Course selection information at LSE
International Development Course Choices for 2024-25
LSE ID Course info and Videos
Course selection timeline
- Monday 23 September – 10.00am: Course choice opens for browsing on LSE For You (LFY) to help you familiarise yourself with the system
- Thursday 26 September – 10.00am: Course choice selection sign-up opens
- Friday 27 September – 12.00pm (midday): First round application deadline for DV (International Development courses)
- Monday 30 September – 12.00pm (midday): First round offer period ends (deadline for Departments to return decisions)
- Friday 11 October – 5.00pm: Course selection closes to students
- Wednesday 16 October – 5.00pm: Course selection closes to students accepting/declining offers
- Any offers expire 48 hours after being made; more offers are made depending on availability
Course choice advice from Mentors
You will be able to see your assigned mentor early in week 0 and they can advise you on course choices, help you to settle in and navigate your journey at LSE and support you with any other queries or issues you may have. Keep in mind that you are not limited to speaking only with your mentor; the Department has an 'open door' policy, and you are welcome to seek advice from other ID staff by setting up an office hour appointment. Your Programme Directors are also a very useful source of advice and support.
Mentor allocation
To facilitate the allocation of mentors, we are asking that you communicate your preferred mentors from staff associated with your programme (The list of mentors associated with your programme is available on the ID Moodle site).
The mentor preference portal is now open and will close Wednesday 18th September 4.00pm (UK Time). We will notify you of your allocated mentor by 16:00pm on Friday 20th September. For those students who have not indicated their preferred choices, by closing, they will have a mentor allocated to them randomly.
Preferences should be made via the International Development Moodle site Course: International Development - General Information for Students (lse.ac.uk)
- Click on tab – Academic Mentor
- Choose the link to your registered programme only
- Choose add entry
- Please ensure you make your choice via the link for the programme you are registered on.
- Please select a different mentor for each preference
Also included in this tab is a file containing the list of academic mentors associated with your programme.
Faculty Profiles can be viewed via https://www.lse.ac.uk/international-development/people.
Courses offered by the department
A full list of courses offered by the school can be viewed via the LSE Calendar page. Please scroll down to view the DV courses as these are courses offered by the Department of International Development. The course list for 2024-25 can be viewed here. Please bear in mind that the links to the course info will be updated for the new acadmeic year in August.
How does the course selection work?
The graduate online course choice system will open at the start of the Welcome Week for browsing. However, course choice will not officially open until the end of Welcome Week and this is when you should start making your choices. Courses will start while course selection is still open - This is to allow more flexibility to students, but will also mean you might have to attend lectures/seminars for courses where you have not been able to secure a place yet.
The department will make the first set of offers in the first week of term. The courses will be reviewed, wherein if there are any places left, offers will be made to those on waiting lists, where spaces permit. However, the course selection process may be different in other departments and may take longer. In the Department of International Development, we do not follow a first-come-first-serve process, please see individual course guides for information on how places are allocated.
Students will be able to make changes to Winter Term half unit courses.
Courses in other departments
Although most students take all their courses within the department, you may apply to take a course in another department, subject to their conditions and permission and that of your Academic Mentor. If you plan to take more than one course outside of the department you must see your Programme Director. You can browse all postgraduate courses by departments here by clicking on Graduate Course Guides. International Development students are advised that different departments have their own rules. Find out more about course selection at LSE here.
International Development students are advised that different departments have their own rules. The International Relations Department, for instance, specifies – as indicated in the Calendar – that students from outside the department may take only one IR option. We cannot guarantee access to courses outside the Department even in those cases where the programme regulations specify that these courses are approved options to take as part of your degree. Conversely, students who are not International Development or joint degree students are not guaranteed access to our courses.
What are the specialisms offered? What are their prerequisites?
Three specialisms in the department are available to all programmes, bar IDHE—African Development, Population Studies, and Applied Development Economics. However, the African Development Specialism will not be running for 2024/25. In order to get a specialism, normally you will need to take two specific courses and have your dissertation agreed by the specialism lead that the topic is appropriate to the specialism.
For the Population Studies specialism: you need to take two half units to choose among DV444 Population and Development: Global Health and Population Change, and DV456 Population, Health and Development: Evidence and Projections and MY476 Population Analysis: Methods and Models and your dissertation topic must be approved as being appropriate for this specialism.
For Applied Development Economics: DS, DM, DM/Sci Po, and HID students must take DV494 Foundations of Applied Econometrics for Economic Development Policy, plus two courses from: DV490 Economic Development Policy I, DV491 Economic Development Policy II, DV492 Economic Development Policy III. This specialism is not available on the IDHE programme.
While a specialism has certain advantages, it does have a disadvantage in that it constrains your course choices. Further to this, your dissertation topic must be approved as being appropriate for this specialism.
Timetables
Each course will typically have one lecture and one seminar each week. Lectures will be common for everyone taking the course. Seminars are in smaller groups and you will be able to choose a suitable seminar timing. The timing of the lectures and the various seminars will be published online. You may want to take a look at this once it is published to ensure that your preferred courses don’t clash with each other. Timetables often clash between courses of different departments.