Advice on international development/dev economics degrees

[Delphigirl]

Hi need advice. My DD started at Exeter to read Arabic MA in Sept - lasted 5 weeks and dropped out saying she couldn’t do Arabic for 4 years and hated the vibe at Exeter. She is an unusual girl - very self contained and quietly self-confident with a good sense of self, but not interested one iota in clothes/makeup, plays bass guitar, quite quirky. The Surrey girls and jocks at Exeter were not her thing at all and she found the city boring. She said any future uni would have to be in a good, big city but also wanted a nice sense of community. I thought that’s going to be hard to find.

She has 3 As in geog, econ and Spanish. Gained additional fluency in Spanish in her gap year in S America. No maths but 8 or 9 at gcse (can’t remember - they were all 8s and 9s)

She is only now just thinking that maybe she might be interested in International development, or dev economics, something like that. Enjoyed the development parts of her geog and econ A levels and did some interesting development-adjacent work and home stays in rural communities in Peru and Bolivia.

So - looking at KCL international Development which could add a year in Spanish speaking unis in S America. Also SOAS global dev OR econ with global dev OR development economics (ascending amounts of economics). Also Bath Int dev and economics and Warwick Global Sustainable Developmrnt which gives you part of year 2 in a Spanish uni in Madrid within a 3 year course which is appealing.

I think bath has student demographics fairly similar to Exeter and is not the city life she is looking for. Pity.
Warwick quirkier in lots of ways but again no decent city life. Also not sure how well respected the course is with likely employers, and there is zero economics in it unless you do a joint degree with economics which she can’t do without maths A level.
Kings course looks great but the demographic might be too glossy? Def a good possibility though.
The more I look at SOAS the more I think it might be perfect for her - small community, great on development, in a big city. Could do some Arabic but I suspect won’t. I worry a bit about SOAS administration and finances though. Is it stable at the moment?

Does anyone know anything about these courses which can assist? Benefit of london is we have a flat there she could move in with her post grad brother who is already there - so just as cost effective as going somewhere out of london.

Has your DD explained what it was about Arabic that has put her off?

Not really always. She did have 27 hrs a week of Arabic and Persian language lessons a week though (before her other modules) and I think it was all too much.

I think ds friends who do the course you mentioned at Warwick. They are all bright and ambitious and seem very happy. I’ve said before there is compromise with every university experience and Warwick may not be for everyone but DS has made some brilliant friends and enjoyed himself socially.
DH is Cambridge educated and continues to have dealings with them and says that he always finds Cambridge academics speak very highly of Warwick and their students. I don’t know how important that would be but I thought it’s worth mentioning.
I also know of someone who did IR at Leeds and speaks highly of it. Leeds is a brilliant city for students.

Thank you so much, that’s incredibly helpful!

Has she looked at the Peace Studies course at Bradford? May seem a curve ball but well regarded course, interesting development modules but definitely not London!

I don't know much about specific courses but wanted to add on the sector. International development is going through a massive upheaval at the moment with huge cuts from many different funders, so the jobs market isn't great. And it's tricky to know how all the current changes to aid (as the development sector as a whole struggles to realign with smaller budgets and different expectations) might affect the nature of jobs in the future.