Consistent with the UP's thrust of being a public service university, the Development Studies Program provides various forms of development-oriented public service and volunteer work to communities, people's organizations, cooperatives, unions and research institutes by serving as organizers, resource persons, writer-researchers, board of directors, and consultants, among others. The program affirms the University's role as a social conscience and social critic by assessing and reviewing the state of the nation in relation to the country's development agenda in the primary areas of agrarian reform, environmental management, urban development, and foreign policy, and based on it, formulate alternative policy options. Anchored on the University's long tradition of academic excellence and social relevance, the program is committed in pursuing nationalist and mass-based development through critical and transformative pedagogy, relevant and community-oriented research, and development-oriented and sustainable extension work.
As a degree program dedicated to community-based and rights-based education, BA Development Studies aims to equip its students with the necessary and appropriate theoretical foundation and analytical tools in Philippine and Third World political economy, and prepare them in the fields of development work, social research, and project management.
The Development Studies Program is comprised of faculty members with multidisciplinary and community-oriented background which is instrumental in providing its students with a holistic perspective in theorizing and practicing development work. The Development Studies Program currently has five full-time and five part-time faculty members in its roster.
Prof Roland Simbulan (Master in Public Administration major in Development Administration)
Prof Chester Antonio Arcilla (Master in Development Economics; PhD in Sociology - on-going)
Prof Allan Joseph Mesina (Master in Environment Management and Development)
Prof John Ponsaran (Master in Public Management major in Local Government and Regional Administration)
Prof Ruth Shane Legaspi (BA Development Studies, Master in Business Administration - on-going)
Dr Leothiny Clavel (PhD in Philippine Studies major in Philippine Bureaucracy)
Prof Silverio Sevilla (BA Political Science, masteral units in Economics)
Atty Karol Sarah Baguilat (Bachelor of Laws)
Atty Zorayda Mia Wacnang (Jurisdoctor)
Dr Rommel Linatoc (PhD in Community Theater candidate)
Among the key research areas of its faculty are foreign policy, urban poor, environmental management, sustainable agriculture, sustainable electrification, natural economics, social movements, health political economy, judicial reform, gender and career development, local cultural development, and community theater.
The Development Studies Practicum Program is guided by the paradigm that the dialectical interaction between the academe and the rural communities is critical to pro-people, nationalist and scientific development work and scholarship.
The graduates of the degree program are involved in the fields of legislative research, development policy research, agrarian research, health research, media, academe, academic publication, social welfare, advocacy work, community development, local government, international humanitarian work, people's lawyering, foreign service, market research, and financial development, among others. Alumni who pursue graduate studies specialize in the fields of Development Economics, Environmental Management, Human Ecology, Community Development, Public Administration, Public Policy, Development Policy, Comparative Local Government, Statistics, and Business Administration, among others.
