Detail programu/oboru

Public and Social Policy (PSP) is a two-year English-language Master’s degree programme, which aims to provide students with current relevant knowledge of policy-making process and cultivate their analytical skills. In addition to theoretical knowledge about policy-making process, the programme will offer deeper knowledge in concrete policy domains such as social policy, health policy, educational policy, employment policy or others. The special attention in the programme will be given to research methodology and policy analysis skills. The combination of knowledge about policy process and methodology skills will lead to unique competences and excellent professional employment or for further studying or research career.

The programme is developed in accordance with almost twenty years’ experience with the Czech program on Public and Social Policy. It will, however, be supplemented by experience with already existing English courses and realized international research programs. Similarly, the comparative dimension will be enhanced. The theoretical grounds of the discipline will be covered especially in courses Public Policy a Social Policy. The knowledge about concrete policy domains will be provided in courses Educational Policy, Health Policy and Civil Society in Central Europe. Methodological knowledge and skills will be developed in courses Policy Analysis, Introduction to Social Research Methodology, Statistics in SPSS, Text, Narrative & Discourse Analysis and Diploma Seminar I and II. During the program, both individual and collective students’ work on concrete social and policy problems will be sustained.

Description of verification and evaluation criteria:

In addition to the application, the following documents must be provided:

a) Copy of a diploma to show completed Bachelor (or higher) studies or confirmation that ongoing Bachelor studies will be completed in the current academic year;

b) Transcript of records and academic results from previous studies;

c) Structured CV;

d) Motivation letter;

e) Document showing the level of English proficiency

Ad e) Applicants should provide a certificate from one of the following standardized tests:

• IELTS Academic - the minimum required overall band score of 6.5, with band score 6.0 or above in all four components;

• TOEFL Internet-Based Test (IBT) - the minimum required overall score of 83, with a minimum scaled score in the four sections: reading 19, writing 24, listening 20, speaking 20;

• Cambridge ESOL FCE - minimum Cambridge English Scale Score of 180;

• Cambridge ESOL CAE and CPE receiving a certificate.

A standardized English test is not required from applicants who:

• are native English speakers;

• have studied in English at the secondary school level for at least two years;

• have studied in English at the university level for at least one year;

• have worked for at least one year at a company where the language of communication was English;

• have passed Level II of the CFA exams in English.

When a score from an English-language test is not presented, the applicants should provide a certificate of their use of English during their prior studies or employment to support their claim. The certificate should contain contact information (an email address and a telephone number) to person (a programme director, or an employee supervisor) who can confirm the scope of the use of English language in the program or employment.

Confirmation of studies may be substituted with a transcript of records, provided that these are from the same academic year as the application.                                          

All documents which are not originally in Czech, Slovak or English must be officially translated into English.

The admissions committee will assess applicants for study on the basis of the documents submitted and give them a ranking from 0-10 points. The structure of points is as follows: relevance of previous studies to the field of public and social policy (0-6 points); English proficiency (0-2 points); motivation to study (0-2 points). The point limit for accepting applicants is set by the Dean. A pre-condition for being accepted is the completion of Bachelor degree studies.

Podmínkou přijetí ke studiu v magisterském studijním programu je dosažení středního vzdělání s maturitní zkouškou. Podmínkou přijetí ke studiu v magisterském studijním programu, který navazuje na bakalářský studijní program, je rovněž řádné ukončení studia v kterémkoliv typu studijního programu.

The graduates have acquired the knowledge and skills that enable them to effectively and efficiently perform analytical, conceptual, organisational, interactive and managing tasks in creating and implementing public and social policies in the Czech Republic and within the international context. They can work at all levels of civil service, in research, non-profit and for-profit organisations and companies.