Masters in Sustainable Development Practice -
Centre for Global Sustainability Studies

This program is offered at Sains@KL.

The Master in Sustainable Development Practice (MSDP) is a global multi and interdisciplinary graduate degree program that prepares students to better identify and address the challenges of sustainable development. This programme consists of two years of coursework in four intersecting disciplines-health, natural, social, and management sciences-combined with cross-sectoral field training. The multi and interdisciplinary nature of this MSDP programme equips development practitioners to speak the different “languages” of specialists in, for example, health, agronomy, and economics, enabling them to better understand the root causes of extreme poverty and to address the challenges of sustainable development.

One of the unique characteristic of this programme is that one of the courses (Global Classroom: Foundations of Sustainable Development Practice) is a course that fosters cross-disciplinary collaboration and allows students and teachers from around the world to participate in collective assignments and learning experiences through live video conference. Students from around the world are assigned the same readings and then join their classmates for live weekly on-camera sessions with global experts.

The programme is monitored by the Global Association Board of MDP and supported by the Earth Institute, Columbia University, New York, USA. At the moment, there are 31 universities in 6 continents offering this programme globally. Currently, USM is the only university in South-East Asia that offers this programme. This programme is offered in Kuala Lumpur since September 2014.

In general, the MSDP programme is designed for:

Generalist development practitioners, to deepen their knowledge in diverse but related disciplines, enabling them to better coordinate and implement the insights of specialists;

Specialist development practitioners, to round out their knowledge base, enabling them to contribute more effectively to interdisciplinary policy teams;

Policy administrators and policy professionals, to equip them to pursue effective strategies for sustainable development practice; Private-sector professionals, to prepare them for decision-making and problem-solving roles in matters relating to sustainable development practice;

Educators, to help them better address in their curricula the wide range of issues in sustainable development practice.

CORE COURSES (38 UNITS)

• Global Classroom: Integrated Approaches To Sustainable Development
• Research Methods for Sustainable Development
• Project Design Evaluation and Management
• Master in Sustainable Development Practice Project
• Health Policy and Management
• Energy Infrastructure Planning
• Human Ecology and Sustainable Development
• Budget Planning and Financial Management
• Information Technology for Development
• Economic Analysis for Sustainable Development
• Law and Governance in Development
• Social Services Management

ELECTIVES (6 UNITS)

• Sustainable Cities and Communities
• Global Health, Nutrition and Food Insecurity
• Application of Environmental Science
• Human Resource Management
• Green Business and Performance Assessment
• Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Enterprise

*Electives: Availability is based on the number of student enrollment

CONTACT PERSON

Applicants should possess the following:

• A minimum of 2.75/4.00 for Bachelor degree; or
• CGPA below 2.75/4.00 for Bachelor degree with additional requirements

(Applicable for International Applicants Only)

• A minimum score of 40 for TOEFL (Internet-based); or
• A minimum of Band 7.5 for TOEFL Essentials (Online); or
• A minimum of Band 5 for IELTS; or
• A minimum score of 47 for PTE; or
• A minimum score of 154 for Cambridge English (CAE/CPE); or
• A minimum score of 154 for Linguaskill Online; or
• A minimum of Band 3.5 for MUET

Exemption can be given to candidate if:

• English is the candidate’s mother tongue or National Language; or
• Candidate graduated from an Institution of Higher Learning in which the medium of instruction at Bachelor and/or Master degree level is English (statement of proof required)

• Full-time: Mininum 4 semesters / Maximum 8 semesters
• Part-time: Mininum 6 semesters / Maximum 10 semesters

• April & October

** Fees are subject to change