The Diploma Course runs full time over 9 months. An introduction to computing is also run over the first half of the first term, offering basic computing and IT skills to those that require these, as well as an opportunity for more advanced work with databases and internet searching for those who already have some skills in this area. Selection is made according to the student's areas of special interest and the possible demands of their future work. Please contact the teaching office at CICH for further information. The majority of these latter projects are carried out in a developing country, either in a setting already known to the student through their work, or in a location with which CICH already has collaborative research links with local partners.
Supervision is provided by a CICH staff member with expertise in the field to be studied.
Teaching methods Teaching is by lectures, seminars, tutorials, group and individual projects, feedback on oral presentations and on written work, and via supervision of the research project. Presentations by students and classroom discussion and debates are used to draw on students' own work experience and to encourage them to develop their verbal skills. It also enables students to learn from each other's experience, and to benefit fully from the international nature of the student body. Directed self-study is an essential part of the learning process, and students are helped in the development of the necessary skills through the tutorials and seminars and through the assignments set. CICH has a specialised Resource Centre within the ICH Library which contains much of the published and grey literature relevant to the field.