MA Programme

This specialisation provides participants with an understanding of how children and youth are involved in development processes at the global and local levels. CYS students will develop and strengthen their critical awareness of the global and comparative history of childhood and youth, and of the various underlying forces which have shaped (or have aimed to shape) that history. They will develop an understanding of the vastly different environments under which children and youth grow up due to social and cultural inequalities as well as global economic and political factors. The specialization explores issues of poverty, equity, rights and social development of the young from an interdisciplinary perspective that draws on sociology, political economy, anthropology, law and social history. It similarly investigates organisations, youth movements, and interventions that have shaped, or have attempted to shape, childhood and youth in different contexts. For more information click here.

Core CYS Courses

Unequal Childhoods: Childhood and Youth in Global and Comparative Perspectives

Poverty-Inequality-and-Social-Development

Child-and-Youth-Studies-in-the-Development-Context-Society-Culture-Agency-and-Rights

Children-Youth-and-Development-Policy-and-Practice-Learning-Objectives

Education Research Cluster

Education represents a critical component of the human and social development of children and youth. ISS contains unique expertise in the field of education—understood as formal schooling at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels, non-formal education, and educational alternatives. Its uniqueness and strength derives from its multidisciplinarity which spans economics, anthropology, sociology, political economy, and social history, and its expertise across several regions including Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. ISS staff and students working on educational issues share a common interest in engaging critically with current theories and policy debates. For more information click here.

Diploma Programme

The 10.5 week post-graduate Children, Youth and Development (CYD) diploma programme provides strong grounding in key issues, concepts and debates in the field of child and youth studies in the development context. Key problem areas are explored with a focus on issues and debates in policy and implementation. The participants’ skills in rights-based policy analysis and programme development will be strengthened. Study visits are made to various relevant international, government and NGO agencies in the Netherlands, as well as to one or more European countries. For more information, click here.