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.”
Alongside colleagues across the Collegiate University, the undersigned members of the Oxford Department of International Development stand against colonialism and racism. In our research and teaching on the history and persistent inequalities between the global North and South, we, of necessity, engage analytically, theoretically and critically with colonialism and its enduring negative global effects, including and notably racism. We uphold anti-racism as a non-negotiable principle. We believe these core values must lie at the heart of a world-leading educational institution. In upholding these values, we have taken inspiration from our students who have actively promoted anti-colonial and anti-racist initiatives in recent years.
We value Oxford’s traditions and procedures that protect and advance the rights and welfare of its community. At the same time, we believe it is our obligation to counter practices and processes that cause exclusion and discrimination and fail to respect the sensitivities of members of our community affected by the history of colonialism. We acknowledge and celebrate a diverse range of views as to how the University should confront and make reparation for its colonial history. We affirm the right of our members to express these views in a spirit of academic freedom and we stand against media or political efforts to promote misinformation and target individuals for expressing their views.
We feel it necessary to clarify and reiterate our opposition to colonialism and racism in the context of the continuing controversy over the statue of Cecil Rhodes. The statue symbolises the public commemoration and celebration of colonialism at Oxford. Its continued presence, despite all the debates it has generated, represents a refusal to confront Oxford’s long-term legacy of colonialism. The retention of the statue undermines the Collegiate University’s commitment to and agenda for equality, diversity and inclusion. In our work, we are also affected by the reputational damage to Oxford, as we seek to attract students, colleagues and research partners, especially in the Global South. We believe that collective effort of the Collegiate University is required to achieve positive change at Oxford on these issues and we are proud to affirm our commitment to this endeavour.