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 attend at least 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 are scheduled, the same attendance requirements apply.

In this course we will use the WU Check-in for the attendance check (for attendance only, not for online participation).

Assessment (relative weights in the final grade): 

• written test (single-choice test): 20%
• group project: 40%
• response paper ("reaction paper") related to a social policy reading (individual): 40%

Please note that your presence for the presentation of the group projects (June 3 + June 10) is indispensable.

Please also note that the use of AI for your response paper is strictly limited to querying concepts or methods that are mentioned in the paper you discuss and for which you seek a better understanding. You should neither copy & paste nor paraphrase text generated by a large-language model (such as ChatGPT). WU uses AI-dection tools to screen student submissions.

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)