FLKM4110 Introduction to International Development, Education, and Sustainabilities Course description

Language of instruction: Norwegian/English

Under supervision, the students will conduct an independent research or development project, or a literaturestudy. Students can choose to write the master’s thesis individually or in pairs. On application, large, interdisciplinary innovation projects can be written in groups of up to four students. Students can also apply to write the master’s thesis with students from other specialisations if they so wish, provided that the scope of the master’s thesis is the same. If more than one student work on the master’s thesis together, each student’s contributions must be documented. The thesis can be written as a monograph or as a scientific article on a specialised topic.

Development of the project description in preparation for the master’s thesis is part of the course MAVIT4070 Research Design and Project Description, 10 ECTS credits.

MAVIT4070/MAxxx4070 must be passed before the student can start to work on the master's thesis.

All compulsory courses in the programme must be passed before the student can submit their master's thesis for assessment.

After completing the course, the student should have the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student

• has advanced knowledge of their area of specialisation and can analyse academic problems to identify the need for research and professional development
• has in-depth knowledge of the research process

Skills

The student

• can analyse relevant theories and issues to initiate and carry out a limited research, quality improvement or development work
• can use relevant methods for research, quality improvement or development work in their own work
• can analyse and deal critically with various sources of information and use them in scholarly arguments in their own research, quality improvement or development work
• can carry out an independent, limited research, quality improvement or development work in accordance with the approved project description and the applicable norms for research ethics

General competence

The student

• can communicate relevant issues, analyses and conclusions from their own research, quality improvement or development work to both the general public and academia
• can contribute to new thinking, innovation processes and evidence-based practice in the health services and in health-promoting work

The academic content of this course includes some key concepts, and associated theoretical perspectives, centred on the relationship between education and development, generally, and in the Global South in particular. This includes consideration of key issues of development, of poverty, of inequality, and questions of power. As comparative and international educational (CIE) research, this work will include and explicitly explore the Global-Local dialectic at work in the ‘education and development’ nexus. This includes understandings of how models of education and their curricular and pedagogical systems have historically and continue to be transferred between and within countries, and their relationship to global and local conceptualisations ‘development’.

Throughought the course, opportunities are created to consider these issues at multiple levels of scale (local, regional, national, global) and across time. Particular sectors of education, in particular contexts, linked to students’ particular interests and experiences, are in this way located in the Global-Local nexus.

The following must have been approved in order for a student to be permitted to take the examination:

• Two oral presentations (up to 20 minutes each) at the master seminar, and completion of the opponent role with critique/feedback on the presentation from fellow students.

The master’s thesis written by one or two students. Large, interdisciplinary innovation projects can be written in groups of up to four students on application. Individual oral examination where the grade can be adjusted.

The content and scope of different forms of master's theses:

• Monograph: Recommended scope of a monographic assignment is 22,000 words +/- 10%

• Scientific article: The thesis must include a manuscript in the form of at least one article that is in accordance with the author guidelines for a relevant scientific journal, and a supplementary memo/introductory chapter to the article-based thesis ('kappe') that elaborates on the theoretical and methodological considerations underlying the article. The layout, structure and scope of the article must comply with the guidelines of the journal in question, and the introductory chapter to the article-based thesis can be a maximum of 10,000 words.

The thesis can be written in English or a Scandinavian language (Norwegian, Swedish or Danish).

The written thesis must be awarded a grade of A-E (preliminary grade) in order for a student to take the oral examination. The final grade is set after the oral examination. The whole grade scale can be used when setting the final grade.

An individual oral examination lasting up to 40 minutes based on the master’s thesis. The candidate gives a 10 - 15 minutes presentation of their master’s thesis at the start of the oral examination.

Students can appeal against the grade set for the written part of the examination in accordance with the Act relating to Universities and University Colleges.

Grade scale A-F.

All examinations are assessed by an internal and an external examiner. The student's supervisor cannot be an examiner for the master's thesis.

The grades pass/fail are used.

All submitted papers will be assessed by two internal examiners. In accordance with the Guidelines for Appointment and Use of Examiners at OsloMet, the mode of assessment will periodically be reviewed by an external programme supervisor.