Completion of the CIDS program adds the designation “International Development Studies” to the MSc, MA or MBA degree.

Students enter the CIDS program through a department that offers Master’s level programs. Students complete requirements for the departmental degree and take development-related courses from other core disciplines (see CIDS Degree Requirements).

Most graduate programs at the University of Guelph examine or touch upon some aspect of international development. CIDS links the various departmental programs and provides a focal point for graduate teaching and research on international topics of common interest. The program provides an interdisciplinary framework for the study of international development from global, country-level and local perspectives. Students and faculty together examine long-term socioeconomic, political and environmental changes, cross-cultural comparisons and the contemporary problems of poverty and inequality, through a combination of training in a particular discipline with exposure to a broad range of social science perspectives. The collaborative program emphasizes the importance of urbanization, gender, the environment, historical evolution and applies a truly international vision that encompasses regions of Asia, Africa and Latin America but also peripheral regions in Europe and North America. The CIDS program encourages students to undertake field research and practice.

Between fifteen and twenty students are admitted annually to the CIDS program; the small size permits some sensitivity to individual needs and interests of students.

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