In the Winter-term 2020/2021, this course will be entirely taught in distance mode, starting Tuesday, 6 October 2020, 16.00-17.30. There will be a total six 90-minutes online-classes plus a 60-minutes guest lecture. The online-lectures will be given via MS Teams on a weekly basis until mid of November, to be followed (in November/December) by group consultations, individual coachings and group-specific online conferences which are also scheduled to take place Tuesday afternoon. Thus, students should still be available online during course hours until December 15 for group work activities, Q&As and video conferences.

Course schedule:

• Online classes (MS Teams):  October 6, 13, 20, 27  and  November 3, 10  (16.00-17.30)
• Online guest lecture (MS Teams): November 17 or 24 (16.00-17.00) - specific date to be announced
• Online consultations, group specific online forum/online conferences:  December 1, 15  (16.00-18.00)

Course participants are expected to have finished readings for each online unit before the respective class and to work on short home assignments. They will receive feedback on a group deliverable and individual seminar paper by December 22. Due date for the upload of the seminar paper: Friday 22 January 18.00.

The course will present an introduction to social policy. It explains key economic concepts that are relevant to designing social security systems and policy programmes. It will provide an overview over important social policies including poverty reduction, pensions, health and long-term care and unemployment insurance. Each social policy will be illustrated by concrete examples in Austria and internationally, and analyzed from an interdisciplinary perspective. Student group projects will deal with selected social policy issues in comparative perspective.

Topics covered in this course:

• social policy, social welfare and the welfare state: objectives, principles, actors, policies
• social risk and (social) insurance
• equity: concepts, issues and policies
• comparative welfare state analysis
• Evaluation of social programmes 

The course provides a framework for understanding, reviewing and critical analysis of alternative approaches to the study and 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)’, the university requires an 80% presence for completing the course successfully.

In the winter-term 2020/2021, this course will be taught in distance mode. There will be six online units of 90 minutes duration which combine online-lectures (30 to 45 minutes), in-class assigments and interactive formats. In addition there will be an online guest lecture (60 minutes, including Q&A, date to be announced). The online lectures will be complemented by home assignments to be prepared and delivered partly individually and partly in small teams. Group presentations will be given asynchronously. Teams will be asked to upload a presentation (videos, voice-annotated powerpoints or podcasts). They will be coached via MS Teams and a peer feedback process will be organized for group deliverables. Last not least, students will work on an individual seminar papers again supported by video consulation.

• online lectures
• team-based learning
• group-specific online discussion forums
• (offline/asynchronous) presentation
• written papers  (e.g. class minutes, response paper, seminar paper) 

Assessments (relative weights in the final grade): 

• active participation during online units (engaging in Q&A, completing and presenting in-class assigments): 10% 
• (two) 15 minutes in-class quizzes (2 open questions on the content of the online lecture to be answered in writing immediately after the unit): 20%
• group presentation (20 minutes, pre-recorded): 20%
• providing written peer feedback: 10%
• seminar paper (individual): 40%

Grades (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)