Global Futures Initiative

Globalization has contributed to tremendous wealth as well as to growing inequality. Over the past several decades, the ranks of the global middle class have swelled. But some one billion people still survive on less than $1.25 per day. Efforts to battle poverty and reduce social inequality will present complex moral and practical challenges in key areas such as health, education, and climate change.

The Global Future of Development was the focus of the Georgetown Global Futures Initiative during the spring 2015 semester. Four lectures by World Bank Group leaders framed a structured conversation with faculty, students, and a global audience about key development challenges and how to address them in the decades to come.

The lectures were complemented by a range of other events across campus related to the theme of development, as well as a global online dialogue with the participation of more than 40 scholars, students, and practitioners around the world.

For an overview of Georgetown’s engagement with development issues across schools and programs, visit the Global Georgetown website.

Select Academic Programs

• Master of Global Human DevelopmentThis practitioner-focused program, offered through the Edmund A. School of Foreign Service, prepares students for a wide range of careers in the development field.
• Master of International Development PolicyThis McCourt School of Public Policy program emphasizes evidence-based policymaking and program evaluation for development professionals.
• MSFS Concentration in International DevelopmentStudents in the M.S. in Foreign Service program in the School of Foreign Service can explore the international policy dimensions of development issues in depth. 
• BSFS International Development CertificateOffered in the B.S. in Foreign Service program in the School of Foreign Service, this undergraduate certificate trains students to understand the dimensions, challenges, and processes of global poverty and prosperity.