This master’s program is the first of its kind to combine in-class learning with community-based development work in the field, with a focus on marginalized regions in Palestine, in partnership with local actors and organizations.
Community Development
Using interdisciplinary approaches, global and local theories of development, combined with participatory community action research methods and a practicum in the field, this program enhances analytical and practical understandings of how to pursue the challenges of local development in a colonial context.
Informed by social justice perspectives, the program builds expertise and hands on experience in the practices, organization, planning, policies, and processes of community-based development. Incorporating practical field experience into this degree
This program will build on and cross-list courses from existing and related MA programs, including the MA programs in Gender and Development, Economics, Sociology and Community Psychology. The program is unique is its practical and applied dimensions; courses will include field visits to facilitate co-learning in the field, guest lectures who are experts in community development and workshops with local communities and grassroots organizations active in the field of community development. In the final year of the program students conduct a final thesis or seminar that focuses on a local problem, challenge or community development initiative in collaboration with grassroots actors and organizations.
This MA program takes Palestinian higher education into new directions and opens up new employment opportunities for young people that channel their energies into local partnerships and strengthening community initiatives, local economic development, cooperatives, alternative agricultural practices and water use, as well as other community driven local development processes.
A. Core Courses: 18 Credit Hours
|
Course No |
Course Title |
Credit Hours |
Practical |
Theoretical |
|
CODE6300 |
Introduction to Community Development: Theory and Practice |
3 |
✓ |
✓ |
|
GADS634 |
Qualitative Research Methods for Gender and Development |
3 |
|
✓ |
|
ECON735 |
Economic Development |
3 |
|
✓ |
|
GADS631
|
Historical and Theoretical Introduction to Gender and Development Studies |
3 |
|
✓ |
|
CODE6330 |
Participatory Action Research and Community Engagement |
3 |
✓ |
✓ |
|
CODE6350 |
Practicum in Community Development |
3 |
✓ |
✓ |
B. Elective Courses: 12 Credit Hours students can choose up to 9 hours from other programs with the prior approval of the program's committee
|
Course No |
Course Title |
Credit Hours |
Practical |
Theoretical |
|
CODE6320
|
Community Led Rural Development: Experiences from the Field |
3 |
✓ |
✓ |
|
CODE7300
|
Alternative Community Development: Local and Global Perspectives |
3 |
|
✓ |
|
CODE7310
|
Community Development and Palestinian Refugees |
3 |
|
✓ |
|
CODE7320
|
Youth Activism, Community Development and Social Change |
3 |
|
✓ |
|
CODE7330
|
Self-Reliance |
3 |
|
✓ |
|
CODE7340 |
Land and Alternative Agriculture
|
3 |
✓ |
✓ |
|
CPSY630
|
Introduction to Community Psychology |
3 |
|
✓ |
|
SOCI6301 |
Theoretical Issues in Sociology, Development and Social Policies
|
3 |
|
✓ |
|
CODE6380 |
Special Topic |
3 |
|
✓ |
C. Track “A” or Track “B”: 6 Credit Hours; Thesis or two Seminars
|
Track |
Track Title |
Track No |
Prerequisites |
Credit Hours |
|
Track A |
Thesis |
CODE8600 |
Complete no less than 15 credit hours from the program, including CODE6300, CODE6330 and GADS634 |
6 |
|
Track B |
Seminars |
CODE8301 and CODE8311 |
6 |
Admission requirements
1. Applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree in one of the social sciences from a university recognized by Birzeit University. Applicants with a bachelor degree in other fields may also be admitted in this program and asked to take a remedial course on the social sciences.
Conditions for completion of the program
1. Students who do not pass the English language test are required to take a remedial course of 3 hours in the English language. The student must complete this course before the third semester of the program, in accordance with the rules and regulations of Graduate Studies at Birzeit University.
2. Students are required to complete no less than 36 credit hours distributed as follows:
- Core Courses: 18 credit hours.
- Elective Courses: 12 credit hours.
- Thesis or Two Seminars: 6 credit hours.
Structure of the Program
|
First Year- First Semester |
||
|
Course Code |
Course Name |
Credit Hours |
|
CODE6300 |
Introduction to Community Development: Theory and Practice |
3 |
|
CODE6320 |
Community Led Rural Development: Experiences From the Field |
3 |
|
First Year- Second Semester |
||
|
Course Code |
Course Name |
Credit Hours |
|
ECON735 |
Economic Development |
3 |
|
GADS634 |
Qualitative Research Methods for Gender and Development |
3 |
|
Second Year- First Semester |
||
|
Course Code |
Course Name |
Credit Hours |
|
GADS631 |
Historical and Theoretical Introduction to Gender and Development Studies |
3 |
|
CODE6330 |
Participatory Action Research and Community Engagement |
3 |
|
Second Year- Second Semester |
||
|
Course Code |
Course Name |
Credit Hours |
|
CODE6350 |
Practicum in Community Development |
3 |
|
|
Elective |
3 |
|
Third Year- First Semester |
||
|
Course Code |
Course Name |
Credit Hours |
|
CODE8301 or CODE8600 |
Seminar 1 or Thesis |
3 |
|
|
Elective |
3 |
|
Third Year- Second Semester |
||
|
Course Code |
Course Name |
Credit Hours |
|
CODE8311 or CODE8600 |
Seminar 2 or thesis |
3 |
|
|
Elective |
3 |
