International Development
University of Portsmouth
UCAS Code: L902 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
University of Portsmouth
UCAS Code: L902 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
104-112 points, to include a minimum of 2 A levels.
106-112 Tariff points from the Access to HE Diploma.
Cambridge Pre-U score of 44-46.
GCSE/National 4/National 5
2 GCSEs at grade C/4 or above to include English.
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
25 points from the IB Diploma, to include 3 Higher Level subjects.
Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)
H3,H3,H3,H4,H4-H3,H3,H3,H3,H4
Acceptable when combined with other qualifications.
Acceptable when combined with other qualifications.
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
104-112 Tariff points to include a minimum of 2 Advanced Highers.
Acceptable when combined with other qualifications.
T Level
UCAS Tariff
104-112 points, to include a minimum of 2 A levels, or equivalent.
104-112 points from the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate including 1 A level, plus the Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate.
About this course
This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.
**This is a Connected Degree**
Portsmouth is the only University in the UK with the flexibility to choose when to do an optional paid placement or self-employed year. Either take a placement in your third year, or finish your studies first and complete a placement in your fourth year. You can decide if and when to take a placement after you've started your course.
**Overview**
On this BA (Hons) International Development degree course, you’ll learn to address some of the major global challenges of our time such as poverty and hunger, environmental sustainability, universal education and health care.
You'll expand your understanding of the role and purpose of cooperation between governments, international organisations and non-governmental organisation (NGOs) in international development, using this to gain insights into strategies to improve people's lives on a global scale.
This course is ideal for a national and international career in roles such as community development, advocacy, policy development and public affairs. You'll have the confidence and ability to take what you learn on this course to make a positive impact in areas such as gender equality and women’s empowerment, democracy, human rights and conflict and security.
**Course highlights**
- Your learning won’t be limited to the classroom – you'll have opportunities to work with development organisations in the UK or overseas
- Gain on-the-ground experience of community development and protected area management on an optional field trip to Uganda
- Study multiple disciplines to find solutions that could include changing policy at a national level
- Be taught by staff who are committed to their research in the field, such as Professor Tamsin Bradley whose research is informing schemes to help support women across South Asia in their search for equality
- Get experience during your studies or as part of an optional work placement year with an international non-governmental organisation (NGO)
- Put your expertise into practice in Model United Nations events, in collaboration with fellow students from International Development and International Relations
- Have the chance to learn a new language
**Worried about your grades?**
If you're not sure you meet the entry requirements, or need some help to get uni-ready, then we offer this course with a foundation year to bring you up to speed. When you successfully finish, you'll get a guaranteed place on this course.
**Optional pathways**
You can also study international development with international relations – leading to a BA (Hons) International Relations with International Development award at the end of the course.
**Careers and opportunities**
This course gives you the skills for careers in areas such as:
- international community development
- civil service
- fundraising, campaigning and advocacy
- policy development
- social enterprise
- corporate social responsibility
- public affairs
- project management
What jobs can you do with an international development degree?
Our graduates have gone on to roles such as:
- programme management, support and evaluation roles for international agencies and non-governmental organisations
- fundraising development coordinator
- human rights advocacy
- media and digital content lead
- social researcher
- community development practitioner
- sustainable sourcing specialist for multinational corporations
Graduate destinations
Our graduates have worked for organisations such as:
- Save the Children
- Street Doctors
- CAFOD
- the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
- the Department or International Development
- British Chamber of Commerce
- Universal Music Group
Modules
Year 1
Core modules in this year include:
- Critical Thinking and Professional Identity (40 credits)
- Global Development (20 credits)
- Key Themes in International Relations (20 credits)
- Political Thought (20 credits)
- The Making of the Global South (20 credits)
There are no optional modules in this year.
Year 2
Core modules in this year include:
- Climate Crises (20 credits)
- The Geopolitics and Geo-Economics of Africa (20 credits)
Optional modules in this year include:
- Analysing Foreign Policy (20 credits)
- Development and Democracy in Latin America (20 credits)
- East Asian States and Societies (20 credits)
- Empire and Its Afterlives in Britain, Europe, and Africa (20 credits)
- Engaged Citizenship in Humanities and Social Sciences (20 credits)
- Gender and Social Justice (20 credits)
- Global Security (20 credits)
- Intercultural Perspectives On Communication (20 credits)
- Managing Across Cultures (Fheq5) (20 credits)
- Marketing & Communication (20 credits)
- Modernity and Globalisation (20 credits)
- Nationalism and Migration: Chaos, Crisis and the Everyday (L5) (20 credits)
- News, Discourse, and Media (20 credits)
- Principles of Economic Crime Investigation (20 credits)
- Professional Experience (20 credits)
- Puritans to Postmodernists: American Literature (20 credits)
- Social Enterprise and Entrepreneurship (20 credits)
- Transitional Justice & Human Rights (20 credits)
- Wildlife Crime: Threats and Response (20 credits)
Placement year (optional)
Have the opportunity to do an additional work placement year after your second or third year on this Connected Degree - we're the only UK university to offer flexible sandwich placements for undergraduates.
Year 3
Core modules in this year include:
- Rethinking Aid and Development (20 credits)
Optional modules in this year include:
- Decolonial Politics and Theory in International Relations (20 credits)
- Dissertation (International Development) (40 credits)
- Global Capitalism: Past, Present and Future (20 credits)
- Global Health (20 credits)
- Independent Project (International Development) (20 credits)
- Major Project (40 credits)
- NGOs and Social Movements (20 credits)
- Professional Development: Recruiters and Candidates (20 credits)
- Professional Development: Recruiters and Candidates (20 credits)
- Professional Experience (20 credits)
- Race, Rights & Development: Global Perspectives On Inequality & Social Justice (20 credits)
- Religion and Politics in Global Perspective (20 credits)
We use the best and most current research and professional practice alongside feedback from our students to make sure course content is relevant to your future career or further studies.
Therefore, some course content may change over time to reflect changes in the discipline or industry and some optional modules may not run every year. If a module doesn’t run, we’ll let you know as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative module.
Assessment methods
How you're assessed will depend on the modules you select. As well as online assessments and coursework you may be assessed using:
examinations
analysis of topical case studies
written reports and essays
presentations
practical projects
As a guide, students on this course are typically assessed as follows:
Year 1 students: 58% by written exams and 42% by coursework
Year 2 students: 17% by written exams, 8% by practical exams and 75% by coursework (taken while on study abroad)
Year 3 students: 17% by written exams and 83% by coursework
We'll give you feedback on all practice and formal assessments so you can improve in the future.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
The Uni
University of Portsmouth
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Development studies
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Development studies
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
This is a newly-classified subject area for this kind of data, and so there are not a lot of stats available for development subjects. About 100 graduates a year take these degrees at the moment and they only attend a handful of universities. It's an emerging field, so if you want a good view of what the degree provides, make sure you get on an open day, talk to course tutors and ask them if they have any stats for their course.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Development studies
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£25k
£25k
£29k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
Explore these similar courses...
Higher entry requirements
Nearby UniversityLower entry requirementsSame UniversityThis is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Course location and department:
This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):
We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).
This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.
You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Post-six month graduation stats:
This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.
It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Graduate field commentary:
The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
