Sustainable Development (MSc) 2024 entry

The information on this page is for 2024 entry. If you are considering applying for 2025 entry or later, some of these details may differ and we advise you to check the page again before you apply. To receive a notification of when applications open for 2025 entry, please register your interest.

Our Sustainable Development programme addresses many of the most pressing developmental (environmental and social) challenges of the 21st century, equipping our students to evaluate diverse and contested ideas about what these challenges are and how best to solve them, as well as teaching the skills needed to develop these ideas in policy directions. We cover a breadth of environmental, social and economic issues, such as climate change, development, health, energy, policy change and conservation.

Our MSc in Sustainable Development is led-by interdisciplinary critical social science. This means that we start from the scientific consensus about human impacts on climate and environment but also with recognition that it is social and political contexts that are preventing vital change. Social science perspectives address this current gap, for example by being attentive to questions of power, knowledge and politics. Within this, our course pays particular attention to questions of justice and equity. We commit to research-led teaching, academic rigour and teaching you the skills needed to implement research-led policy.

Sustainable Development MSc - University of St Andrews

Video transcript

>> HOPE: We look at sustainable development broadly and critically defined.

So we think about it, yes, as a global project and a set of defined goals, but we also think more broadly to think about the different ideas, politics, contested logics that get put in that term, sustainable development.

>> RACHAEL: I didn't just learn from the staff, the talented, taught leaders who come around to teach us in the academic field, but I also learned from a whole range of different professionals from different parts of the world.

What are my peers saying?

How is it applicable to their own context?

And how can I look at mine and think about an intersection?

Why? The how? The when?

It's about questioning, you know, curiosity and then be reflexive enough to say, hey, I can take some best practices from what they do and then bring it back to my professional interests.

>> We're within the Graduate School, which is an interdisciplinary home for our master's students, and it puts them in touch with other people studying interdisciplinary masters at the University of St Andrews.

>> SHEARER: It's a small town environment, which means that you can easily get to know lots of different people.

And then within the Graduate School itself, there's that place, there's that opportunity to really make the most of it.

You have the opportunities and the support to develop seminar series, to develop a journal, to come up with ideas for conferences.

And we want to see that happen.

We want to see students flourish.

>> Our global challenges facing us around the environment and development are serious,
and there are so many existing policies out there and so much global momentum to challenge it, and it's still not working.

And what we need is people to come into universities and think critically about the ideas and logics that are behind different initiatives and start to really understand the contested politics within sustainability issues so that they can take that really grounded, skilled knowledge and learning out into the world to really do things that are going to work.

So what we offer you is a really exciting, tailored, research led frontier programme in sustainable development taken broadly and critically.

But what we also offer you is a chance for you to come to us with your own trajectory and career trajectory and really see that through.

Start date: September 2024
End date: September 2025
Duration: One year full time
School: Graduate School

Apply now Register your interest

Sustainable Development (MSc) 2024 entry

Application deadline

Thursday 8 August 2024

Applicants should apply as early as possible to be eligible for certain scholarships and for international visa purposes.

Entry requirements

A 2.1 Honours undergraduate degree. If you studied your first degree outside the UK, see the international entry requirements.
English language proficiency. See English language tests and qualifications.

The MSc in Sustainable Development welcomes applicants from a range of disciplinary backgrounds including, but not limited to:

biology
business or management
economics
environmental history
environmental science
geography
mathematics
politics
sociology.

The qualifications listed are indicative minimum requirements for entry. Some academic Schools will ask applicants to achieve significantly higher marks than the minimum. Obtaining the listed entry requirements will not guarantee you a place, as the University considers all aspects of every application including, where applicable, the writing sample, personal statement, and supporting documents.

Application requirements

A CV or résumé. This should include your personal details with a history of your education and employment to date.
A personal statement explaining:
- why you have applied for this course
- how the course relates to your personal or professional ambitions
- how your academic and professional background show you have the skills needed to work effectively at postgraduate level. 
A sample of your own, single-authored academic written work such as an extract from a previous project, essay, or undergraduate dissertation (max. 1000 words).
Two original signed academic references on headed paper.
Academic transcripts and degree certificates.

For more guidance, see supporting documents and references for postgraduate taught programmes.

English language proficiency

If English is not your first language, you may need to provide an English language test score to evidence your English language ability. See approved English language tests and scores for this course.

Course details

You will explore the tensions and synergies between different theories and approaches to sustainability, including forms of governance and decision-making. You will engage with sustainable development policy and practice at different scales (local, national, and international), and consider alternative frameworks and trajectories of sustainability - from broad-scale ecosystem approaches to decolonial agendas. Coursework components will help you to develop and demonstrate writing and analysis skills for different audiences. Optional modules allow you to explore topics such as capitalism and development, energy politics, and population change, which will further develop the interdisciplinary character of your studies.

Highlights

Introduces different conceptualizations of sustainability and enables students to navigate a contested (and urgent) field.
Rooted in critical interdisciplinary social science, this course addresses social and political responses to climate science and offers a remarkable richness and depth compared with conventional single-subject degrees.
Core courses first use Development and then Nature as entry points into Sustainable Development. We teach you to analyse academic concepts and debates before shifting focus to research-led policy.
Our MSc focuses on the relationships between academia, policy, and society, and teaches writing for both academic and policy audiences.

Modules

The modules published below are examples of what has been taught in previous academic years and may be subject to change before you start your programme. For more details of each module, including weekly contact hours, teaching methods and assessment, please see the module catalogue.

The MSc is structured around two compulsory taught modules:

Semester 1

Interrogating Sustainable Development: introduces the origins of the concept, as well as its key critiques and alternatives, using ‘development’ as a broad entry point to a famously vague term and provides solid theoretical foundations enabling you to critically analyse different and contested approaches to sustainability.

Semester 2

Sustainable development: from principles to practice: examines how doing sustainable development research with non-academic partners challenges us to engage with sustainability as an academic, policy and practical concern. We will consider how inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to sustainable development stimulate learning and innovation to address socio-environmental inequalities and vulnerabilities.

Alongside compulsory modules, students will complete a number of optional modules (normally two per semester). Optional modules allow you to shape the degree around your own personal and professional interests.

It is recommended that students complete modules from the following list:

Semester 1

Contemporary environmental issues: allow masters students to develop their depth and breadth of understanding of a wide range of environmental concerns through the lens of 'Planetary Boundaries'; provides a foundation for students to integrate environmental science aspects of global issues into sustainable development.
Population Change and Sustainable Development: Patterns, Processes and Politics: equips students with knowledge of core concepts in population studies and develops critical engagement in the connections between population and sustainability using examples from across the globe and research from a range of social science disciplines.

Semester 2

Capitalism, Development and Environment: considers the ways in which environments, resources and livelihoods both shape and are shaped by development practices, and how one distinguishes between and evaluates 'negative' (harmful, or unsustainable) and 'positive' (beneficial, or sustainable) development.

Other optional modules are expected to be offered in the following areas:

environmental history
green politics: theory and practice
managing natural resources
managing non-governmental organisations
disease and environment
extractive environments
valuing environments.

Optional modules are subject to change each year and require a minimum number of participants to be offered; some may only allow limited numbers of students.

The final part of the MSc is the end-of-degree project. This takes the form of a period of supervised research where you will explore a sustainable development topic in depth.

Through the project, you will show your ability to undertake sustained critical analysis, develop and improve your research skills, and produce an extended piece of written work that demonstrates a high level of understanding of your area of study.

You can choose to present your end-of-degree project in one of the following ways:  

a policy report and policy brief that emphasises your ability to critically assess sustainable development policy and make convincing recommendations for policy changes.
a written dissertation that emphasises your ability to plan and execute academically rigorous research (open to students with appropriate methodological experience).

If students choose not to complete the project requirement for the MSc, there is an exit award available that allows suitability qualified candidates to receive a Postgraduate Diploma. By choosing an exit award, you will finish your degree at the end of the second semester of study and receive a PGDip instead of an MSc. 

The taught modules are taken over two semesters – September to December (Semester 1) and January to May (Semester 2). The period from June to August is used to complete the end of degree project.

Each taught module will use teaching and learning methods appropriate to its aims. These may include seminars, workshops, lectures, tutorials, and independent study.

Assessment methods used may include essays, reports, presentations, practical exercises, reflective exercises, and examinations.

Fees

Home
£14,140

Overseas
£29,950

Application fee

Before we can begin processing your application, a payment of an application fee of £50 is required. In some instances, you may be eligible for an application fee waiver. Details of this, along with information on our tuition fees, can be found on the postgraduate fees and funding page.

Funding and scholarships

The University of St Andrews is committed to attracting the very best students, regardless of financial circumstances.

15% Recent Graduate Discount

If you have graduated from the University within the last three academic years, you may be eligible for a 15% discount on postgraduate taught tuition fees. Terms and conditions apply.

Taught postgraduate scholarships Postgraduate loans

After your degree

Careers

The University of St Andrews’ global reputation makes its graduates highly valued by employers. The MSc in Sustainable Development provides subject knowledge and applied skills relevant to a range of career paths in government and public bodies, non-governmental organisations and charities, and the private sector.

In addition to broadening your subject knowledge and applying established techniques of research and enquiry, you will develop and demonstrate essential skills including:

critical thinking and creativity
analysis and appraisal
problem solving and decision making
personal leadership and project management
interpersonal communication and team-working.

The University also offers two awards for all students known as the Saints Skills Awards. You can develop a range of skills through the Skills Builder Award or learn how to best articulate them through the Skills Spotlight Award. These skills are highly valued by employers and the awards are a good addition to your CV.

The Careers Centre offers one-to-one advice to all students as well as a programme of events to assist students in building their employability skills.

Further study

St Andrews offers a vibrant and stimulating research environment. One of the great strengths of a St Andrews research degree is the collegiate atmosphere which enables access to expertise beyond your formal supervisors and the ability to conduct interdisciplinary research. 

Research students are supported by a supervisory team throughout their studies and are assessed by means of a substantial thesis of original research.

Postgraduate research

What to do next

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Postgraduate online visiting days

We encourage all students who are thinking of applying to the University to attend one of our online visiting days.

Contact us

Phone: +44 (0)1334 46 2032
Email: gradschool@st-andrews.ac.uk
Address: Graduate School

Legal notices

Admission to the University of St Andrews is governed by our Admissions policy

Information about all programmes from previous years of entry can be found in the archive.

Curriculum development

As a research intensive institution, the University ensures that its teaching references the research interests of its staff, which may change from time to time. As a result, programmes are regularly reviewed with the aim of enhancing students' learning experience. Our approach to course revision is described online.

Tuition fees

The University will clarify compulsory fees and charges it requires any student to pay at the time of offer. The offer will also clarify conditions for any variation of fees. The University’s approach to fee setting is described online.

Page last updated: 29 January 2024