King's College London - Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy
MA in Public Policy
London, United Kingdom
MA
DURATION
2 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
TUITION FEES
GBP 35,800 / per year **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* first application deadline
** International students | UK students: £19,550 per year
Key Summary
The Public Policy MA is a multi-disciplinary course that covers policy making and analysis, comparative public policy, public sector economics, governance and public management, and ethics and public policy. You will focus on the critical issues and key developments relating to public policy, such as governance, globalisation and policy evaluation. This course will equip you with the analytical and critical skills relevant to understanding the challenges relating to the design, evaluation and implementation of public policies.
Key benefits
- You will learn to think analytically and independently about key issues in public policy
- You will be trained to integrate theories and evidence from political science, ethics and political economy
- You will develop essential skills to master qualitative and quantitative research methods
- Project placement (internship) provides you with future employment opportunities and the chance to study different public service areas
- A highly flexible study programme, drawing on a broad range of professional experience and disciplinary expertise
- Regular speakers from UK-based government departments, public sector bodies, NGOs and policymaking units who discuss the implementation and evaluation of public policies
Duration: One year full-time, September to September, two years part-time
Structure
Programmes are divided into modules. You will take modules totalling 180 credits as outlined below.
Required modules
You are required to take the following modules:
- The Policy Process (15 credits)
- Comparative Public Policy (15 Credits)
- Dissertation (60 credits)
Optional modules
In addition, you are required to take 90 credits from a range of optional modules, which may typically include:
- Evaluating Public Policy (15 credits)
- Public Policy Internship (15 credits)
- Liberty, Equality and Justice: Political Theory and Public Policy (15 credits)
- Media Elections and Campaigning (15 credits) [Department of Political Economy]
- From Blair to Brexit: Britain since 1997 (15 credits) [Department of Political Economy]
- The Political Economy of Corruption (15 credits) [Political Economy]
- Gender Politics and Public Policy (15 credits) [Department of Political Economy]
- The New Political Economy of the Media (15 credits)
- Ethics and Public Policy (15 credits)
- Business and Politics (15 credits)
- Comparative Political Economy (15 credits) [Political Economy]
- Quantitative Methods in Political Economy (15 credits)
- Institutions and Economic Development (15 credits) [Department of Political Economy]
- Economic History (15 credits)
- Political Economy of Discrimination (15 credits)
- Climate Change Economics and Policy (15 credits) [Department of Political Economy]
- Climate policy and global energy transitions (15 credits)
- The Political Effects of Climate Change (15 credits) [Department of Political Economy]
- Policymaking in Non-Democracies (15 credits)
- Parties, Voters and Political Culture in Britain, 1945-2010 (15 credits)
- Democracy in the United Kingdom (15 credits)
- Theories of Politics (15 credits)
- Britain and Europe Since 1945 (15 credits)
- Anglo-American Relations Since 1945 (15 credits)
- African Crisis and Opportunity (15 credits)
- Development Economics (15 credits)
- Health Economics and Policy (15 credits)
- Using Economics in Government (15 credits)
- Law and Politics of Regulation (15 credits)
Out of these 90 credits, students may take a maximum of 30 optional credits from level 7 modules outside of their programme’s approved module list, subject to approval by the Course Director.
Students may also take an additional non-assessed credit modern language module in addition to their 180 credits.
Part-time students complete the required taught modules in their first year and the dissertation in their second year.
If you are taking the part-time course, the Department will allow you to select how many optional modules you wish to take during Year 1 and Year 2.
Students are also welcome to attend optional pre-sessional courses during induction week in September. Pre-sessionals include introductory courses on economics, political theory, political science and public policy.
King’s College London reviews the modules offered regularly to provide up-to-date, innovative and relevant programmes of study. Therefore, the modules offered may change. We suggest you keep an eye on the course finder on our website for updates.
Please note that modules with a practical component will be capped due to educational requirements, which may mean that we cannot guarantee a place to all students who elect to study this module.
Our graduates go on to work in a variety of public sector management and policy-oriented positions. Typical career destinations include:
- Policy Advisor in the Civil Service
- Research Assistant at Boston Group Consulting
- Policy Analyst at Homes England
- Trainee at The European Commission's Humanitarian Action Service (ECHO)
- Press Officer for an MEP
- PhD student at Hertie School in Berlin
- Working in the policy and analysis section of a large London embassy
- Policy Adviser to the Chairperson of a major transport organisation
- Senior Analyst in the Ministry of Industry and Trade of a developing country
- Health service leadership positions with responsibility for multi-million-pound budgets