Please note that SIT will make every effort to maintain its programs as described. To respond to emergent situations, like COVID-19, however, SIT may have to change or cancel programs.
WHY A HYBRID MASTER'S IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE?
Learn to create, shape, and lead thriving communities, locally, and globally with SIT’s hybrid master’s degree in Sustainable Development Practice. Combining online coursework and field courses in Nepal and Mexico, the program offers part-time and full-time professionals the opportunity to build skills in community development and social change without stepping off the career track.
Starting with a brief summer residency on SIT’s beautiful Vermont campus, you will get to know your cohort and the program faculty. Through the summer and fall, your online courses will help you gain a deeper understanding of how current power structures, policy frameworks, and belief systems lead to today’s growing social and environmental disparities.
While continuing with your online coursework, you will have the opportunity to participate in the Nepal field course in the fall. During this course, you will interact with community leaders, advocates, and partners in the field and learn and apply the conceptual and practical tools needed to directly engage with a range of today’s most pressing community development and social change issues. Online coursework will continue through the spring.
During the second summer of the program, your online coursework will be combined with a course in Oaxaca, Mexico. Through field experiences and meetings with leading practitioners and organizations, you will meet groups engaged in alternative development paradigms and prominent agroecology and food sovereignty movements in the region.
During the second fall of the program, you will apply your new skills in a semester-long practicum with the organization of your choosing (online or in-person). Key to building professional networks for students, the practicum and field experiences provide a solid foundation for skill building and growth in the sustainable development field.
During the final semester, you will culminate your master’s degree with the development and presentation of your capstone research project. Designed and implemented by each student, the capstone offers you the opportunity to deepen your knowledge and experience with a topic of your choice or to strengthen a professional interest.
The program offers elective courses that allow you to pursue field work or other projects during two semesters of the program. These courses expand your experiential learning and provide opportunities to discover innovative solutions to social and environmental challenges all over the world.