200 Point Master of Social Policy

The Master of Social Policy offers a curriculum that reflects cutting edge theory in a number of professional development fields. Graduates will be equipped with the skills necessary for advanced community sector management and policy making, including the skills to:

• analyse key areas of contemporary social policy: governance, inclusion\exclusion, social capital, globalisation etc;
• engage with the social dimensions of social policy: race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, disability, age etc;
• understand social policy as a contested process and apply research skills to a range of organisational contexts;
• draw on a range of disciplines and take a comparative and global focus.

Students who complete this course should develop a number of generic skills that should help them with future study and employment. Students will enhance their skills in:

• Research: through competent use of advanced information sources and retrieval of appropriate information;
• Critical and theoretical thinking: through presentation of research papers, conceptualising theoretical problems, forming judgements and arguments from conflicting evidence, and by critical analysis;
• Time management and planning: through managing and organising workloads;
• Team work: through small group discussions

200 point program

Duration: 2 years full-time / up to 4 years part-time

First 100 points:

• two compulsory subjects (37.5 points)
• five elective subjects (62.5 points)

Second 100 points:

• Two compulsory subjects (25 points) and

Option 1

• Six elective subjects (75 points) or

Option 2*

• Thesis (37.5 points) &
• Electives (37.5 points)

*(Written permission from the course coordinator is required for Option 2)

For policies that govern this degree, see Academic Services Policy in the University Melbourne Policy Framework. Students also should also refer to information in the Student Policy Directory.

Compulsory Subjects - First 100 Points

Two Compulsory Subjects (37.5 points) to be completed in the first hundred points of the program

Compulsory Subjects - Second 100 Points

Two Compulsory Subjects (25 points) to be completed in the second hundred points of the program

Elective Subjects

First 100 points:

• five elective subjects (62.5 points)

Second 100 points:

Option 1

• Six elective subjects (75 points) or

Option 2*

• Thesis (37.5 points) &
• Electives (37.5 points)

Permission is required from the course coordinator in order to enrol in the minor thesis

The thesis subject can only be completed in the second hundred points of the program

The thesis requires two consecutive semesters of enrolment.