Global 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

University partnerships foster opportunities for both students and faculty to connect with other students and faculty across or between institutions. These linkages provide important opportunities for faculty to exchange relevant content and pedagogy within the network. #MDP

Professional relationships can initiate from within the network (outreach by a program) as well as from the field (“inreach” by an organization) and can be short- or long-term. #MDP

This diverse and vibrant MDP network enlivens an educational model that depends on meaningful, field-based experiences with institutional and community partners. #MDP