Postgraduate Development Studies –
Understand the complex processes of development and social change at different scales. Work with organisations and communities to address inequalities, build resilience, and facilitate inclusive and regenerative development.
Critically engaging diverse worldviews
At Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, you’ll go beyond mainstream development theories and practices that are led from the outside, and find out how grassroots community engagement and social action are making change.
Discover how formal development structures like the UN Sustainable Development Goals can help to support—and be influenced by—Indigenous, grassroots, and transnational approaches to development.
Available qualifications
Intersectional approaches to development practice
Learn diverse theories and practices of development, creative approaches to research, and effective approaches to community engagement and social action.
In Postgraduate Development Studies, you’ll focus on practices that recognise intersectional inequalities and support ethical, social, political, economic, and environmental transformation. By exploring the intersections of gender, race, class, sexuality, and other axes of identity and difference, you’ll gain a nuanced understanding of how power dynamics shape development processes.
You’ll find out what systems and processes can help move us towards more just and regenerative futures, working with and within communities to support locally led and globally connected development.
Cross-disciplinarity, community, collaboration
Development Studies at Victoria University of Wellington is vibrant and rooted in community. You’ll be learning from academics who are actively engaged in action-oriented research in Aotearoa New Zealand and overseas.
Through field trips and guest speakers, you’ll build connections with specialists working in agencies like the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) as well as NGOs and community groups.
Interdisciplinarity is at the heart of what we do. You’ll be working alongside other postgraduate students at the University—and particularly with scholars of Environmental Studies and Geography.
Depending on your qualification and focus, you may have the opportunity to conduct research in Aotearoa New Zealand or overseas, applying your knowledge to contemporary global challenges.
Careers
Work in international or local development—either here in Aotearoa New Zealand or overseas. You’ll graduate with skills in monitoring, evaluating, and facilitating participatory practices and community engagement. And you’ll have gained an understanding of what it means to work inclusively, ethically, and sustainably with diverse groups.
Our graduates work in community development, with New Zealand NGOs like Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA), and with city and regional councils. They also work with international organisations like the Asian Development Bank, and with central government organisations like MFAT, Ministry for the Environment (MfE), Ministry of Social Development (MSD), and MBIE. They are policy analysts, programme managers, and development professionals.
Postgraduate community
The Postgraduate Students' Association can give you information on study at the University and provides a voice for you on campus.
Scholarships
You can look for scholarships based on your level of study, subject area, and background.
International students may be eligible for MFAT’s Manaaki New Zealand scholarships.