Curriculum
Students in the non-thesis track are required to complete 36 hours of study, and students in the research track (thesis) are required to complete 32 hours. Courses include seminars, mandatory and elective courses, and field projects.
Students in the non-thesis track are required to prepare a final assignment based on their fieldwork. Students in the research track are required to write a research thesis.
Each student is required to complete two seminars of 6-7 hours in total (one mandatory and one elective), 12 hours of mandatory courses, and 4 hours of fieldwork. Students in the thesis track are also required to participate in a thesis workshop. Students are required to take 14 hours of elective courses in the standard track and 6 hours of elective courses in the thesis track in order to complete the total requirement of 36 and 32 hours, respectively.
Mandatory courses will be concentrated in a single weekday and take place over 12 weeks per semester. Two additional days per semester will be dedicated to field trips and visits to relevant sites in Israel, where students will be able to witness first hand the deployment of innovative technologies and interventions related to sustainable development.
Electives can be chosen from dedicated courses that will be offered by the program, courses in other international programs in the university, or from courses in other faculties such as engineering, exact or life sciences contingent on relevance to development and approval by the program head.
Final Grade:
|
|
Non-thesis track |
Thesis track |
|
Courses Including required, seminars, field work |
90% |
65% |
|
Final assignment |
10% |
--- |
|
Thesis |
--- |
35% |
Here are some of the courses and seminars in the program:
The course will train students in the practical aspects of project design and implementation in low income settings. During the seminar, students will work in teams to design fieldwork around interventions and solutions studied in the fall-applied seminar. Topics will include entrepreneurship, project finance (including micro-finance), business models, monitoring and evaluation, working with communities, sustainability and scalability.
Dr. Ram Fishman
A global perspective on the main questions and challenges of sustainable development, from economic, public health, environmental, and technological perspectives.
Prof. Tammie Ronen.
The abilities to maintain one’s satisfaction in life, one’s positive functioning, and one’s well-being have long challenged researchers. Such abilities predict relevant future behavior. Subjective well-being is "the level of well-being experienced by people according to their own subjective evaluations of their lives… These evaluations include cognitive judgments about life satisfaction and affective reactions to life." Thus, subjective well-being combines life satisfaction, positive affect, happiness, and low negative affect (Ronen, Hamama, Rosenbaum, & Mishely-Yarlp, 2014).
Researchers’ focus on well-being and the rise of positive psychology has led to a shift in definitions of mental health, to include not merely the absence of psychopathological symptoms of mental illness (as traditionally defined up to the late 1990s) but also the presence of resources, skills, and strengths. However, well-being is not merely a personal, private matter but also is embedded in social structures and communities, as related to multiple social tasks and challenges. The World Health Organization (2012) defined mental health as a state of emotional well-being in which individuals identify their personal capacities, manage to cope with normative life stresses, work efficiently and productively, and are able to contribute to their communities.
The course presents the history of psychology while relating to emotion, to the development of positive psychology in humanistic, existential, and behavioral theories, and to the shift from focusing on pathology to focusing on strengths and resources. The course links theoretical presentations with research outcomes; demonstrates crucial components of positive psychology such as social support, meaning, self-efficacy, goals, optimism; and involves students in practicing and applying the learned techniques.
Dr. Ram Fishman
Professor Yosi Shacham, Prof. Hadas Mamane, Dr. Ram Fishman, Prof. Tammie Ronen
Prof. Tammie Ronen (educational & psychological dimensions), Dr. Ram Fishman (development and environment economics), Prof, Yosi Shacham (sensor technology), or other faculty, as needed.
The seminar will offer students an opportunity to develop a close familiarity with technological or social programs and projects in Israel that can be relevant to developing country contexts. Projects will be supervised by Prof. Hadas Mamane (environmental technology),
Professor Yosi Shacham, Prof. Hadas Mamann Dr. Ram Fishman, Prof. Tammie Ronen
A one-week intensive introduction to the program which will take place in the Arava, the southern desert of Israel. During the week, students will get to each other and become familiar with the challenges, varied cultural and social backgrounds, and innovative approaches to the sustainable development of the Israeli desert.
Prof. Tammie Ronen and Dr. Ram Fishman.
Research track only
