UTVB3130 Nye retninger i utviklingsbistand Emneplan

The course description was approved 24.05.2018 by the Academic Affairs Committee, Faculty of Education and International Studies. Valid from autumn semester 2018.

The Faculty of Education and International Studies at Oslo and OsloMet offers interdisciplinary courses in Development Studies and North-South relations, leading to a Bacherlor's degree in Development Studies of 180 ECTS credits. This course on Recent Trends in Development Assistance is at the intermediate level and represents a 10 ECTS credits module in the 5th semester of the bachelor programme.

The course will be taught in English (or Norwegian, depending on needs according to the participants' language abilities). The exam papers can be written in English, Norwegian, Swedish or Danish.

The course is open to students who have completed at least a one-year introductory course in Development Studies at either OsloMet, the University of Agder or equivalent courses at other universities/university colleges in Norway or abroad.

At the end of the course the student has obtained the following learning outcome:

Knowledge

The student

• has knowledge of central tendencies in the organization and aims of current development assistance, regarding:

• new actors in international aid
• aid and the Sustainable Development Goals
• the integration of international aid with other global concerns ("environmentalization" and "securitization")
• the "marketization" of aid
• the effects of aid in recipient countries

Skills

The student

• has the ability to analyse and compare current ideas and strategies for development assistance
• has the ability to analyse the interplay between different actors in development programmes
• can analyse the effects of aid in recipient countries

General competence

The student

• is able to formulate central issues regarding overall development objectives and strategies and modalities to achieve them
• is able to discuss how development assistance and its organization may impact positively as well as negatively negatively on recipient countries

There will be lectures and teacher-led seminars. Students are expected to participate actively in group work and discussions during seminars (the seminars are compulsory).

We start the course with an introduction to basic theoretical elements needed to understand investment decision rules, corporate policy decisions and capital budgeting/valuation. Then, we move forward to the topic of investment under uncertainty, which provides the main theoretical and methodological insights on portfolio selection, the capital asset pricing model (CAPM model) and the cost of capital. This topic is covered in more depth in the ØABED3500 "Investments" course. The topic of Capital Structure builds on the cost of capital to provide a deep understanding of optimal corporate policy decisions, in regards to capital structure, investment and payout policy, in the presence of market imperfections. We also cover the interlinkages with operating decisions and other investment decisions of the firm by developing the intuition on working capital management, leasing and risk management. The last topic draws on all of the above to cover more advanced valuation with leverage and capital budgeting. This last topic provides the grounds for the ØABED3700/4100 "Valuation" course.

Language of instruction is English.

None

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

Knowledge

The students has

• broad knowledge of key topics in corporate finance, including: theories, tools and methods within the field
• understanding of the role of corporate finance in society

Skills

The student is able to

• apply professional knowledge and relevant results from research to practical and theoretical issues in order to take informed decisions
• to reflect on their own professional practice (in finance or non-finance profiles)
• to find, evaluate and refer to information and use it to shed light on basic finance issues
• to use basic professional tools and techniques

General competence

The student

• has insight into relevant professional and ethical issues related to finance
• is able to plan and carry out varied work tasks and projects that extend over time, alone and as a participant in a group
• is able to convey key theories, problems and solutions both in writing, orally and through other relevant forms of expression
• is aware of new thinking and innovation trends present in the field

The course activities will include:

• topics and learning activities that will be covered each week:
  • either at home before the lecture (FLIP) or
  • in the classroom/zoom/streaming (CZS) during the lecture,
• tools/inputs to use (EXCEL)

As a general idea, students will be asked to prepare some theoretical and/or practical material every week. Then, during the lectures (CZS), students are expected to actively participate and to generate discussion in the different learning activities (e.g., practical exercises, case/paper discussion, presentations), and should be prepared to work in teams as part of the learning process. When cases are discussed during lectures or as part of the coursework (CW), students can expect to get a partial solution to the case when the discussion is over.

The teaching is coordinated with ØABED4000.

The exam will be jointly marked by an internal and an external examiner. The external examiner will read a selection of the exam papers and collaborate with the internal examiner in a way that benefits all the students.