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Development, Technology and Innovation Policy MPA

London, Bloomsbury

This MPA degree is for those interested in the roles that technologies and innovations can play in local and global development. Graduates will emerge with skills and tools to explore how public policy can help align such developments to effectively respond to persistent and new societal challenges.

UK students International students
Study mode
UK tuition fees (2026/27)
£28,900
£14,450
Overseas tuition fees (2026/27)
£39,200
£19,600
Duration
1 calendar year
2 calendar years
Programme starts
September 2026
Applications accepted
Applicants who require a visa: 20 Oct 2025 – 26 Jun 2026
Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Applicants who do not require a visa: 20 Oct 2025 – 28 Aug 2026
Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Apply for this course

Entry requirements

A minimum of an upper second-class Bachelor's degree from a UK university in a relevant discipline or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard. Students are encouraged (but are not required) to have work experience prior to enrolling on this programme.

The English language level for this course is: Level 4

UCL Pre-Master's and Pre-sessional English courses are for international students who are aiming to study for a postgraduate degree at UCL. The courses will develop your academic English and academic skills required to succeed at postgraduate level.

Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.

Equivalent qualifications

Country-specific information, including details of when UCL representatives are visiting your part of the world, can be obtained from the International Students website.

International applicants can find out the equivalent qualification for their country by selecting from the list below. Please note that the equivalency will correspond to the broad UK degree classification stated on this page (e.g. upper second-class). Where a specific overall percentage is required in the UK qualification, the international equivalency will be higher than that stated below. Please contact Graduate Admissions should you require further advice.

About this degree

From tackling climate change to delivering essential services like water, energy, healthcare and education to billions without access, countries must harness scientific and technological innovation to drive economic transformation and enhance human well-being. Yet across much of the world, especially in developing countries, innovation systems and policy frameworks remain weak, fragmented and poorly aligned with pressing national and local priorities.

You’ll emerge from this MPA equipped with the tools, frameworks and skills to creatively and creatively address new and long-standing development challenges, driving sustainable, inclusive and dynamic economies across diverse global contexts.

This MPA tackles pressing questions such as: 

  • How can countries achieve their development goals amid technological change, increased global interdependencies, and with problems such as disease epidemics, economic fragilities and climate change? 
  • How can countries engage in policy experimentation and/or prototyping in pursuit of their development targets? 
  • Should emerging economies follow innovation and development models used by advanced economies or should they pioneer new approaches to innovation? 

Who this course is for

This is a practitioner-oriented, professional programme with practical learning activities, aimed at students who want to be part of the next generation of thinkers and practitioners influencing the interaction of national and global development agendas with innovations and technologies. This MPA draws students from diverse technical and non-technical disciplinary backgrounds and levels of work experience.

Read about what it takes to study for a Master's at UCL

What this course will give you

This programme offers the following benefits:

  • This MPA is grounded in experiential learning to sharpen the skills needed for managing the interface between policy, technologies, innovations and societal objectives. 
  • You’ll learn through inquiry, going beyond describing or explaining the concepts learnt, to applying and interrogating the different concepts and tools in different scenarios of development challenges. 
  • You’ll undertake a nine-month long major group project on a policy challenge for a real-world client or your own individual project with an existing employer. Previous projects have explored development-oriented policy areas in health, agriculture, energy, waste, transport, humanitarian challenges, and digital technologies, among others.
  • You’ll have the opportunity to network with UCL Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy's broad range of local and international partners, expert faculty members and a diverse range of academics as well as professionals from the world of policy and practice.
Read about what you'll get out of a graduate programme

The foundation of your career

Graduates are suited to work in international development organisations, government departments, global agencies, corporate regulatory affairs, advocacy groups, think tanks or consultancy firms, doing legislative, regulatory or policy analysis work. Graduates from this programme have gone onto work in roles at Cancer Research UK, the International Monetary Fund and Green Technology Centre (Graduate Outcomes Survey 2017-22).

Compared to other postgraduate degrees, the MPA lies at the frontier between the academic and professional environments, which is more valuable for any postgraduate student.

Science, Technology, Engineering & Public Policy

Soheib Nunhuck

MPA Development, Technology and Innovation Policy

Read Soheib's story

Employability

By the end of this course, you’ll be well-equipped with the skills and confidence to tackle inequality, vulnerability and exclusion that societies face in many sectors, including access to energy, health, education, infrastructure, water and sanitation and finance.

The combination of practice-oriented, research-informed classroom teaching methods with scenario-based learning, enables you to engage with real-world policy challenges that matter to you personally, preparing you to be an influential policy actor. 

This is a professional degree, allowing you to build not only the competencies and knowledge but the networks that will be of tremendous value throughout your career.

Networking

There will be various networking opportunities throughout the degree including:

  • participation in relevant STEaPP research clusters;
  • participation in relevant departmental, faculty and university seminars;
  • leveraging our location in London to facilitate exposure visits to and from development agencies, policy organisations and industry;
  • opportunities for co-publishing with faculty and other cohort members.

Teaching and learning

The programme is delivered through a mix of lectures, seminars and group project work based on practice-oriented teaching methods with scenario-based learning, enabling you to engage with real-world policy challenges that matter to you personally.

You will be assessed primarily through a series of problem-oriented projects (including both presentational components and submitted materials), complemented by short written assignments, scenarios and simulations. Your final project will include a longer written report, often for or with a professional partner organisation.

As this a full-time course you are expected to dedicate approximately 40 hours per week on your studies. In Terms 1 and 2, students have on average 12 contact hours a week with staff. Modules have either two hours of lectures and one hour of tutorials or three hours of lectures. In addition to contact time, students are expected to undertake approximately 28 hours of independent and self-directed study each week. In addition to these hours students will have optional activities like integrative workshops, talks and UCL career opportunities.

Starting in January, students also undertake a major nine-month group project on a policy challenge with a real-world external partner organisation or they undertake their own independent individual project. In Term 3 the amount of contact time will be lower as students focus on these final projects, although there will be set times for MPA group project and MPA individual project supervision and support.

Modules

The programme consists of eight modules: three core modules common across the MPA suite of programmes; two route-specific; and three electives available from STEaPP or other departments, as available. Students may choose either an MPA Group Project or an Individual Project as their final module.

You will study four modules in the first term and four in the second term. Additionally, the MPA Group and Individual Project modules span nine months, commencing in the second term and completed during the third term and the summer.

The part-time MPA follows the same structure as the full-time programme, spread over two years. In Year 1, you’ll take four modules, two in the first term and two in the second term. In Year 2, you’ll complete another four 15-credit modules (two per term), and work on a 60-credit Group or Individual Project during the third term. You’ll be encouraged to begin exploring your project topic and areas of interest from the first year.

Compulsory modules







Optional modules












Research Ethics and Regulation





Please note that the list of modules given here is indicative. This information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability are subject to change. Modules that are in use for the current academic year are linked for further information. Where no link is present, further information is not yet available.

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits. Upon successful completion of 180 credits, you will be awarded an MPA in Development, Technology and Innovation Policy.

Accessibility

The department will endeavour to make reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities, including those with long-term health conditions, neurodivergence, learning differences and mental health conditions. This list is not exhaustive. If you're unsure of your eligibility for reasonable adjustments at UCL, please contact Student Support and Wellbeing Services.

Reasonable adjustments are implemented on a case-by-case basis. With the student's consent, reasonable adjustments are considered by UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services, and where required, in collaboration with the respective department.

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble. Further information about support available can be obtained from UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services.

For more information about the department and accessibility arrangements for your course, please contact the department.

Where you'll study

Two students walking past UCL Engineering Roberts building smiling

Based in the Faculty of Engineering Sciences, STEaPP is committed to mobilising science, technology, engineering and policy expertise to help change the world for the better. The Department brings together policymakers, industry and academia to design innovative solutions to society’s biggest challenges, from sustainable development to health innovation. The Department is located in Bloomsbury, in the heart of London, with some teaching also taking place at the new UCL East campus, on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford. As a member of our university community, you will also have access to top-tier resources and study spaces, such as UCL’s award-winning Student Centre and 18 specialist libraries.

Find out more

Fees and funding

Fees for this course

UK students International students
Fee description Full-time Part-time
Tuition fees (2026/27) £28,900 £14,450
Tuition fees (2026/27) £39,200 £19,600

Postgraduate Taught students benefit from a cohort guarantee, meaning that their tuition fees will not increase during the course of the programme, but UCL reserves the right to increase tuition fees to reflect any sums (including levies, taxes, or similar financial charges) that UCL is required to pay any governmental authority in connection with tuition fees.

The tuition fees shown are for the year indicated above. Where the course is offered on a flexible/modular basis, fees are charged pro-rata to the appropriate full-time Master's fee taken in an academic session. Further information on fee status, fee increases and the fee schedule can be viewed on the UCL Students website: ucl.ac.uk/students/fees.

Additional costs

For full-time and part-time offer holders with a fee status classification of UK, a fee deposit will be charged at 2.5% of the first year fee.

For full-time and part-time offer holders with a fee status classification of Overseas, a fee deposit will be charged at 10% of the first year fee.

Further information can be found in the Tuition fee deposits section on this page: Tuition fees.

There are no additional costs associated with the programme. 

The costs associated with any exposure visits to development agencies, or policy and industry organisations are covered by the department.

For in-person teaching, UCL’s main teaching locations are in zones 1 (Bloomsbury) and zones 2/3 (UCL East). The cost of a monthly 18+ Oyster travel card for zones 1-2 is £119.90. This price was published by TfL in 2025. For more information on additional costs for prospective students and the cost of living in London, please view our estimated cost of essential expenditure at UCL's cost of living guide.

Funding your studies

For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website.

See all the ways you can fund your studies

Next steps

Students are advised to apply as early as possible due to competition for places. Those applying for scholarship funding (particularly overseas applicants) should take note of application deadlines.

There is an application processing fee for this course of £90 for online applications. Further information can be found at Application fees.

When assessing your application, the MPA Admissions Panel are particularly looking to understand:

  • why you want to study Development, Technology and Innovation Policy at graduate level
  • what particularly attracts you to the programme at UCL
  • how your academic and professional background and interests meet the demands of this challenging programme
  • where you would like to go professionally with your degree and how the MPA fits with your career goals.

Please note that you may submit applications for a maximum of two graduate courses (or one application for the Law LLM) in any application cycle.

Choose your programme

Please read the Application Guidance before proceeding with your application.

Year of entry: 2026-2027

Apply for this course

Got questions? Get in touch

Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy
Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy

steapp.admissions@ucl.ac.uk

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