MPhil PhD Admissions

PhD programme in Development Studies

Location: Mumbai

School: School of Development Studies

Intake: 2

Eligibility

Candidates are requested to check the eligibility criteria before filling the application form. Candidates found ineligible will be rejected at any stage in the admission process and no grievances will be entertained in this regard.
Applicants will be shortlisted for the Research Aptitude Test (RAT) on basis of them meeting the following considerations with regard to educational qualifications, work experience and research proposal:

Educational Qualifications: The minimum academic qualification for admission to the M.Phil. & Ph.D programmes is a Second Class Master’s or equivalent degree in the relevant subject awarded by a recognised university in India or abroad, with at least an average of 55 per cent of aggregate marks, or a grade point average of 3.5 under the seven-point scale of the University Grants Commission (UGC). In the case of SC/ST/OBC(non-creamy layer)/differently-abled candidates, the minimum eligibility is an average of 45 per cent of aggregate marks, or a grade point average of 2.50.
Candidates who are likely to complete all the requirements of their final year Master’s Degree examinations by July 1, are also eligible to apply for M.Phil, provided they have successfully completed their first year Masters degree. In such cases, admission will be provisional. If a provisionally admitted student successfully completes the admission formalities such as clearing the Research Aptitude Test, but fails to score the minimum required mark/grade at the end of the final year examination of his/her Master’s degree, the offer of provisional admission will be automatically cancelled.
Work Experience: A minimum of five years of post graduation work experience is required for Ph.D. programmes. In case of the M.Phil. Programme, there is no requirement of work experience. However, candidates with one to two years of work experience, will be preferred.
Research Proposal:

Submission of a research proposal is a compulsory requirement for admission to the M.Phil and Ph.D. Programme. A research proposal consisting of approximately 1,000 words should accompany the proposal and indicate the Specification of the broad field of study, Statement of the research problem and scope and objectives of the study, rationale for and the significance of the study, methodology to be followed, references, and the candidate’s research/work experience in that area, if any.
Candidates who have an M.Phil or equivalent degree awarded by a recognized university in India or abroad are also eligible for a PhD

Description

The School of Development Studies was established in 2012 to contribute towards the discussion on the politics and practice of development. Till recently, teaching and research in development studies, though focused on development problems of the less developed countries, was anchored in the developed world. Therefore, the School of Development Studies is uniquely placed in initiating a dialogue with the dominant discourses of development through indigenous and locally situated knowledge. The vision of the School is to promote interdisciplinarity and to actively engage with critical issues of development, governance and equity through its research and teaching. The School offers two Master’s programmes: Development Studies and Women’s Studies.

There are six centres and one research facility located within the School to undertake research on a range of social, economic, cultural and political themes. Each Centre has identified a set of thematic areas as follows:

Advanced Centre for Women’s Studies: This Centre has a broad inter-disciplinary perspective on knowledge production in gender studies. The major thematic areas of teaching and research are: Feminist Theory, Women’s Movements, Feminist Science Studies, Feminist Approaches to Development, Gender and Caste, Gender and Labour, Issues of Indigenous Women and Queering Feminism. The Centre also focuses on documentation, publication, advocacy and extension work in the field of gender studies and networking with various strands of women’s movements.

Centre for Study of Developing Economies: This Centre is a teaching, research and dissemination hub on specific problems faced by developing economies, such as India. Developing economies are those economies that continue to be backward with respect to the material well-being of people, which is a wider and richer conception of development that transcends traditional income-based parameters and refers to the fundamental and primary conditions of human existence. The major thematic areas are: Agrarian Studies and Rural Development; Macroeconomic Transformation; Banking and Financialisation; International Trade; Public Finance and Fiscal Policy; and Panchayat-level Databases.

Centre for Population, Health and Development: This Centre has been consistently engaged in the articulation of the relationship between population, health and development through research in both macro and micro contexts, analysing secondary data and organising empirical studies. The major thematic areas are: Demographic Changes; Population Dynamics and Epidemiological and Nutritional Transitions; Issues of Ageing; Sexual and Reproductive Health.

Centre for Public Policy, Habitat and Human Development: This Centre is an inter-disciplinary centre that aims to build and advance critical perspectives on the role of state and democracy in reducing poverty, inequality, vulnerability and multiple socio-economic deprivations through synergised civic intervention. The major thematic areas are: State and Democracy; Public Policy; Urban and Regional Development; Poverty, Inequality and Human Development; Minorities and Development; Ethnic Conflicts and Violence; Legislative and Electoral Research.

Centre for Study of Developing Societies: This Centre aims to unravel the dynamics and the multiple relationships implicit in the two defining terms: society and development. The uniqueness of this Centre lies in its ability to apply and train students in understanding the dynamics of change in Indian society through the lens of a ‘sociological imagination’. The major thematic areas are: Sociology of India; Ethnography and Qualitative Research Methods; Anthropology and Development; Agrarian Society and Agrarian Change; Rural Social Institutions and Everyday State; Urban Space and Politics; Visual Anthropology; Gender and Women’s Studies; Caste and Tribal Studies; Culture and Development; Cultural Resistance.

Centre for Social Theory: This Centre is envisaged as a space that will enable faculty, students and research scholars to engage creatively with social theory. The recognition of the emancipatory potential of social theory and the criticality of theory in making experience known and understood is at the crux of this endeavour. The major thematic areas are: Humanism; Post-structuralism; Philosophies of Exclusion; Indigenous Science and Technology; Heterodox and Orthodox Indian Philosophies; Links between Social Theory and Social Work.

Distribution of Credit Hours:

Research Areas

The research areasin which applications are encouraged are as follows:

Poverty; inequality, and livelihood, development planning, fiscal federalism and state and local finance, government subsidies andincome support programme for poor, social security and social insurance,

economics of health, state, democracy, public policy, global governance, political violence, rural development, electoral management.

Fee Structure:

Fee Structure for Integrated M.Phil and Ph.D Programme and Direct Ph.D Programme

(Prices in INR and subject to revision)

The full fees and deposits should be paid within the stipulated time after the announcement of the admission results. In addition, Rs. 50/- towards bank processing charges should be paid in any branch of the State Bank of India. If students fail to pay the fee on time, their candidature can be cancelled. Once the students details have been entered into the Online platform, a scanned copy of the fee receipt must be submitted via the online platform. Non-adherence to the above will be considered as equivalent to non-payment of fees.

*subject to revision