New Student Registration: Development Studies

The Program in Development Studies offers one 3-credit course at the 100-level (see course description at the bottom of this page):

• DEVS 101: Intro to Development Studies

DEVS 101 is the foundational course material for further study in Development Studies.  This course is required for a joint major, joint advanced major, honours, minor, subsidiary, or pair in Development Studies, and may be an elective in any program, other than the Diploma in Engineering.  (Development Studies courses do not fulfill the writing requirements for the Diploma in Engineering.)

DEVS 101 is a minimum prerequisite for all other core DEVS courses in the program.

Students intending joint major, joint advanced major, or honours programs in Development Studies are required to take ECON 101 and 102, so may wish to take these courses in first year.

Bachelor of Arts students who are considering taking DEVS 101, ANTH 112, SOCI 101, SOCI 102, and WMGS 100 may want to explore the option of the Social Justice Colloquium, which offers these courses in a coordinated format.

Development Studies is an interdisciplinary program, meaning that it incorporates relevant courses from other academic subjects. In addition to its core courses, Development Studies has both cross-listed and designated courses from other departments. Cross-listed courses are those that have a much stronger and more direct relationship to this area of study. Designated courses are those that have relevance to the study of development, but are not as strongly related.

Students intending programs in Development Studies may want to consider taking introductory courses in one or more of the interdisciplinary subjects. This will provide necessary prerequisites to take the allowable cross-listed and designated courses in future years. The Development Studies section of the Academic Calendar specifies these allowable courses.  It would be useful for interested students to look in the Calendar to determine courses that are of most interest to them for future years, which in turn would dictate the introductory-level courses that would be good choices for first year.

For all cross-listed courses, either the introductory course(s) for those subjects, or DEVS 201 and 202, are permissible prerequisites. The exception to this is cross-listed courses in Economics, for which only ECON 101 and 102 are allowable prerequisites.

For all designated courses (see the Academic Calendar for the specific list), students should note the following departmental prerequisites, and may wish to take introductory courses in one or more of these subjects:

• ANTH: ANTH 111 and 112 are minimum prerequisites for the anthropology courses.
• AQUA:  AQUA 101 and 102 are the prerequisites for the aquatic resources courses.
• ART:  ART 344 has no prerequisites, other than third-year status.
• BIOL: For BA students, there is no prerequisite for BIOL 221, other than second-year status.
• BSAD: Business administration courses are normally restricted to students in the Faculty of Business. Interested students will require permission from the chair of management to register in these designated courses. Pending availability, this permission will normally be granted to third- and fourth-year Development Studies students.
• CATH: There is no prerequisite for CATH 341, other than second-year status.
• CELT: There is no prerequisite for CELT 332, other than third-year status.
• ECON: ECON 101 and 102 are minimum prerequisites for the economics courses, except ECON 281, for which only ECON 101 is required.
• EESC: Prerequisites for EESC 272 are one of EESC 172, CLEN 101, CLEN 102, AQUA 101, or AQUA 102.  ESCI 273 has no prerequisites, other than second-year status.
• ENGL: ENGL 100 or ENGL 111 is the minimum prerequisite for the English courses.
• FREN: 6 credits of 200-level FREN, or permission of the department chair, are prerequisites for the French courses.
• HLTH: Health courses are normally restricted to students in the BASC in Health.  Interested students will require permission from the coordinator of the health program.
• HIST: 6 credits of 100-level history are minimum prerequisites for the history courses. This prerequisite is waived for students wishing to take upper-level history courses in third and fourth years.
• HNU: There is no prerequisite for HNU 405, other than third-year status.  HNU 142 is the prerequisite for HNU 421.
• IDS: There is no prerequisite for IDS 305, other than third-year status.
• MIKM: MIKM 205 requires proficiency in the Mi-kmaq language.
• NURS: There are no prerequisites for these nursing electives, other than third-year status.
• PHIL: One of PHIL 100, 101, or 102 is the prerequisite for PHIL 371. The prerequisite for PHIL 333 is PHIL 331 and third-year status. (Second-year students may take PHIL 331 and 333 if PHIL 100, 101, or 102 has been completed in first year.)
• PSCI: PSCI 101 and 102 are minimum prerequisites for the political science courses.
• PGOV: PGOV 101 is the minimum prerequisite for the public policy and governance courses.
• SOCI: SOCI 101 and 102 are minimum prerequisites for the sociology courses.
• SPAN: There is no prerequisite for SPAN 255, other than second-year status.  All other Spanish courses require SPAN 101 and 102 as minimum prerequisites, or permission of the department chair.
• WMGS: The WMGS courses are all cross-listed with other courses on the designated list.  WMGS 203 and 217 are cross-listed with sociology, and require SOCI 101 and 102 as prerequisites.  Prerequisites for WMGS 345 are PSCI 101 and 102, or WMGS 100.  There is no prerequisite for WMGS 364, other than third-year status.

Course Description

DEVS 101   Introduction to Development Studies
This course offers students an introduction to the field of development studies. It explores core concepts about ‘development’ and its real-world applications. Along with an introduction to international development institutions, topics covered include colonialism and its legacies, Indigenous people, gender and development, environment and climate change, food insecurity, human rights and diversity, human displacement and migration, and economic relations. Discussion of these topics will be situated in the context of local, national and global case studies. Three credits.

Please refer to Section 9.15 Development Studies in the Academic Calendar.

Click here to go to the Development Studies program webpage.