Global MDP

The impact of any particular educational intervention relates not only to content and delivery, but also to timing. #MDP

The decision to develop a masters level degree program focused on sustainable development practice surely factored in the benefits of targeting students who had already completed a university degree with a particular focus. #MDP

That education, augmented with some early career experience, perfectly positioned prospective students for the objectives of the MDP degree. #MDP

The Master of Development Practice (MDP) Program: The Commission provided a template for an MDP degree program designed to “produce highly skilled ‘generalist’ practitioners prepared to confront complex sustainable development challenges” #MDP

The vision for both the degree program and other professional development opportunities was shaped by four, guiding principles. Such training should aspire to prioritize: Integrated knowledge among health sciences, natural sciences, social sciences, and management. #MDP

Lifelong learning fostered and facilitated through ongoing openness and access to professional training; Practical training utilized throughout the program to enhance the curricular experience; Partnerships across boundaries (geographic, cultural, etc.) #MDP

With these principles in mind, the Commission outlined a set of key components that they believed necessary for a master’s program (the MDP) intended to train practitioners to be the “missing link,” of sustainable development practice. #MDP

Of these components, the following four seem essential to realizing the initial vision: #MDP

1) a common and interdisciplinary core curriculum; 2) extended field-based training or apprenticeships; 3) an active global network of programs and partners, and 4) enhanced classroom instruction featuring practical casework. #MDP

A common, interdisciplinary core curriculum is one essential element of the MDP degree program. The core curriculum draws upon the knowledge, skills, and other competencies found across the disciplinary landscape. #MDP

Required coursework across the university helps students to traverse this landscape to build a broad knowledge framework and skills toolkit and is an essential part of the MDP curricular experience. #MDP

Likewise, the MDP core curriculum strives to build student capacity to connect and integrate across disciplines, for this particular competency is the hallmark attribute of the MDP alumnus. #MDP

The ICESDP (2008) report states that “courses and learning activities [will] be anchored in an understanding of the inter-relationships among fields and course content [will] integrate cross-disciplinary approaches for sustainable development” #MDP

The field practicum focuses on the application of learned knowledge and skills and on contextualizing knowledge and skills in situ, through close collaboration with program partners. #MDP

The field practicum is a distinguishing and typically transformative experience in the development of MDP students. It draws heavily on cognitive knowledge and professional skills acquired prior to arrival and throughout the experience. #MDP

It also draws upon and enhances the social-emotional attributes necessary to succeed and thrive as practitioners within complex, adaptive systems (Chan, 2001). #MDP

Though the field practicum varies considerably by institution, most feature some combination of the following four characteristics: #MDP

One or more practical training experiences in collaboration with partner organizations; #MDP

Field-based academic programming that may include “formal” instruction by local actors and/or periodic engagement with campus faculty that focuses on supplemental knowledge, skill development, and experiential reflection; #MDP

Organized social and cultural programming that may begin as early as the onset of the program and that likely continues through and after the field practicum; and

A final report and/or set of project-driven deliverables that consolidate the knowledge gained, lessons learned, and implications for the challenge addressed and the work of the partner organization. #MDP

Competencies favoring successful classroom learning can differ from those that favor success in the field, resulting in the MDP core curriculum needing to foster student development in both realms. #MDP

The MDP curriculum and field practicum are, therefore, complementary and mutually reinforcing elements. #MDP

Individual degree programs may differ in how they address d curricular and logistical challenges associated with these two elements but, in almost all cases, learning opportunities associated with d field practicum extend well beyond d temporal boundaries of d experience itself.

Development of these field-based experiences and the campus-based learning that precede and follow them relies heavily on a third essential element of the MDP program: the network. #MDP

The first is university partnerships which include those within a single institution (i.e., partnerships across disciplines and departments) and second are those between institutions offering the MDP degree.#MDP

Both partnerships facilitate core operations and continuous improvement through the exchange of ideas, innovations, connections, and opportunities for student and faculty cooperation. #MDP