Postgraduate Certificate in Public Policy

Program Overview

---

Postgraduate Certificate in Public Policy (Online)

Key Information

Duration

1-year (Max. 3-years)

Start of Programme

October / January / April / June

Attendance Mode

Online learning (part-time)

Location

Online

Fees

£3,640 (PGCert)

Course Code

OLTF0030

Entry Requirements

• Recognised UK Bachelor's degree, or international equivalent, in a social science discipline.
• Qualifications in other subjects will be assessed on their merits.
• Previous education and experience, equivalent to a degree-level qualification, which includes suitable preliminary training.
• All international applicants must be able to show that their English is of a high enough standard to successfully engage with and complete their course at SOAS.

Course Overview

Formulated for people working in policy-making and advisory capacities, this Certificate provides an overview of the variety of approaches to public policy and management from a historical and comparative perspective.

Why Study Postgraduate Certificate in Public Policy (Online) at SOAS?

• SOAS is ranked 38th in the UK for Accounting and Finance (Complete University Guide 2023).
• We're ranked 6th in UK for graduate employability (QS World University Rankings 2023).
• Programmes are delivered by a multicultural and international teaching body, who regularly publish in top international journals.
• You will develop an excellent understanding of key issues shaping international business strategy
• You will be joining our community of alumni and academics who have an impact on the outside world of academia.

Structure

You can study any two of the following modules:

Modules

Decentralisation and Local Governance - 30 credits

• Decentralisation is a worldwide reality, as most countries are already engaged in a more or less advanced form of it.
• The module covers the following topics:
  • What is Decentralisation?
  • Decentralisation in Practice
  • Conditions Needed to Make Decentralisation Work
  • Political Decentralisation, State-Society Relations and Domestic Accountability
  • Administrative Decentralisation
  • Fiscal Decentralisation
  • Local Government Autonomy and Capacity
  • Monitoring, Evaluation and Decentralisation

Environmental and Social Impact Assessment - 30 credits

• As you will learn in this module, the intended beneficiaries or investors are not the only audiences to whom it must be demonstrated that a project’s technical, institutional and financial attributes warrant that the project will be worthwhile.
• The module covers the following topics:
  • Introduction to ESIA
  • Laying the Foundations for ESIA
  • Impact Assessment – the ‘Heart’ of ESIA
  • Impact Management, Reporting and Decision-Making
  • ESIA Stakeholder Engagement/Public Consultation
  • Improving the Effectiveness of ESIA
  • Thematic and Specialised Assessment Techniques
  • Strategic and Emerging Forms of Assessment

Privatisation and Public Private Partnerships - 30 credits

• This module aims to introduce you to the main forms of cooperation between the state and the private sector in the provision of public goods and services.
• The module covers the following topics:
  • Defining Public-Private Relationships
  • The Size and Institutional Framework of Public Procurement
  • Designing Public Procurement
  • Concessions of Public Assets
  • Public-Private Partnerships (PPP): Principles
  • PPP Case Studies
  • Privatising Public Assets
  • Privatisation Case Studies

Project, Programme and Policy Evaluation - 30 credits

• In this module you will learn about evaluation, and specifically about the types of evaluation that assesses the achievements of public interventions and uncover the lessons learned which have wider application.
• The module covers the following topics:
  • History, Types and Uses of Evaluation
  • Designing an Ex-Post Evaluation: Programme Theory and the Importance of Context
  • Project Evaluation I
  • Project Evaluation II
  • Evaluation Methods: Quantitative, Qualitative and Mixed
  • Programme Evaluation I
  • Programme Evaluation II
  • Policy Evaluation, and Being an Evaluator

Public Policy and Strategy - 30 credits

• Welcome to this module on public policy and strategy.
• The module covers the following topics:
  • Strategy and the Policy Process
  • The Contexts for Strategy
  • Strategic Issues, Stakeholders and Evidence
  • Complexity, and How to Produce a Strategic Plan
  • Strategy into Practice: Approaches and Instruments
  • Implementation
  • Reviewing Strategy: Performance Management, Monitoring and Evaluation
  • Strategic Futures, and the Future of Strategy

Teaching and Learning

• Students are individually assigned an academic tutor for the duration of the module, with whom you can discuss academic queries at regular intervals during the study session.
• You are required to complete two Assignments for this module, which will be marked by your tutor.
• Assignments are each worth 15% of your total mark.
• You will also sit a three-hour examination on a specified date in September/October, worth 70% of your total mark.

Fees and Funding

• Tuition fees 2022/23: £3,640 (PGCert)
• Fees are inclusive of all required resources.
• Whilst we incorporate all of the costs into your module fees, depending on your country of residence, you may incur local costs such as: fees paid to local examination centres for sitting your examinations.

Employment

• Graduates in Public Policy are likely to work in government, at national and sub-national levels, both as politicians and officials, within international organisations offering help to governments, in consultancies in public sector analysis and reform, and in NGOs operating in development and service delivery fields.