MSc Health and International Development

at London School of Economics

You will take the compulsory courses Key Issues in Development Studies and Key Issues in Global Health and Development, and will choose two courses focusing on health and development. You will also choose further optional courses from a wide range, either within International Development or from other departments and institutes within the School such as Geography and Environment, Health Policy, Social Policy and Psychological and Behavioural Science.

In addition, you will complete an unassessed course on the research process, in preparation for the dissertation, an independent research project on an approved international development topic of your choice.

(* denotes half unit)  

Key Issues in Development Studies*
Provides an overview of the key issues and debates in international development, featuring lectures from leading LSE experts on subjects such as climate change, conflict, poverty, the financial crisis, demography and democratisation, among other topics.

Key Issues in Global Health and Development*
Provides an up-to-date and comprehensive account of demographic change and population trends in lower income countries by looking at recent changes in fertility, mortality and migration.

Research Design and Dissertation in International Development
Combines a dissertation (an independent research project of 10,000 words on an approved topic of your choice within health and development studies) with supporting lectures on research methods and the use of research in development practice.

Cutting Edge Issues in Development Thinking and Practice (unassessed)
This non-assessed course introduces students to the practical world of development which will facilitate their career paths and prepare them for the consultancy project, and introduce students to the interface between policy practice and development academia.

Fundamentals of Research Design for International Development (unassessed)
Introduces MSc students in the Department of International Development to theoretical and practical foundations of social science research design.

Courses to the value of one unit from a range of options

Two from:

Population and Development: An Analytic Approach*
Examines different analytic approaches to the main interrelationships between population change and socio-economic development.

Population, Health and Development: Evidence and Projections*
Overviews key methods used for planning in population and development.

Sexual and Reproductive Health Programmes: Design, Implementation and Evaluation*
Deals with the effectiveness of sexual and reproductive health programmes, especially those that deliver services.

Global Health Challenges: Epidemics, Disease, and Public Health Response*
Looks at the relationship of population change and global health, and follows a multidisciplinary approach by integrating demography, public health and epidemiology.

Critical Perspectives on Global Health and Development*
Concerned with inter-relationships between challenges to human health and health systems in the developing world and their socio-economic, cultural, historic and political context.

International Development Consultancy Project

Minimum entry requirements for MSc Health and International Development

Upper second class honours (2:1) degree or equivalent in any discipline.

Competition for places at the School is high. This means that even if you meet the minimum entry requirement, this does not guarantee you an offer of admission.

Every graduate student is charged a fee for their programme.

The fee covers registration and examination fees payable to the School, lectures, classes and individual supervision, lectures given at other colleges under intercollegiate arrangements and, under current arrangements, membership of the Students' Union. It does not cover living costs or travel or fieldwork.

Tuition fees 2022/23 for MSc Health and International Development
Home students: £15,816
Overseas students: £24,456

Students in the Department come from a wide range of international and professional backgrounds. Graduates from the Department of International Development go on to work for a wide range of employers including NGOs, INGOs, government, the private sector and research institutions.