Master of Development Practice at University of Peradeniya

The Department of Economics and Statistics launched a new postgraduate degree programme recently. The Master of Development Practice (MDP) is part of a global network of over 20 similar programmes in 16 countries which have been developed in accordance with the recommendations of the International Commission on Education for Sustainable Development Practice and are sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation.

In her address at the inauguration of the programme,the Dean of the Faculty of Arts,Prof. Anoma Abhayaratne informed the students that this was the first multidisciplinary study programme at Peradeniya that will bring together experts from a range of disciplines in the natural, social, and health sciences and management. Head of the Dept. of Economics and Statistics, Dr. Ranil Abaysekara noted that the programme was unique because it was firstly, inter-disciplinary, secondly, practice-oriented, bridging the ivory tower of academia and the real world of development and thirdly, partnership-oriented, building social networks that constitute a community of development practitioners who support each other.

The pioneering batch of twenty eight students were selected from a pool of over 50 applicants. They include employees of development NGOs, donor agencies, government ministries and the private sector as well as development entrepreneurs. Their academic background and work experience span a range of fields including advertising, agriculture, development communication, economics, education, engineering, food science and nutrition, law, media, psychology and sociology. The degree programme was approved by the University Grants Commission in May 2011.