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A comprehensive overview of the many classes, student groups, support programs, projects and events that relate to international development at MIT
classes
Classes touching on various aspects of international development are available through almost every academic department at MIT. Some classes give students the technical skills to get their hands dirty building or designing for the benefit of the world. Business, entrepreneurship, language and communication classes provide instruction of nontechnical skills. Regional and global context classes cover topics such as the culture, history, and current political situations of developing nations. Project classes incorporate the other three categories throughout the process of creating a product to aid the developing world. This page describes a few classes that are specifically focused on international development.
D-Lab is a program that fosters the development of appropriate technologies and sustainable solutions within the framework of international development. D-Lab’s mission is to improve the quality of life of low-income households through the creation and implementation of low cost technologies. D-Lab’s portfolio of technologies also serves as an educational vehicle that allows students to gain an optimistic and practical understanding of their roles in alleviating poverty.There are currently eleven different academic offerings that make up the suite of D-Lab classes, falling into the broad categories of Development, Design and Dissemination. All D-Lab courses are based on the same values and principles of providing experiential learning, using technology to address poverty, building the local creative capacity, promoting local innovation, valuing indigenous knowledge, fostering participatory development and co-creation, and building sustainable organizations and partnerships.
The International Development Group (IDG) in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning conducts research and assists in the planning practice in countries around the world striving for social, political, and economic development. IDG faculty examines the urban, regional, and national socioeconomic impacts of major public and/or private investments, and address problems of squatter housing, municipal finance, metropolitan sprawl, and social disparities at a variety of scales. IDG faculty and students believe that effective planners operating in today's world must acquire an integrated institutional and historical view of economic, physical, political, and social factors.
21A.345 The Politics of International Development offers an anthropological perspective on international development. Students consider development, not in policy or technical terms, but through its social and political dynamics and its impacts on daily life. Examines the various histories of, and meanings given to, international development as well as the social organization of aid agencies and projects. Follows examples of specific projects in various parts of the world. Examples: water projects for pastorialists in Africa, factory development in Southeast Asia, and international nature parks in Indonesia.
Sloan Global Entrepreneurship Lab (G-Lab) is the flagship international internship course offered at the MIT Sloan School of Management. G-Lab is a mix of classroom learning matched with a global internship in an emerging market. Teams of MBA students work with host companies around the world in essentially a 4-month, unpaid mini-consulting project. Host companies set the project focus. That is, our teams work on the problems host companies want to fix.
Service learning provides an academic venue for pursuing an interest in international development. Service learning grants are available to students and faculty for class projects that serve communities. Faculty grants have enabled classes in the school of Architecture to travel to Cambodia, Hawaii, and El Salvador to continue course projects. Student grants enable project continuation following the end of the semester. Students can also participate in the Service UROP program, which empowers them to extend their research into fieldwork that yields community benefits. If you are interested in learning more about service learning grants and Service UROPs, check out http://web.mit.edu/servicelearning .
If you would like your class, department, lab or center should be descibed here, please email idi@mit.edu with a short write up and a link to your website.
