Master of International Development Policy (MIDP) at Duke University

Programme overview

An interdisciplinary master's for mid-career development professionals, with cohorts of 20 to 30 students and a curriculum that can be tailored across Duke's schools.

Faculty: Sanford School of Public Policy | Duration: 12, 18 or 24 months (48 credits traditional; 30 credits accelerated) | Study mode: full-time | Location: Durham, NC, United States

What you will study

Core courses in Policy Analysis for Development, Economic Foundations for Development, Empirical Analysis and Applied Development Economics, plus policy writing labs, electives, a 30-35 page master's project and a full-time internship of at least 10 weeks.

Career pathways

Government, international organizations, nonprofits, academia and the private sector; employers include the United Nations Secretariat, US Institute of Peace and FHI 360, with internships at the World Bank, UNICEF, Oxfam and the Asian Development Bank.

Official programme page

Application information

Entry requirements

Sanford MIDP: four-year undergraduate degree or equivalent. Traditional two-year option requires at least five years of professional experience; the accelerated option requires five years plus the equivalent of one year of graduate coursework in a relevant field. Preferred English minimums: Duolingo 115, IELTS 7.0, PTE 64, TOEFL 90. Three recommendations, a 500-750 word statement of purpose, a two-page resume and a two-minute video. Deadlines Oct 5, Jan 5 and Jun 5; fee USD 80.

USD 57,708 a year (2026-27). Estimated Sanford MIDP tuition for fall and spring (year one), 2026-27; subject to Board of Trustees approval. Excludes fees and insurance. Source

Graduate School master's programmes list application deadlines for fall 2027 entry; Fuqua online MSQM programmes start September 2026, the MQM and MMS Foundations of Business start July 2026, the Daytime MBA starts August 2026 and the Weekend Executive MBA starts May 2027.

The Occupational Therapy Doctorate starts in August for applicants admitted in both the fall and spring rounds.

Fall 2027 Graduate School master's deadlines: Analytical Political Economy 01/28/2027; Applied Ethics & Policy 03/18/2027; Biomedical Engineering 02/01/2027; Civil and Environmental Engineering 01/10/2027; Computer Science 02/01/2027; Critical Asian and Middle Eastern Humanities 02/17/2027; Dance (MFA) 12/17/2026; Digital Art History/Computational Media 01/28/2027; East Asian Studies 01/31/2027; Economics 01/14/2027; Economics and Computation 02/01/2027; Electrical and Computer Engineering 01/16/2027; Experimental and Documentary Arts 01/28/2027; Global Health 02/26/2027; Graduate Liberal Studies 06/01/2027; Humanities 03/15/2027; Interdisciplinary Data Science 01/28/2027; Master of Arts in Teaching 01/29/2027; Materials Science and Engineering 03/15/2027; Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science 01/19/2027; Medical Physics 01/08/2027; Political Science 02/16/2027; Population Health Sciences 01/15/2027; Religious Studies 02/01/2027; Slavic and Eurasian Studies 02/01/2027; Statistical Science 01/05/2027. History and Quantitative Financial Economics are not accepting applications for 2027 enrollment.

Occupational Therapy Doctorate 2026-27 application deadlines: Fall round Thursday, October 8, 2026; Spring round Tuesday, January 12, 2027 (applications through OTCAS). Fall applicants are notified the first week of December 2026 and spring applicants the first week of March 2027.

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