The department is a lively community that is recognised internationally as one of the top centres for research and teaching in development studies.

Our courses offer excellent training for a career in international development or for advanced study, and attract students of the highest calibre from across the world.
“I had waited for 10 years before my dream to study in Oxford became a reality and the experience was truly beyond expectation”
Our students are taught to develop as critical and independent thinkers and when they leave us they are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to bring about real change.
“My time at Oxford strengthened my critical analysis and provided me with a unique interdisciplinary grounding in history, politics and economics that has equipped me well in dealing with public policy issues and program development strategy.”
Our courses offer excellent training for a career in international development or for advanced study, and attract students of the highest calibre from across the world.
“I had waited for 10 years before my dream to study in Oxford became a reality and the experience was truly beyond expectation”
Our courses offer excellent training for a career in international development or for advanced study, and attract students of the highest calibre from across the world.
“I had waited for 10 years before my dream to study in Oxford became a reality and the experience was truly beyond expectation”
Our students are taught to develop as critical and independent thinkers and when they leave us they are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to bring about real change.
“My time at Oxford strengthened my critical analysis and provided me with a unique interdisciplinary grounding in history, politics and economics that has equipped me well in dealing with public policy issues and program development strategy.”
Our students are taught to develop as critical and independent thinkers and when they leave us they are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to bring about real change.
“My time at Oxford strengthened my critical analysis and provided me with a unique interdisciplinary grounding in history, politics and economics that has equipped me well in dealing with public policy issues and program development strategy.”
India’s 2019 national elections are widely anticipated to be the “WhatsApp elections”. Against a backdrop of rapidly improving...
Especially since the refugee crisis, Europe has been grappling with populist reactions to the growth of Muslim minorities. Yet, despite decades of migration, native Europeans have limited experience and...
October marked one year into the Young Marriage and Parenthood Study (YMAPS), which brings together research from Young Lives (Ethiopia, Peru and the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana)...
A considerable body of recent research suggests that inequality between ethnic groups has major socioeconomic implications. ‘Economists have long recognised that there is an association between inequality...
Over the past 15 years, Young Lives has followed the lives of two cohorts of children through childhood, adolescence, and into young adulthood. The information gathered in the last round of data collection...
In 2016, more than 20% of the world’s under-5 year olds (155 million children overall) were stunted, or too short compared to healthy peers of...
While many would agree that addressing the issue of child work is of high importance, the consensus on how to appropriately define children in work is not always clear. Already difficult to outline for the...
Within education research, a great deal of attention has been paid to the effectiveness of different types of school within developing countries over the past decade or so, and in particular to the rise of...
The potential of quality early childhood care and education to transform childrens’ lives is now widely recognised in research, in policy and in service delivery. Most significantly at a global level, the...
Educational attainment is as much about where a child goes to school as her home advantage. School systems vary widely in effectiveness – yet there is more nuance in the picture when we examine the overlap...
Much of the global south – broadly comprising the continents of Asia, Africa, and Latin America – was shaped by colonialism. The so-called “great game” and the scrambles between Britain, Portugal, Belgium,...
Do you believe in democracy and gender equality? Even if you and I do, not everyone everywhere does.
Donald Trump’s election as the 45th US president illustrates the global ascendance of the political right. Comparisons with Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, whose rise predates Trump’s by two years,...
Theresa May’s three-day tour of India marks the start of her attempt to secure post-Brexit business with non-EU countries. Yet the message beginning to emanate from the UK government is: Indians, we want...
When Narendra Modi was elected as head of India’s BJP government in May 2014, he was expected to usher in a period of stability and development. But midway into his term, he and his party are lurching from...
Few things in education policy in developing countries are more contentious than what the role of the private sector should be.
Generally, Islamists believe in the Universalist concept of Ummah (Islamic community of believers), a supranational or transnational union. The Islamists’ call for unity of the Ummah is based on the belief...