Development Studies

The course is designed to equip students with experience, knowledge, and skills for succeeding in globally interdependent and culturally diverse workplaces. Throughout the course, students will be challenged to question, reflect upon, and respond thoughtfully to the issues they observe and encounter in the internship setting and local host environment. Students will have the opportunity to cultivate professional and personal development skills as defined by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). Assignments focus on building a portfolio that highlights those competencies and their application to workplace skills. Students complete 45 hours of in-person and asynchronous online learning activities and 225-300 hours at the internship placement.

The course examines the key economic challenges facing developing countries understand why some nations remain poor while others achieve sustained growth. Blending macro and micro perspectives, the course covers a wide range of topics including inequality, poverty, health, education, nutrition, labor markets, migration, gender dynamics, agriculture, and institutions.

This course reviews various academic perspectives on development, including the relationship between development and education. The course explores the history of how education has been perceived and changed its position in the various paradigms of international development; the meaning of each perspective, and their empirical evidence. The first half of the course discusses the definition of development; theories, and empirical evidence of the relationship between development and education, while the latter half focuses on various challenges in development and education.

This course examines the damage and recovery efforts following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. Through guest lectures, field trips, and disaster prevention workshops, the class teaches essential disaster prevention and mitigation skills to respond to future disasters effectively. The class also discusses challenges of evacuation center management and the importance of disaster prevention in a multicultural society.  The class requires field trips to Ishinomaki City, Minamisanriku Town, and Higahimatushima town areas affected by the disaster. 

This course introduces students to the political science concepts, theories, and methods used to understand how these disciplines explain international development in the emerging economies. Students are exposed to the foundations of classical political philosophy and democratization theory, while also learning the foundational knowledge of capitalism, modernity, and social change from classical and contemporary scholars. Students gain an understanding of the different trends of development, policy reform and outcomes throughout the emerging regions, and how approaching development issues from political analytical frameworks can strengthen their understanding of development issues and challenges in the emerging economies.

This course examines the plurality of territorial development models and the economic, social, and political tensions they generate. Through a combination of lectures, guided discussions, applied readings, and case‑based tutorials, it explores how territories seek to enhance competitiveness, attractivity, innovation capacity, and socio‑economic resilience. The course introduces major debates in territorial development, including the definition and evolution of territorial development; competing models such as competitiveness clusters, recreational economies, and mega‑event strategies; the socio‑territorial conflicts arising from development choices; the tensions between economic growth, environmental sustainability, and social equity. By examining contemporary cases—from innovation hubs like Paris‑Saclay to resource conflicts in the Allier region, and from the recreational economy to global sporting events—the course critically assess the impacts, limitations, and contradictions of different development approaches.