The Master of Arts in Social Policy (MASP) Programme is a one-year full-time programme which aims at providing high quality postgraduate education to those who already are, or plan to be, social workers, policy analysts or practitioners. The programme is designed for students who have a good bachelor’s degree in any discipline and want to develop a career in social policy, social services, and public services.

The one-year training course of the Programme is intensive and rigorous. It has a curriculum that covers areas and contents which are both theoretical and practical, and that is essential to the academic study of social policy and policy making activities that promote the well-being of society. The Programme has a comparative perspective. Apart from referring to international social policy experience in general, it also looks at social policy practice in the Chinese societies of Hong Kong and mainland China in particular. This comparative perspective enables students to integrate the need to understand the broad and theoretical picture of social policy on the one hand with the need to be based on specific cultural, social and developmental contexts on the other hand, in order to design social policies appropriate to the local scene.

Introduction

In recent years, both Hong Kong and the Mainland have experienced phenomenal economic growth. However, economic prosperity is usually accompanied by acute social problems, and potential concerns are there to be dealt with. Both governments, aiming at building a harmonious society, pay much attention to social problems, and have formulated and implemented various social development policies to address those problems. In Hong Kong, the government has started to encourage more public participation in policy discussion, formulation and implementation. A lot of professionals including social workers, educators, policy analysts, and scholars are being invited to join various governmental advisory bodies to give their views. In addition, various pressure groups and think-tanks are keen to voice their opinions on social policies. All of the above heighten the training needs of social policy professionals in Hong Kong.

In view of the situation, the Department offers a full-time one-year Master of Arts in Social Policy (MASP) Programme. This Programme aims at providing high quality postgraduate education to those who either are or plan to be social work educators or practitioners. The ultimate aim of the Programme is to raise the standards of research, formulation, and implementation as well as the evaluation of social policies; and to cultivate a group of social workers who possess the ability to critically analyse social policies.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the Programme, students are expected to demonstrate the following abilities:

1) Be able to analyse, formulate, implement and evaluate theoretical and practical knowledge regarding social policy;

2) Be able apply scientific research methods to investigate and examine issues related to social policy;

3) Be able to understand current social policies in East Asia (including Hong Kong and China) with a focus on characteristics and the reform of social welfare; and

4) Be able to integrate the theories of social policy with practical experience.

Programme of Study

The Programme consists of 6 required courses, and 2 elective courses to be completed in one academic year of study beginning in September.