General Information About MSID Programs

Minnesota Studies in International Development
Learning from experience is the core of Minnesota Studies in International Development (MSID). The program aims to put students in direct contact with the social and economic realities of actual communities and of people working within them to address complex problems. Through classes, field trips, internships, and research, MSID strives to establish a continual dialogue linking experience with theory and critical analysis. What are the effects of globalization on local people in developing countries? Are there development models that are just, sustainable, and empowering? Students from a variety of disciplines—the social sciences, African studies, agriculture, forestry, enviromental studies, business, education, public health, health sciences, and many others—find MSID an academically challenging and personally enriching experience.

The MSID curriculum explores the theoretical and practical implications of international development and intercultural issues. Field experience is an integral part of all courses. Pre-departure readings and assignments create a common knowledge base from which the courses and internships build. All of the curriculum except the language course can be taken for graduate level credit.

Principles Underlying MSID
As an experiential program focused on burning issues of globalization, inequality, and social justice, MSID is guided by a mission statement developed nearly twenty years ago by committed University of Minnesota faculty, staff, and students. This summary of MSID's purposes and underlying values serves as a compass for faculty and administrators, both in-country and in Minnesota, as they develop the program.

Much more recently in-country staff and faculty have collaborated with Minnesota faculty, staff, and program alumni to articulate an educational philosophy of MSID. Built around a series of lifelong habits of thought and engagement which the program seeks to foster in its participants, this document helps potential applicants, current students, and program faculty and staff stay focused on important learning outcomes.

MSID Students

Since the first MSID students went to Senegal in January 1983, over 1,250 students have studied and pursued grassroots development internships through MSID, most in one of the current MSID countries (Ecuador, India, Kenya, Senegal), and some through former programs in other locations (Colombia, Jamaica, and Morocco).

Although the University of Minnesota is the leading source of MSID students, it accounts for only about one-third of enrollment. Participants come from a wide variety of institutions of origin from throughout the United States and Canada.

Participants' academic interests range similarly far and wide. Although approximately 45% of majors and minors reported are in the social sciences, MSID students come from areas of study as diverse as engineering, environmental studies, health sciences and pre-health sciences, agriculture, business, and foreign languages. None of the leading majors/minors account for as many as a quarter of MSID participants. No matter what your field of study, MSID has something to offer you.