The Institute of Development Studies is among leading Tanzanian centers for training and mentoring the next generation of development experts. Currently, the institute has two programs of postgraduate study leading to the Masters of Art ( MA) in Rural Development and Ph.D. in Rural Development
The program comprises the following courses
Core coures
| Course Ante | Course title | Credit hours |
| DS 600 | Social Science Research Methodology | 2 |
| DS 601 | Social Science Statistics | 2 |
| DS 604 | Political Economy of Agrarian Change | 2 |
| DS 602 | Population and Development | 1.5 |
| DS 608 | Design, Appraisal, Monitoring and Evaluation of Rural Development Programmes/Projects | 3 |
| DS 603 | Gender and Development | 1.5 |
| DS 612 | Rural Development Issues | 2 |
| EE 601 | Rural Sociology | 1.5 |
| DS 611 | Dissertation | |
| Electives | ||
| Course Ante | Course title | Credit hours |
| DS 606 | Agricultural Policy and Planning | |
| DS 607 | Natural Natural Resource Assessment for Development Planning, Utilization and Conservation | |
| DS 609 | Development Administration | |
| DS 610 | Rural Industrialization | |
| AEA 207 | Economic Development | |
| EE 624 | Village Dynamics | |
| HN 604 | Food Security | |
| MN 607 | Social Anthropology |