Development Practice

The UC Berkeley Master of Development Practice (MDP) is an interdisciplinary, professional degree program designed to prepare leaders to tackle the local, regional, and global challenges of the coming decades. Graduates go on to careers “with meaning” in non-profit, business and government organizations. Attracting experienced, engaged, and entrepreneurial students from around the world, its rigorous curriculum provides core scientific knowledge; skills in problem-solving, design and management; analytical and decision-making tools, and integrative perspectives. The program’s foundational core curriculum is supplemented by individually customized specialization, drawing from the unparalleled breadth and depth of the world’s top public university. The Berkeley MDP’s focus is on practice with hands-on, experiential learning infused throughout the program. It emphasizes peer learning, enriched by a student cohort diverse in education, profession, and culture. Students come with backgrounds across the sciences and humanities; 40-50% of each cohort has been from outside the US, with alumni representing 26 nations.

The Berkeley MDP is a member of the Global Association of MDP programs — thirty-seven graduate programs in twenty-seven countries — sharing a common approach and designed around a set of core capabilities developed through a year-long consultative process supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.