MSc Global Sustainable Development (Full-time study)

A welcome to your course from Alex Mejia, Director, Division for People and Social Inclusion Head, United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).

UNITAR provides innovative learning solutions to individuals, organizations and institutions to enhance global decision-making and support country-level action for shaping a better future.

Course Description

If you have a background in sustainability already, or already hold a degree, the MSc in Global Sustainable Development is the ideal course to take advantage of that experience and higher-level learning.

The course aims to:

• Provide a sound, and critical, understanding of sustainable development, particularly with reference to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Show how sustainability is conceived and practiced differently across the globe.
• Show how sustainability is conceived and practiced differently across different sectors, and to critically evaluate how the UN SDGs interact with these sectors.
• Enable students to evaluate the role of individuals, communities, and institutions in delivering sustainable development.
• Foster debate and enable students to express reasoned, evidence-based arguments.

The Programme starts with a period of gaining a shared vocabulary and set of ideas around sustainability, as well as investigating the various ways in which we might interrogate and analyse sustainability projects through a range of research methodologies and their associated techniques.

Options focus upon sectors, so, the MSc examines, in greater detail, the sectoral responses to the sustainability challenge. It shows that SDGs interact with a range of social and economic activities in a number of complicated and interconnected ways. This will allow you to evaluate projects and progress against sustainability goals more critically.

The Programme finishes with a significant piece of individual research, on a topic of your choice.

This programme has been jointly developed and implemented with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). On successful completion of the programme, in addition to your degree certificate, graduates will be awarded a UNITAR certificate of completion.