Check out our upcoming courses below. If you have questions about a particular course, you can reach out to the faculty member or email info@wciu.edu and someone from our enrollment team will gladly help you!

This course focuses on the major developments in China in the past four decades as they relate to international development, including China’s economic growth and its global impact, the Belt and Road Initiatives, trade war with the US, United Nations Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals vs China’s development efforts. Students will be able to read from primary sources concerning these areas and research in depth a specific area of development.

The purpose of this course is to provide a chronological overview of the historical and cultural aspects of the global development of the biblical faith. An overview is given of the past and present with focus on understanding factors that enabled the biblical faith to continue to expand its ideal of "shalom" and implement transformational strategies in developing nations. The positive and negative impact of religion on culture and human development is examined as well as principles for effective crosscultural communication of biblical faith and practice.

This is the last MA course. Students develop a major project that integrates historical, biblical, and cultural principles to identify the root of a specific problem within a specific society and to propose solutions to that problem. Guidance is given by the instructor in selecting the topic, choosing and applying appropriate research methodologies, and in developing the final presentation. 

This course provides learners with general knowledge of how national and global economics impact people’s well-being and their development. It equips them to better understand economic theories and models, draw on different strands of economics for their own work and challenge economic thinking more fruitfully when necessary. The learners will also be equipped to engage better with economists and policymakers on economic matters. 

WCIU’s MA in Development Studies aims to enhance the effectiveness of scholar practitioners in their development work. Our students need to grow not only in scholarship, but even more in their ability to translate what they learn into improved performance in the field. The Applied Learning course requires students to evaluate their current level of practice, and then to work with a mentor/supervisor in the field to craft and implement a plan to enhance their development practice.

This course provides an understanding of the role of advocacy in development and equips the students with essential skills on how to undertake advocacy, empowerment of the marginalized, and pursuit of justice. Students will engage in foundational theological analysis and reflections on issues of vulnerability, justice, and transformation; analyze situations of poverty and injustice; reflect on such situations with biblical lenses; and shape their perspective on engagement with people living in such situations. 

A close-knit global cohort of women, under a faculty mentor as spiritual director, will examine our human spiritual needs in connection to the Holy Spirit and Triune God, building habits, including rest, silence and retreats, that nurture our souls. At a master’s level this engages conversation between multicultural identities, spiritual practices and faith traditions, sharing in how to develop self-care, so as to thrive long-term in transformative leadership of family, community and nations. 

Cultural Self-Discovery for Global Development enables students to discover how their cultural biases were shaped in their childhood home. Students will examine how their family’s structure and 67 functioning in their childhood home along with nurture and discipline practices shape their cultural biases. This course provides a hands-on learning experience with fellow students to discover and work through their biases and apply biblical principles to better prepare them for cultural challenges they will face in Global Development. 

This course builds a biblical theology overview that connects the motif of the Kingdom of God to issues of poverty, oppression, community development, and church growth in urban poor communities.  

This course organizes an interdisciplinary dialogue between urban theology and urban analysis, drawing upon studies in urban economics, urban planning, community development, urban anthropology, sociology, and the history of cities. It generates Christian perspectives on social science tools for transformative urban development.

This course guides students in understanding marginalized populations (e.g., street children, substance users, commercial sex workers, the elderly…) and in formulating a theology and strategy for team-based responses to free individuals and change structural causes.