Successful IAC/EADI re-accreditation of Master Programme at Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia
The MIDS offers a two-year graduate programme in development studies in Colombia. The MIDS has the following four ambitions: i) offering students a critical understanding of the development process; ii) integrating a rich range of issues that go beyond the original “development planning” approach; iii) providing students with the tools to produce academic research and to appreciate the importance of rigorous research aimed at making informed decisions; and iv) teaching graduates to be aware of the complexity of development challenges, to be sceptical towards one-size-fits-all solutions, and to learn from the collaboration with professionals of different disciplinary backgrounds.
The MIDS programme offers a genuine curriculum in development studies. It is interdisciplinary in character and draws students from all areas and disciplines of the Social Sciences, as well as Law, Environmental Studies and Engineering (a major subject in UniAndes). Students can choose from different course offerings based in CIDER as well as from other faculties. The course programme offers a general introduction into the various schools of development thought, and emphasises the importance of policy analysis. A range of key concepts are discussed in the various courses which are central to development studies, such as inequality, poverty, gender, freedom, migration, role of the State, globalisation, sustainability, conflict and post-coloniality.
The IAC / EADI Council successfully re-accredited the programme, after a first accreditation in 2017. The reviewers feel that the programme is enticing and rich, combining both theoretical knowledge and academic research skills, with a clear interdisciplinary approach. The programme offers a stimulating and unique learning space compared to other development studies programmes across the world. The IAC / EADI Councul has also noticed notable advances in respect to the suggestions of the 2017 IAC/EADI accreditation report The IAC Council again made a number of recommendations according to the IAC / EADI criteria towards the programme, and for developing the programme’s potential.