Public Policy Making

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2008:

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

Who makes the public decisions that impact on all aspects of society? How do they make them? Is our society better off for the policies that result? These are the sorts of questions public policy analysts (government policy advisers, NGOs, and academics) must struggle with daily. In Public Policy Making (166-022) students are introduced to the various attempts to resolve these issues. They examine how public policy has been conceptualised by the academics, and are then taken through the 'practical' processes of policy making in the real world of government and non-government actors. By the end of the subject they will have an improved, critical understanding of what public policy is and how it comes about. For some students this will be the beginning of a long engagement with public policy in both study and work; all students will have expanded their understanding of the political and social world in which they live.

• be able to research through the competent use of the library and other information sources, and be able to define areas of inquiry and methods of research in the preparation of essays;

• be able to conceptualise theoretical problems, form judgements and arguments and communicate critically, creatively and theoretically through essay writing, tutorial discussion and presentations;

• be able to communicate knowledge ideologically and economically through essay writing and tutorial discussion;

• be able to manage and organise workloads for recommended reading, the completion of essays and assignments and examination revision;

• be able to participate in team work through small group discussions.