Bachelor of Arts - Development Studies

Development Studies refers to a broad range of courses that address the planning, implementation and consequences of social, political and economic change. Development as an aspect of state policy, and specifically as an integral part of relations between states of the industrialised 'West' and 'developing countries', gained prominence after the Second World War with the establishment of the IMFWorld Bank and other development banks and aid agencies, such as USAID and the Australian Development Assistance Bureau. Since then agencies and government officials, practitioners and intellectuals have debated the rights and wrongs of development and the merits of particular approaches to development. These have crystallised in various 'theories' or approaches to development, ranging from modernisation, dependency and world system theories (from the 60s and 70s), approaches that emphasize empowerment and popular participation through the 90s and 2000s, as well as critical analysis that either questions the very premise of development, or research that insists on the importance of examining the constellations of social and institutional actors who (re)produce, moblise, and contest development aid. Development Studies examines the impact of globalisation on peoples in a range of geographical contexts, and reviews notions of economic viability, democracy, governance, human rights or environmental sustainability as they apply to such culturally divergent entities. Development studies is suitable for students who either wishes to pursue careers in development aid or who are intellectually curious in processes of social, political, cultural and economic change.

Applicants who complete a recognised Secondary Senior Secondary-Postsecondary Tertiary sequence of study will be assessed on the basis of an equivalent selection rank that is calculated upon application.International Baccalaureate - 29.