University of Birmingham - College of Social Sciences
MA in Social Policy
Birmingham, United Kingdom
DURATION
1 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
07 May 2024*
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2024
TUITION FEES
GBP 23,310 / per year **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* deadline for International students I 30 August 2024 deadline for Home students
** for full-time International students | for full-time UK students: £10,530 | part-time UK students: £5,265 per year
Introduction
Social Policy seeks to not only understand the social world but seeks to change it for the better through practical action.
Human well-being can be delivered through a range of public, private and voluntary institutions. At the beginning of the 21st Century, welfare systems and other public institutions, seeking to fulfil human needs face considerable challenges, presented by the economic crisis, an ageing population, increasingly flexible forms of work, migration, and shifting ways of family life.
Alongside these fiscal and demographic pressures that nation-states face, rising socioeconomic inequality and austerity have begun to reverse several key social advancements in terms of health and social mobility, making it a fascinating and critical time to study these issues.
The MA Social Policy will entail the study of a range of social problems, such as poverty, homelessness, substance use, crime and health inequalities. In doing so, you will be encouraged to consider the underlying causes and to formulate policy solutions to address specific social problems.
Alongside this, the MA Social Policy programme will examine contemporary and comparative developments within social policy, so that you will be able to consider the shifting nature of welfare arrangements in a broader political, economic and social context from both the UK and global perspective.
Inherent to Social Policy, as a field of study, is a normative focus that seeks to not only describe the state of a specific society in terms of the fulfilment of human needs but to consider if our societies should be more effectively and justly organised. A key focus for the MA Social Policy programme will be on the ways in which we might transform our societies to increase human well-being and promote sustainable forms of living, and to encourage you to evaluate alternative forms of social organisation.
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Admissions
Scholarships and Funding
Postgraduate Loans for Masters students
A postgraduate loan system for master's degrees in the UK will provide up to £12,167 (after August 2023) for taught and research Master courses in all subject areas for UK and EU students (with settled or pre-settled status).
Scholarships and funding
Explore our scholarship and funding database to find a scholarship or funding opportunity that's right for you.
The University of Birmingham is proud to offer a range of scholarships for our postgraduate teaching and research programmes. From cash payments to full tuition fee waivers, we are committed to alleviating financial barriers to support you in taking your next steps.
Our scholarships are intended to support both UK and International students undertaking a postgraduate taught or research programme at the University of Birmingham. To help you afford your studies, we’ve put more than £33 million into student support and scholarships. We also offer a range of advice on searching for funding and managing your finances
Curriculum
Unless indicated otherwise the modules listed for this programme are for students starting in 2024.
Core Modules
- Philosophies of Welfare: creating new societies? (20 credits)
- Poverty, Wealth and Inequality (20 credits)
- Dissertation (60 credits)
Optional Modules* (80 credits from the list below)
- The Third Sector and Social Policy (20 credits)
- Migration, Super diversity, Policy and Practice (20 credits)
- Policy Futures: Theories and Concepts in International Policymaking (20 credits)
- Globalisation, International Migration & Citizenship (20 credits)
- Crime and Social Harm (20 credits)
- Sociology of Race and Racism (20 credits)
- Applied Qualitative and Quantitative Data Analysis (20 credits)
- Global Policy Institutions and Networks (20 credits)
- Policy Evaluation (20 credits)
- Transforming Identities (20 credits)
- Transforming Societies (20 credits)
- Climate Justice and Social Policy (20 credits)
- Crime and Justice in a Globalised World (20 credits)
Please note: The modules listed on the website for this programme are regularly reviewed to ensure they are up-to-date and informed by the latest research and teaching methods. On rare occasions, we may need to make unexpected changes to compulsory modules; in this event we will contact offer holders as soon as possible to inform or consult them as appropriate.
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
Social policy is an applied social science that will challenge you to formulate your own policy solutions to key social issues. It will equip you with a combination of social research expertise, substantive knowledge of social issues and policy domains, as well as techniques of policy analysis.
The MA Social Policy programme is designed for those working in various areas of social policy such as health, housing and social services or who are interested in pursuing a career in these and related fields. It is also suitable for students who have studied a relevant social science or humanities programme at the undergraduate level and who are now seeking to study social policy for the first time at the postgraduate level.