The course provides a framework for understanding, reviewing and critical analysis of  the practice of social policy. After attending this course, students will be able to:

• outline and apply the conceptual foundations of social policy,
• understand fundamental design principles of social security systems,
• identify alternative welfare state models,
• characterise social policies in selected countries,
• analyse and discuss social policy approaches against the background of major economic and social policy objectives,
• understand and discuss academic social policy papers. 

In addition, students will:

• gain practice and improve their skills in writing, presenting and discussing their ideas.

This being a course with continuous assessment (PI)’ students need to be present 80% of the time of the scheduled course units for completing the course successfully. Ideally you attend all units fully. If you are unable to fully attend a unit, please let the lecturer(s) know in advance. In case online units were to be scheduled, the same attendance requirements would apply. 

Please note: 

• The mid-term quiz will be held on April 13 | April 20.
• Group work will have to be delivered in April 27, May 4, 11 and 18. Your active participation is requested and assessed on these occassions!

Assessment (relative weights in the final grade): 

• active participation 5% 
  
• written test (on core course readings): 20%
• presentation of group project: 35% 
• written deliverable(s): 40% 

Grade Key (point ranges)

• 1: Excellent (90-100 points)
• 2: Good (80-89 points)
• 3: Satisfactory (65-79 points)
• 4: Sufficient (50-64 points)
• 5: Fail (0-49 points)

Please note:

Your presence for the presentations of group projects is indispensable.

The use of AI for your written work and presentation slides is very limited and has to be documented. 

• Key authoring tasks should not be transferred to AI. The use of AI tools for results, discussion, and reflection is prohibited; these are the students' own work. AI output cannot be used as evidence for content-related claims; it must be substantiated with scientific literature. You should neither copy & paste nor paraphrase text generated by a large-language model (such as ChatGPT). The unauthorized use of AI tools or missing evidence is considered an attempt at fraud or plagiarism. It will prompt an oral re-examination.

• However, AI can be used to assist with key authoring tasks, for example for brainstorming and to support the initial screening of existing research.  Still, any kind of supporting input from AI must be critically reviewed, reflected upon and deepened by the authors, who bear full responsibility for the content of their manuscript and presentations.

• Like other aids, the use of AI should be explicitly included in the list of aids (resource directory) and attached to the work. The documentation of the interaction with the AI (especially tool, prompts) must be available upon request.  WU’s policy on listing any aids used in a paper or presentation (which includes the use of AI tools) came into effect on 3 December 2024. WU provides templates for the required list of aids used.