The Development Management Project

Overview

The Development Management Project from The Open University UK is individually chosen, the choice determined by your own passions and priorities. The process is guided by learning from previous modules of the masters degree. And the product is a report that makes the case for change in the understanding of, and/or the practice and policy related to, a significant development management problem.

You will choose a subject for your project that you can study from a development management perspective, using knowledge and understanding, concepts and theories, drawn from modules you have studied previously for your MSc. This gives you a wide choice. It may well be that your subject will relate to work you are involved in, though it doesn’t have to. Whatever your subject, it should be something that you can formulate in development management terms – and that you are confident will sustain your interest over the whole six-month period.  

As well as the substantive subject of your research project, this module is about the research process itself, and is structured in such a way as to guide you through that process. You will learn and practise a skill that is increasingly important in development management, the skill of doing research in a rigorous fashion to produce knowledge that can be trusted.

Support from your tutor

You will have a tutor who will be responsible for monitoring your progress on the module, marking and commenting on your written work and whom you can contact for advice and guidance. Your tutor will maintain contact with you throughout the module. There is also an online forum, moderated by a tutor, for all students on this module.