A master's in international development: Still necessary?

In 2008, Madalina Pruna landed an internship with the European Commission. Charged with assessing the impact of Chinese investment in Africa, she traveled to sub-Saharan Africa for her research. “My first observation was that most of the people working in bilateral or multilateral development organizations had a master’s degree – either in international relations, international development or development economics,” she recounts. “My second observation was that I needed a better framework for my work.” Spurred by these two insights, Pruna, a Romanian citizen, decided to go back to school even though she already had a bachelor’s in marketing and a master’s in communications. In May of 2012, she completed her master’s in international development at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. “I think it is becoming more and more of a requirement,” she says, “which is frustrating.” In the wake of a worldwide recession and with an increasingly globalized job market – where opportunities posted online by Devex and others can be seen just as easily in Manila as in Montreal – job seekers have sought new ways to stand out. Getting an advanced degree is a common approach. In international development, consultants often need these degrees to win assignments, and educational standards have been rising for local hires as well, especially for management and other senior positions. While multilateral and bilateral agencies tend to insist upon a master’s degree, or even a Ph.D., NGOs may be more flexible. But one thing is clear: As new, specialized university programs pop up for internationally minded professionals, a degree in international development has become just one of many academic paths to a high-level job in development cooperation. “Within the past three to five years, it seems that almost everyone has a master’s degree in something,” says Antoinette Enninful, a human resources manager for TTV Limited in Ghana. “In my view, it makes it more difficult to ascertain who can actually do the job.” Still, Enninful sees employers throughout Africa expecting their new hires to come with a graduate degree. “A second degree is an added advantage,” she notes, especially if you’ve gained international exposure and demonstrated your mobility by studying abroad. A dime a dozen? Education levels have been increasing globally. Among the 34 countries that comprise the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 21 percent of adults had an undergraduate degree in 2008, up from 15 percent in 2001. Advanced degrees have followed suit. Student interest in all-things-international has also been on the rise. In the United States, for example, the number of master’s degrees awarded in international relations increased by 80 percent between 2000 and 2008. And new programs, certificates and degrees specifically related to international development have been popping up all over. Take the University of Sydney, which in 2010 launched a master’s program in human rights and democratization with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region. “Our academics have said the students have a strong interest in working in international development,” says Thomas Soem, international development manager at the university. “And there’s certainly demand from the ID sector to have not only technical expertise but also a broader understanding of how the sector operates.” While a degree in international development can be a plus, studies in other relevant fields like business, peacebuilding, human rights or public health can pave the way to a successful career in development cooperation as well. But a degree alone won’t get anyone a job. Relevant professional experience is key, international development recruiters agree. A critical requirement Certain roles in development absolutely require an advanced degree. Consider Ricardo Vieira, of Brazil, who earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering in 1980 and started working as a water resources engineer there, and later in Mozambique. “Many, many times I thought about getting a master’s degree,” he says. “Mainly because some international jobs require it. I lost some opportunities because I didn’t have that degree, although I felt I had the qualifications.” Jobs at the World Bank almost always call for a master’s, if not a doctoral degree. Says Roberto Amorosino, the bank’s senior recruitment officer: “We would still review an application of someone with a bachelor’s and 10 years of experience, but you really need to be special to be considered without an advanced degree.” The type of degree is less important. “The perception of the outside world is that we are all economics and finance people,” Amorosino says. In fact, nearly half the bank’s staff has studied something else, like law or engineering. The United Nations also places heavy emphasis on advanced education. Nanette Svenson was hired by the U.N. Development Program when it started hubbing its regional offices in Panama City. “I was a bilingual, bicultural person living there, so circumstances helped me get the job,” she says. “But even though I was working in the field, I was daily reminded of the fact that I didn’t have an academic grounding in it.” She had an undergraduate degree in biology and a prestigious M.B.A., but says of U.N. work, “If you are missing an upper-level social science degree related to international relations, or development, or public policy, it’s a little difficult to advance.” She enrolled at Tulane and earned a master’s, then a doctorate in international development. “It has allowed me to do more and broader things – no question,” she says. Bilateral agencies also tend to demand advanced degrees. “They are becoming more important,” says Creighton Lee, outreach and marketing coordinator for the U.S. Agency for International Development. “Mostly all people who are direct hires for the agency have an advanced degree before going overseas to our field offices.” Graduates from prestigious Ivy League schools tend to stick out more, Lee acknowledges, but “as long as you have been able to show that you can do the work, it doesn’t matter what school you went to.” Some employers are particularly strict about academic requirements. The EU and its implementing partners, for instance, won’t make an exception if the job ad requests a graduate degree. Scientific and academic institutions usually require them, too. And more and more donors are upping the ante for the technical experts who work on their projects, as they place greater emphasis on results and value for money. “The donors are asking for high levels of qualification for the work we are tendering for, and they are the people paying for it,” says Ann Saunders, the human resources director for Crown Agents, a development-focused consultancy and prime contractor of the U.K. Department for International Development. The good news – at least for the person with a master’s in criminology or psychology – is that most employers aren’t too picky about what subject matter you studied, as long as it’s relevant to the department, program or project at hand. “The majority [of degrees our hires come with] are economics or geography, but we have some computer scientists, even an historian,” says Saunders. “I would never say never; there are all sorts of types.” Nice, but not necessary Among NGOs, the need for highly educated staff is more variable – and even if a job ad highlights a master’s degree as required or desired, recruiters are more likely to look at an applicant’s overall background and experience when making hiring decisions. One nonprofit recruiter who favors this sort of holistic evaluation of job candidates is Kassie McIlvaine, formerly the emergency human resources coordinator for CARE International. “Even though it is often in job descriptions, I do not look at education when I’m reviewing applications,” McIlvaine says, echoing many of her colleagues. “You want people to have field experience. Are they able to manage a team? Are they able to meet deadlines? To get a project done? We’re looking for qualities in that person. How they got them doesn’t matter.” McIlvaine remembers interviewing a woman who apologetically explained that she did not have the qualifications listed in the job description. “But she had done all these short courses and a volunteer development project with a women’s refugee association,” McIlvaine says. “It was what she was actually doing that mattered.” The woman got the job. McIlvaine herself went for a master’s in development studies after 12 years working in the field. “The people in my class who’d come straight out of undergrad kept saying, ‘Why are you here? You have a job,’” she recalls. “I said, ‘I’m not going to give you a job just because you have your master’s. I’d rather see two or three years of volunteer work.’ They were horrified because they were doing their master’s to get a job.” Many positions at smaller NGOs require a bachelor’s degree or less, though they tend to hire locally. Village Focus International, an organization that supports village leadership in Cambodia and Laos, has a mostly local staff, about 65 percent of whom have a bachelor’s degree. “Academic degrees are becoming more common in general for both Lao and Khmer people,” says Talia Smith, VFI’s former project development coordinator. Only Smith, the NGO’s director, and management-level employees have advanced degrees. Don’t ignore these smaller players if you’re looking for opportunities in development, whether you have an advanced degree or not. “Applicants always want to work for the usual suspects – World Bank, USAID, Save the Children, Nature Conservancy,” says Patrick Shields, owner of Global Recruitment Specialists. “But for every one listed, there are 20 others like that who are also looking for people.” Another area where advanced degrees hold less sway is in corporate social responsibility. “Typically, in the corporate world, more value is placed on relevant work experience,” says Joel Roxburgh, former head of sustainability at Vodafone Group and a Devex International Development Leader in London. His company’s new director of sustainability has only a bachelor’s degree in a non-development field, mechanical engineering. “Increasingly, we’re seeing senior people move in from a business area like traditional supply chain-type work into full supply chain CSR,” Roxburgh says. Roxburgh, like other industry experts, advises against frontloading education. Instead, he suggests that a young person hoping to get into CSR work get involved in tangible projects, whether through a day job, product development work or at an NGO. His advice: “Get some dirt under your nails.” Back to school? If you’re already working in international development but don’t have an advanced degree, should you go get one now? The answer isn’t clear-cut. “It comes back to what do people actually want to do. Then judge, do I need further qualifications or do I have enough?” says Kevin Cusack, director of World Service Enquiry, a firm that advises people who want to work in international development. If you decide you need more, select your field of study thoughtfully. “Don’t say, ‘I want to work in international development so I’ll get a master’s degree in international development,’” Cusack cautions. “Discover what you’re really passionate about, maybe HIV/AIDS or food security. Then get a specific master’s, and it’s not going to be a wishy-washy generic degree.” Adolphus Washington had a bachelor’s degree in democracy and cultural pluralism from the New School in New York City and landed internships at Human Rights Watch, Population Council, even the United Nations. But since none offered a paycheck, he also had to work as a substitute schoolteacher. “I knew for sure I didn’t want to be a teacher,” Washington chuckles. So, in 2007, he went for a master’s in African politics at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies. Afterward, he still found it “quite difficult” to find a job, he says, so he picked up and moved to Africa to better network and discover job opportunities. He finally landed a contract research position with the Intergovernmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa, and went to Gambia to conduct a study on money laundering and tax fraud. When the contract ended and another was not forthcoming, however, he came back to the United States to work on a congressional campaign. It’s “frustrating,” says Pruna, the master’s in international development graduate of Harvard, to feel compelled to complete a course of higher education just to get a job in this industry. And the financial burden can be huge. The degree from Harvard costs a student like Pruna nearly $150,000, according to the school, although some financial support may be available. Advanced degree holders may never gain back the money they’ve spent on their education. After all, development jobs rarely pay like corporate ones. But an advanced degree may have an even greater advantage. It might open doors to a more satisfying career. You know you need a postgraduate degree to advance in a global development career, but deciding on a program, degree and specialization can be overwhelming. In partnership with APSIA, Duke Center for International Development and the MPA/ID Program at the Harvard Kennedy School, we are digging into all things graduate school and global development in a weeklong series called Grad School Week. Join online events and read more advice on pursuing a post-graduate education here.