Program Overview
Bachelors in Development Studies program (BDS) at NED University is a four year (eight semester) regular undergraduate degree program offered by the Department of Architecture and Planning NED University based in its century old City Campus.
NED University is the first institution in Karachi to offer this program since its first batch got admission in 2014-15. A huge demand exists in the field, locally and internationally, for the development studies graduates, for which the graduates of this program are going to benefit. International agencies such as World Bank, UN Agencies and their affiliates, international NGOs, national NGOs; support programmes such as National Rural Support Programme and CSR departments of multinationals and other corporate entities are the obvious employment areas. Apart from this, graduates are trained to become social entrepreneurs, take initiatives to form their own organisation e.g. an NGO and work for the betterment of the society.
The students will undergo rigorous training while studying various core and supplementary courses including various streams of economics, sociology, research methods, communication skills, development policy and practices in Pakistan, legal frameworks, management of organisations etc.
Development studies program is an interdisciplinary field, thus, students from various education backgrounds can apply for admission through established admission procedures well explained at the university website. Students completed their intermediate or A-levels having subjects or schemes of studies defined under categories of pre-engineering, pre-medical and commerce or equivalent can apply for the program.
Apart from foreign qualified full time faculty, a number of prominent experts from the field teach the students, as visiting faculty, on regular basis. Some of the visiting faculty includes Urban Planner Arif Hasan, Saleem AleemUddin from Orangi Pilot Project, Yunus Baloch from Urban Resource Centre, Zeenia Shaukat a prominent independent practitioner and researcher, Mansoor Raza having decades of experience in the NGO sector and many others. Regular seminars, guest invited lecture and conferences play vital role in the professional development of our students.
Due to strong connection between academia and the NGO sector, students of this university get ample opportunities to do internships and become part of their research work, publications and eventually get employed.
Mission Statement of the Programme
The philosophy of the programme is to produce professionals capable in analysing the social conditions, examining the policy environment and contextual attributes in order to position themselves for an appropriate intervention.
Objectives of the Programme
- To develop professionals capable to acquire the relevant contemporary knowledge in relevant courses from national and international contexts of relevance.
- The programme helps to understand how our lives are transformed by social, economic and political changes in local, regional, national and international levels.
- Prepare students who can relate to the contextual realities in an appropriate manner.
- The programme emphasizes the importance of local knowledge and challenges the historical view of using knowledge from developed countries for solving problems of developing countries.
- Prepare professionals for applied research and development