International Development & Food Policy

VALIS

I did Human Rights in second year through the law department; I think that was a core module actually. That one in particular was very broad and useful and the lecturer was excellent. I studied Conflict and Peace as an elective (has this one been re-branded to Conflict & Human Rights?) and that was very different, more of an open forum for discussion, but really educational and interesting nonetheless.

MariaBlaah

Just registered for the course and chose to do development, conflict and peace as my elective module... Wondering where will be the place to get 2nd hand books? It says I should be able to get them at the failte fest thing but I dont think Ill be down for that...

VALIS

Congratulations on getting in.

I think you can get second-hand books in the SU bookshop, but being honest in first year I got away with buying only two books which were Poverty and Development into the 21st Century (this one is/was important) and Management and Organisations.

There's always the library to borrow books from before exams and for essays.

Mahony11

Anybody have any advice for choosing electives in first year? Not a fan of languages. Did french for leaving cert and scraped a C2 somehow! But what is conflict like?

MariaBlaah

VALIS wrote: »

Congratulations on getting in.

I think you can get second-hand books in the SU bookshop, but being honest in first year I got away with buying only two books which were Poverty and Development into the 21st Century (this one is/was important) and Management and Organisations.

There's always the library to borrow books from before exams and for essays.

really?! how did you know which ones werent essential though?

Mahony11 wrote: »

Anybody have any advice for choosing electives in first year? Not a fan of languages. Did french for leaving cert and scraped a C2 somehow! But what is conflict like?

I decided to do the conflict one aswell.. i hated german last year and conflict just appealed to me more than the health one - can do that one in 2nd year!

VALIS

Some books can be easily avoided if you're not being asked to read a chapter every week or something; generally you'll be given lots of handouts which tend to take priority and doing self-directed learning reading academic articles when preparing essays. Now Poverty & Development into the 21st Century (don't know if that's still on the course) deals with so many of the basics it's a great resource in general. Also the law books in 2nd year were essential, those could be taken into the exam centres. I'd also recommend 80:20 Development in an Unequal World which will give you a great crash course in development for first year (it's going for nothing second-hand on amazon).

As for electives; you may feel more reassured if you sit in on a few and see what you like during the first week--I think that you have a few weeks to change your mind.

I didn't do a language myself but realistically I'd emphasize the importance of French or Spanish.

MariaBlaah

so wait on a few weeks to see what books are actually needed, yea?

VALIS

I would say that is probably your best option. Most things on suggested reading lists can be found in the library, relatively few things are worth the expenditure to own.

jamas

Looking at this course for 2014, do people still agree with the comments above. Has the course evolved in different ways. Now that it has been going for a while, how are the job prospects looking?

Realistically how is it likely to be viewed by employers outside of the development agencies?

Thanks

jw1234

Ya I would I'm going into final year and I'm quite happy with the prospects for work after (although I plan on doing a masters in human rights law). If by evolved you mean keeping up with current trends I would say definitely, topical issues like refugee law (direct provision in the irish context), agri models/emerging trends are covered. Also emerging areas like LGBT* rights in a developing world context are discussed in gender and development in third year. From what I have heard from graduates they seem to be getting on well I know some of them are working for development agencies here in Ireland and organisations like the UNHCR. With regard to how it is viewed by employers outside the development sphere I would imagine they would ask what is development unless they are involved in say international relations or something along those lines. The opportunities that the course provides are really excellent in third year you are able to get the study you did in 2nd year published as a group, placement and with the Int Dev society you get to go to conferences and talks etc. Hope this helps if you have any other questions ask away.

ItsNotAyne

Hi
Ive been working abroad for the last few years but really want to do this course.
Realistically how much could I do from abroad if I had someone to send me the Lecture notes etc. ie. How much credit goes towards actually attending lectures/tutorials? Or making presentations.
Thanks for your help!