching any comparable programme. The School offers course-work or dissertation Masters degrees in Development Studies and Population Studies. In addition, the School has a thesis-based PhD programme. With expertise in political economy, political ecology, population studies, social policy and civil society, Population Studies and Development Studies staff are positioned to critically engage in debates and strategy over development theory and practice, as well to provide critique and alternatives to current orthodoxies. Our orientation to engaging state agencies, NGOs, labour and social movements, business and international institutions makes us one of the world's strongest educational sites for development studies, with unprecedented opportunities for the professional and advocacy training required to engage the world's major problems.
The antecedents of the School date to the Institute for Social Research established in 1954. In 2004 the School celebrated its 50th anniversary by hosting a major international conference on South African development challenges, later published as “The Development Decade: economic and social change in South Africa, 1994-2004” Professor Vishnu Padayachee (ed.), HSRC Press 2005.
A leading centre for research and teaching on development in South Africa, the School also holds an international reputation for the quality of its work and the intellectual rigour with which it applies academic skills to policy challenges. It draws on the specialist knowledge of its researchers, who are nationally and internationally recognised experts in their fields.
Memorial Tower Building, where Population Studies and Development Studies are situated.
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