International Development and Education
BA (Hons)
Undergraduate degree - single honours
- UCAS codes: Institution B20, Course HH32 or HH33 with professional placement year
- International Development and Education - Programme Document
Key facts
- Award
- BA (Hons) International Development and Education
- Campus or location
- Newton Park
- Course length
- Three years full-time, or four years full time with professional placement year.
- UCAS codes
- Institution Code: B20
- Course Code: HH32 or HH33
- Campus Code: A,BSU
Entry requirements
We accept a wide range of qualifications for entry to our undergraduate programmes. The main ones are listed under 'Typical offers' in the main column below. For combined courses, please check both subjects. If your qualification is not listed, please email admissions@bathspa.ac.uk with your specific details.
Experience development in the real world on our innovative International Development and Education degree.
- Investigate the multi-faceted role of education, and its intersectionality, across all development goals.
- Explore contemporary issues facing development contexts, e.g. armed conflict, privatisation, and gender.
- Travel overseas in each year of your studies, to put development theories into practice in real contexts.
Taking a broad approach to education, this course explores the multifaceted role of education across all development goals. You'll explore the intersectionality of education - covering a complex array of interconnected and related challenges and issues, such as armed conflict, donor agendas, economic imperatives and teacher recruitment, training, and governance.
You'll critically explore the assumptions behind and evidence of the role of education in development, and the challenges faced by educational innovators when attempting to break the cycle of poverty and inequality. Theoretical approaches are contrasted with the realpolitik, through annual field visits focused on a specific set of issues.
There are opportunities for international placements in each year of the degree. Please note that these optional study visits entail significant additional travel costs.
What you'll learn
Overview
There is no established path into the development sector, and this course helps to bridge the gap between vocational aspirations and academic knowledge.
BA (Hons) International Development and Education is designed to help you develop a critical awareness of the intersectional issues in international development and education. This offers a great opportunity for a number of career choices, and a solid foundation for further experience and study in the sector. There's an opportunity for you to undertake a professional placement year between your second and third year of study, which is particularly relevant if you want to continue your studies.
Broad and regular interaction with the field offers you a wealth of experience to reflect on in your learning.
Course structure
Year one
We'll introduce you to the main development theories and approaches, and their history, and how these relate to the education sector. We'll explore the current donor and sector agendas, and how these reflect the different approaches.
This will provide a good foundation and overview, enabling you to confidently move into your second year. Year one will also include a core module with an optional overseas placement. We may, for example, travel to Catalonia to look at development issues around minority groups in a European context, relating your field experience to module theory.
Year two
You'll continue to draw on your knowledge and understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of the field, applying them to some contemporary dilemmas, including the very topical and timely issue of peace and conflict.
Understandings of different types of education, including youth programmes, adult learning, community capacity building, and activism and advocacy, will help you consider the multiple learning pathways that can meet the nuanced and diverse needs of different contexts.
An optional overseas visit is also included in this year. We'll be be going further afield, for example to Zambia, where we might explore the outcome of private agendas around school management in the copper belt, an area of increasing foreign investment and industrial activity.
Optional placement year
If you're serious about getting more involved in the development sector, a placement year will be invaluable. Learning through hands-on experience, alongside colleagues with years of expertise in the field, will help you understand and consolidate what you've been learning on the course, while introducing you to a network of inspirational people and programmes.
Year three
In your final year, you'll have the opportunity to dive deep into a subject that interests you, by conducting a piece of independent research. Your dissertation will give you the chance to apply the knowledge and skills learned on the course as you seek to consolidate your thoughts and experiences, ready to confidently move into the phase of your learning/career.
The (optional) annual trip in year three will focus on research methodologies. You'll be able to explore educational responses to development issues through participation and observation. For example, you may visit an NGO (non-governmental organisation) in rural Nepal, to gain specific knowledge and experience of community education.
How will I be assessed?
You’ll be assessed through coursework. There are no exams. Assessments will include essays, placement reports/ journals, and, of course, your third year dissertation.
However, assessments may also involve short research-based reports, participation in activities with reflective journal, and presentations. These may be individual or group work.
How will I be taught?
Topics such as governance, representation and indigenous knowledge will be engaged with through a range of methodologies, including social theory, critical discourse analysis and ethnographic/case-study approaches.
Through fieldwork (negotiating access, dealing with gatekeepers, participant observation, interviewing etc.) you'll develop collaboration, communication, and critical thinking skills.
Course modules
This course offers or includes the following modules. The modules you take will depend on your pathway or course combination (if applicable) as well as any optional or open modules chosen. Please check the programme document (below the main image on this page) for more information.
Year one (Level 4) modules
- Social Theory and Development, with reference to Education
- Donor Logics and Actors in Development and Education
- Formal, Non-formal and Informal Education in Developing Contexts
- Introduction to International Education
- Case Study of Catalonia: Education, Space and Society
- Environment, People and Place
Year two (Level 5) modules
- Zambian Case Study: Donor Agendas and Private Interests in Education
- Zambia Fieldwork, with reference to education
- Zambia: policy, power and ideology, with reference to education
- Education, Social Inequalities and Social Justice
- Peace and conflict
- Sociology of Education
- Geomorphology and Environmental Hazards
- Professional Placement Year
Year three (Level 6) modules
- International Development and Education Dissertation 1 – research methodology, design and ethics
- International Development and Education Dissertation 2 – data collection, analysis and making it matter
- A case-study of Nepal: Rural Education and Community Development
- Nepal Fieldwork, with reference to Education
- Nepal: policy, power and ideology with reference to Education
- Global and International Education
- Inequality, Education and Policy
- Young People, Identities and Subcultures
- International Perspectives of Early Childhood
- Disaster Risk Reduction
- Community Engagement
Opportunities
Study abroad
There are opportunities for international placements in each year of the degree. Please note that these optional study visits entail significant additional travel costs.
Work placements, industry links and internships
You'll be encouraged to study education and development in various international contexts, for example:
- Cary Mufulira Community Partnership Trust, Mufilira, Zambia
- Vic University, Catalonia, Spain
- The Himanchal Educational Foundation, Nepal
- The International Centre for Excellence for Innovation in Learning (ICEFIL), based in the Netherlands, which is currently working with refugee camps in Kenya.
Further opportunities with locally-based partnerships can be developed as you continue your studies.
Careers
The experiences and knowledge gained on this course may lead to a variety of career trajectories, including:
- Teaching, both in the UK and internationally (a PGCE or equivalent further qualifications will be required to gain Qualified Teacher Status).
- Work in the Development sector e.g DfID, UNICEF, VSO (the placement year is highly recommended, and further qualifications, such as a Master's, will likely be needed).
- Work within educational programmes in international contexts.
- Educational work in charitable organisations.
- Work in Development Education, e.g. educating school pupils on development issues.
Professional placement year
Overview
This optional placement year provides you with the opportunity to identify, apply for and secure professional experience, normally comprising one to three placements over a minimum of nine months. Successful completion of this module will demonstrate your ability to secure and sustain graduate-level employment.
By completing the module, you'll be entitled to the addition of 'with Professional Placement Year' to your degree title.
Preparation
Before your Professional Placement Year, you'll work to secure your placement, constructing a development plan with your module leader and your placement coordinator from our Careers and Employability team.
How will I be assessed?
On your return to University for your final year, you'll submit your Placement Portfolio, detailing your development on your placement.
Facilities and resources
Where the subject is taught
The course is taught on Newton Park campus. You'll have access to a range of excellent facilities including our Libraries and the Commons building, which includes quiet study space and group collaboration pods.
Resources
You'll have access to Bath Spa University's:
- Computing and IT facilities
- Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)
- Writing and Learning Centre
- English Language Unit.
You can also hire out equipment using SISO, Bath Spa University’s free equipment loan service. We provide a huge variety of equipment, from cameras to laptops.
Fees
Please note: Students from the EU, EEA and Switzerland are no longer eligible for the UK (Home) fee status. Please refer to the international student rate.
UK students full time
2021/22 Entry
Course fees
Year 1 | £9,250 |
Year 2 | Published Jan 2022 |
Year 3 | Published Jan 2023 |
2022/23 Entry
Course fees
Year 1 | Published Jan 2022 |
Year 2 | Published Jan 2023 |
Year 3 | Published Jan 2024 |
2023/24 Entry
Course fees
Year 1 | Published Jan 2023 |
Year 2 | Published Jan 2024 |
Year 3 | Published Jan 2025 |
International students full time
2021/22 Entry
Course fees
Year 1 | £13,910 |
Year 2 | Published Jan 2022 |
Year 3 | Published Jan 2023 |
2022/23 Entry
Course fees
Year 1 | Published Jan 2022 |
Year 2 | Published Jan 2023 |
Year 3 | Published Jan 2024 |
2023/24 Entry
Course fees
Year 1 | Published Jan 2023 |
Year 2 | Published Jan 2024 |
Year 3 | Published Jan 2025 |
Travel costs
Additional travel costs
Please note that this course entails additional travel costs that are both significant and compulsory.
This course has the same level of tuition fees as all our standard undergraduate programmes. However, integral international trips form part of the programme of study and this cost in not included within the tuition fee.
Each year, students will visit a different country, which offers a rich context in which to understand international development and education.
As the country will vary each year, so will the costs. Costs are anticipated to be between £700 and £2,000 per year, however the exchange rate of the pound and the economics of developing countries are likely to affect the overall costs of trips.
Bath Spa University offers bursaries to students who are eligible for Home or EU student funding. Other funding opportunities may also be available.
Student funding
We can help you manage your finances and check that you're getting all the funding you're entitled to.
We have a number of funding options for UK and EU students and international students, and we also offer support if you're having financial problems. Email: studentsupport@bathspa.ac.uk for more guidance.
Interested in applying?
What we look for in potential students
We're looking for people who want to support development through a range of learning pathways and education.
You'll be curious about the world and its cultures, and you'll want make an impact. You'll also be a creative, critical thinker with a love of adventure, and strong sense of social and environmental resposibility.
Typical offers
We accept a wide range of qualifications for entry to our undergraduate programmes. The main ones are listed below:
- A Level - grades BCC-CCC preferred including a Grade C in Geography, Sociology, History, Global Citizenship or related subject.
- BTEC - Extended Diploma grades from Distinction, Merit, Merit (DMM) to Merit, Merit, Merit (MMM) in social sciences or a related subject.
- International Baccalaureate - a minimum of 27 points are required. Applicants will need to show a keen interest in the subject in the personal statement.
- Access to HE courses - typical offers for applicants with Access to HE will be the Access to HE Diploma or Access to HE Certificate (60 credits, 45 of which must be Level 3, including 30 at merit or higher). Applicants will need to show a keen interest in the subject in the personal statement.
English Language Requirements for International and EU Applicants
IELTS 6.0 - for visa nationals, with a minimum score of IELTS 5.5 in each element.
Course enquiries
For further information about the programme or entry requirements, please email us at admissions@bathspa.ac.uk.
How do I apply?
Ready to apply? Click the 'apply now' button in the centre of this page. Need more guidance? Head to our how to apply pages.
Admissions service: admissions@bathspa.ac.uk
Course leader: Tingting Yuan
Email: t.yuan@bathspa.ac.uk