Social Policy Analysis

What is this Structured Elective about?
Social Policy is focused on generating evidence-based understandings of social problems and devising evidence-based policy responses. This discipline also incorporates the historical and comparative study of responses to social problems by governments and other actors including: households, non-governmental organisations and the market sector and examines how social problems and policy responses are shaped by the political, social and economic context.

Why should I take this Structured Elective?
It will provide a platform for the further development of this subject outside the BSocSc in Social Policy and Sociology and enable students who are not registered to this degree to study social policy and thereby gain the significant academic and job market benefits outlined below.


How would this Structured Elective benefit me?
Social policy provides knowledge and skills which are relevant to a large number of professions, including: policy making and research, the civil service and the health and social professions. In addition, there are very significant synergies between social policy and the other social science subjects, particularly: politics and international relations, geography, economics, sociology and planning and environmental policy. Social policy is directly relevant to several legal specialisms such as family and human rights law, to the health professions such as nursing and to humanities subjects such as history.

How do I take the modules in this Structured Elective?

• In order to earn this Structured Elective you must take the specified modules in or after 2019/20
• To receive this Structured Elective you must take the required modules as Elective modules and not as Core or Option modules.
• Students must pick any 3 modules (15 credits) from the list of modules below to be eligible for the structured elective in Social Policy Analysis. The modules can be from any level.
• Over the course of your undergraduate studies you will have the opportunity to take elective modules in each year of your programme, so if you wish to undertake this Structured Elective in Social Policy Analysis you must ensure that at least three of your elective choices are in the field of Social Policy from the list below.
• Students who successfully complete 15 credits in Social Policy Analysis will have this automatically noted on their final UCD degree transcript. The transcript will state that you have completed 'Structured Elective in Social Policy Analysis', in addition to your main degree subjects.