Development Economics

Economic development is one of the key challenges of our lifetime. We live in a world of tremendous inequality in the distribution of income and wealth. More than a billion people live in extreme poverty, in poor health and with a lack of educational opportunities. Yet recent decades have shown that economic development and poverty reduction are possible. The University of Göttingen has Germany's largest internationally visible concentration of development economics researchers. The MSc Development Economics offers the great advantage of drawing from the long-standing research and teaching experience of two faculties, both deeply committed to development issues: the Faculty of Economic Sciences and the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences (in particular, the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.) The English-language Master of Science in Development Economics was established in 2011. It builds upon successful, long-running Master's programmes that already had a strong specialisation in development issues. This research-oriented Master's programme offers a comprehensive, four-semester course of study dedicated solely to the exploration of development economics issues. Among the key features of the study programme are: courses in macro and micro development issues, econometrics, and rural development specialisation in quantitative economics or agricultural economics specialisation and profile courses – a wide array of subjects relevant for development students can choose from supplementary courses offered by international guest lecturers opportunities to take optional courses in six other Master's programmes in the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and the Faculty of Economic Sciences as electives opportunities for internships at institutions of development cooperation, international organisations, and research think tanks opportunities for hands-on research experience through our many research projects opportunities for field work and research experience in developing countries There is a possibility to do a semester abroad at one of our partner universities (e.g., South Africa, China, Indonesia, Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago/Jamaica/Barbados – to name just a few) and many different language courses are offered to round off the programme.