Module SGIA40V15: Public Policy Reform

Department: Government and International Affairs

SGIA40V15: Public Policy Reform

Prerequisites

• None

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• The module will equip students with an advanced understanding of the economic, institutional, and political factors that shape public policy challenges and reforms across diverse national contexts;
• The module will develop students to the analysis of policy failures and how to derive practical solutions by applying lessons from successful reforms and global experiences.

Content

• The module will familiarise students to key policy areas, which could include areas such as: migration, climate, energy, security, health, taxation, state capacity, and corruption, among others.

Learning Outcomes

• Through the module students will gain an understanding of:
• The economic, institutional, and political factors that either hinder or facilitate public policy reform efforts;
• Key public policy areas across diverse national contexts spanning developing and developed economies;
• Various specialized approaches for addressing public policy failures across multiple sectors and policy areas.

• Students will also develop some subject specific skills, such as:
• Ability to critically analyse the underlying factors contributing to public policy failures and understand the reasons for why these failures persist over time;
• Ability to identify the complex economic, institutional, and political conditions that enable successful public policy reform;
• Ability to conduct independent, in-depth analyses of complex public policy issues and formulate actionable plans to address them.

• Problem-solving skills: Ability to identify and critically address decision-making failures and policy implementation;
• Research skills: Ability to conduct independent and advanced data- and context-driven research and produce well-structured policy papers;
• Strategic thinking: Ability to design and evaluate comprehensive reform strategies that account for political, economic, and institutional constraints.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Teaching and learning are through a series of 1-hour lectures and seminars.
• Lectures will familiarize students with latest literature in topics related to the economic, institutional and political factors behind public policy failures and reform options.
• Seminars will allow students to practice applying insights from these topics to a variety of public policy issue areas and contexts including using case-studies.
• Summative assessment is a 2,500-word policy paper that builds upon the formative. Students will identify a public policy failure in a country of their choice, analyse the factors that explain such policy failure, discuss alternative policy options based on lessons learned from other countries, and suggest a policy solution.
• Formative assessment is a 1,000-word mapping exercise of actors and institutions behind a public policy failure. This supports the summative assessment.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Formative assessment is a 1,000-word mapping exercise of actors and institutions behind a public policy failure.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University