Master of Development Studies
Course code: 097AB
2 years full time / 4 years part time
1 or 1.5 years full time (or part time equivalent) with relevant prior qualifications
March, July
Commonwealth Supported Places (CSPs) available
Access Melbourne is available
March, July
AUD $48,992 (2026 indicative first year fee)
IELTS 6.5: with no band less than 6.0
Career outcomes
Overview
Development Studies career outcomes
The Master of Development Studies have a global reach and enables you to pursue a role with purpose and real-world impact. Graduates develop highly transferable skills to navigate complexity, ethics, power, inequality and social change.
As an internationally recognised qualification, you'll have a head start pursuing roles including:
- General, project or program manager
- Development consultant
- Policy advisor
- Humanitarian Coordinator
- Researcher
- Sector Specialist - in specific fields such as Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI), Community Development, Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation or Child Protection
- Technical specialist - such as in Public Health, Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E), Advocacy and Campaigns, Communications and Marketing or Grants and Fundraising
Graduates have also gone on to work for governments and in organisations across the world, including:
- UNESCO
- Red Cross
- Oxfam
- United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
- UN Women
- Save the Children
- Consular Corps
- Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
- The Asia Foundation
- WRI Indonesia
- Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
- ASEAN Secretariat