Degree Programs and Courses

The Department of International Development Studies at Trent offers both single and joint major honours degrees, as well as a joint major general degree.

IDS at Trent offers a wide variety of course options from first year to fourth year, as well as two year abroad programs in Ecuador and Ghana. The Department of International Development Studies, while interdisciplinary in its focus, has its own dedicated faculty who teach the courses offered by the program. The Department of International Development Studies at Trent is committed to small group teaching and individual attention to students.

The Department offers core courses at the first and second year, which provide students with the necessary historical and theoretical grounding. Students can pursue particular international development themes through other courses offered by faculty in the Department, such as globalization, food and agriculture, the environment, cultural change, identity and ethnicity, human rights, social transformations, international political economy, gender issues, and courses focused on particular regions of the world, to name but a few. Several upper year courses include an experiential learning component. There are opportunities to joint-major with other programs and/or do one of the various emphasis programs offered by Trent.

IDS courses are theoretically grounded and at the same time address real world policy initiatives. Our aim is to reach a balance between theory and practice, while challenging students to rethink conventional wisdom about international development. Through such an approach, our courses provide students with critical thinking skills that serve them well not just in the Department of International Development Studies, but in their other courses as well.