Masters/MPhil Program
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- Masters/MPhil Program
Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in African Culture and Development
Start Date: January 2026
The Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in African Culture and Development is a cross-continental academic experience designed for adult learners ready to challenge dominant knowledge systems and drive culturally grounded change.
Whether you’re a mid-career professional, an early researcher, or a lifelong learner, this program provides the space, support, and supervision to deepen your engagement with African-centered development thinking.
Students will:
- Engage in deep study of African philosophies, indigenous knowledge systems, and decolonial development approaches
- Participate in immersive learning across the Netherlands and Ghana
- Contribute to emerging global dialogues on African-centered thought and praxis
- Contribute to transformative conversations around epistemic justice and Pan-African development
This program is best suited for those aiming to apply their learning in academic institutions, NGOs, cultural sectors, or policy environments.
The Master’s programme African Culture and Development provides you with an African perspective on development. In the programme you will learn how culture forms and transforms developments in agriculture, health, education, natural resource management, conflict resolution, credit schemes, etc. – all of which are core components of the socio-economic development of a people. It will allow you to engage in high quality development work that is relevant for a people within their respective cultural contexts; thus combining theory with practice (praxis). You will learn to initiate and conduct research on issues, through hands-on training to design and conduct your own fieldwork. Through in-depth fieldwork you are stimulated to think critically about social and cultural phenomena and engage with current cultural and developmental debates from a Pan-African perspective.
Decolonization is the process of revealing and dismantling colonialist power in all its forms. This includes dismantling the hidden aspects of those institutional and cultural forces that have maintained colonialist power and that remain even after political independence is achieved. Initially, in many places in the colonized world, the process of resistance was conducted in terms of or institutions appropriated from the colonizing culture itself. This was only to be expected, since early nationalists had been educated to perceive themselves as potential heirs to European political systems and models of culture. This occurred not only in settler colonies where the European colonial élite was a direct product of the system, but even in colonies of occupation. In Africa, in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the first nationalists were also modernizers, whose programme was less to effect a rejection of colonialist culture than to adopt its practices. This process of political and cultural ‘brokerage’, as some historians have called it, involved these early decolonizers in a profound complicity with the imperial powers from which they sought to emerge as free agents. Consequently, political independence did not necessarily mean a wholesale freeing of the colonized from colonialist values, for these, along with political, economic and cultural models, persisted in many cases after independence.
This MPhil programme is offered through a partnership with Broos Institute in The Netherlands (NL) and Millar Institute of Transdisciplinary and Development Studies (MITDS) in Ghana (Gh).
The Culture and Development department of MITDS is characterised by a broad research agenda with a great variety of thematic expertise. The department aims to be societally embedded, not merely encouraging academics to reach out into society, but forging in-depth connections with community experts and professionals. We foster the development of community-based knowledge systems at the academic level through guest lectures and diasporic exchanges.
Programme Aims and Objectives
The MPhil graduate programme African Culture and Development aims to provide teaching and learning within the context of culture (culture as a science), and to conduct evidence-based research on the best practices in culture and development.
The objectives of the MPhil graduate programme are inspired by Bloom’s taxonomy of learning outcomes in which the individual is at the center of development discourses. The programme therefore seeks to, among others:
- Create a learning environment within which you are enabled to link your understandings of culture to contemporary discourses in African development.
- Equip you with advanced analytical tools relevant for building on on-going researches that broaden the definitions of sciences to include culture.
- Move culture into the scientific domain, highlighting the relevance of African Sciences within the globalisation discourse.
- Equip you with the knowledge and skills to manage peoples-centred poverty reduction and sustainable development strategies within cultural contexts.
- Language of instruction : English
- Mode : Modular full-time, covering six (6) trimesters
- Location : In-person lectures in the Netherlands and Ghana
Course delivery
The course offers a wide variety of instruction methods, ranging from lectures, presentations, field visits and self-guided learning. You are expected to attend lectures at Broos Institute in The Netherlands for the first two trimesters and participate in at least one semester of course work, including field visits, in Ghana in the third trimester of your two years of studies.
Year one
T1 (sep-dec)
T2 (jan-apr)
T3 (jul/aug)
Foundational courses and electives (4) in NL
Foundational courses and electives (4) in NL
Field visit, electives (2) term paper in Ghana
Year Two
T4 (sep-dec)
T5 (jan-apr)
T6 (jul/aug)
Term Paper presentation Research
Research/Thesis
Thesis and Vita
The MPhil Culture and Development programme is a research MPhil. The course work will be one (1) and a half years, including a three (3) months Term Paper preparation and submission, and a research period of six (6) months (making it a total of 24 months). You will be expected to write a Thesis. In all stages, you will be supervised by a member of the academic teaching staff. A large part of the MPhil programme focuses on self-study, preparing and conducting your fieldwork project and writing your thesis.
Is Mphil African Culture and Development right for you?
- Do you get excited by the idea of higher education from a Pan-African and decolonial perspective?
- Are you interested in engaging with culture and culturally relevant development issues at higher level discourses?
- Do you have an independent attitude and take pleasure in wrestling with Culture and Development theory?
- Do you want to spend a year researching a Pan-African and/or decolonial topic of your own choosing?
- Do you enjoy delving into a topic through reading and writing analytical texts?
- Do you have the ambition to become an independent researcher?
Then African Culture and Development might be the right programme for you!
Admission Requirements
Eligible applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree with a minimum of Second Class Lower or the Dutch equivalent of a 6 or higher. Proven excellent command of written and spoken English is required.
Application process
Applicants are required to apply to the programme through the website of Broos Institute. They will be asked to submit an application form and one academic reference. Additionally, students who hold a Bachelor’s degree in which the language of instruction was not English, will be required to submit proof of linguistic proficiency.
Requirements for Graduation
Overall, students will be required to do 27 credit hours of course work, 12 hours of seminar presentations, 6and 4 hours of term paper work. This means that to complete the programme, students will be required to do a total of 61 credit hours.
Credit hours vs. ECTS
At MITDS the workload of an individual is measured in credit hours according to the Ghanaian University system. One credit hour equals two ECTS . One ECTS equals about 40 hours of work, including classes, homework, reading and preparation). 61 credit hours is the equivalent of 122 ECTS.
Assessment Regulations
Candidates for the Master’s degree programme are required to pass all their taught courses with a minimum of 60% marks. The thesis shall be assessed within three months of submission of thesis for consideration, and advised on its suitability or otherwise. Candidates who fail to attain a satisfactory level of performance shall be advised to re-submit, withdraw from the programme or otherwise, prescribed by the Academic Board. The level of performance shall be determined by the Graduate Board and a Certificate may be awarded.
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