Public Policy Making

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2010:

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.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 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.

• have a thorough grasp of the political economy of policy making.
• understand the formation and role of policy institutions.
• have skills in policy research.
• have the ability to undertake case studies.

A subject reader will be available for purchase from the University Bookshop.

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

• Bachelor of Biomedicine
• Bachelor of Commerce
• Bachelor of Environments
• Bachelor of Music
• Bachelor of Science
• Bachelor of Engineering

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

• 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.