Master's Degree Programme in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare

Major subject: Social Policy or Sociology
Extent: 120 credits/ECTS credits
Duration: two academic years

Master's Degree Programme in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare is jointly organised by three European universities: University of Tampere (Finland), Johannes Kepler University (Linz, Austria) and Mykolas Romeris University (Vilnius, Lithuania). The programme aims in improving students' academic credentials and in enhancing their career prospects as highly qualified analysts and applied researchers in national, European and international organisations. Graduates are expected to work in the areas of welfare management and social policy development and they will be able to apply their skills in creating, developing and evaluating social programmes and projects.
The COSOPO programme will provide the graduates with competence in understanding theories of social policy and welfare as well as an ability to engage in an open and critical examination of these fields. They will also gain knowledge and understanding of comparative and interdisciplinary welfare and social policy research. After the completion of the programme the students will be able use and accomplish research in the fields of social policy and welfare in countries representing different welfare models. The programme also offers an excellent opportunity for intercultural communication and learning by combining contact teaching, organised during intensive periods in the three universities, with on-line learning.

For more information please see http://www.uta.fi/yky/cosopo

Master's Degree Programme in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare is jointly organised by the University of Tampere (Finland), Johannes Kepler University (Linz, Austria) and Mykolas Romeris University (Vilnius, Lithuania). The programme has two major subjects: Social Policy and Sociology. At the University of Tampere 10 students will be admitted to the programme (the number of students per major subject has not been specified). For more information, please see the general description of the programme.

Application period

International Master's degree programme application period II, 3.12.2012-15.2.2013

Language of tuition

English

Application procedure

Applications are to be submitted through the centralised University Admissions Finland (UAF) service. Instructions for applicants are available at http://www.uta.fi/admissions/degreeprog/applying.html

Eligibility

Eligible to apply for the Master's degree programme in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare is a person who has a completed university level Bachelor's degree or equivalent in the major subject of the programme or in a closely related subject. In addition, fluency in English sufficiently advanced for academic studies is required.

Admission criteria by admission group

A completed university level Bachelor's degree or equivalent in the major subject or in a closely related field. The bachelor's degree must be completed by the time that the programme begins. If the degree is not completed by the end of the application period, an applicant can be accepted to the programme on the condition that s/he sends the degree certificate to the School office by the end of July. The applicant will first receive a notification on conditional acceptance and later an official letter of acceptance once the degree certificate has reached the School office.

Applicants must submit evidence on a good command of English for academic purposes:

• TOEFL, Test of English as a Foreign Language; 90/Internet-based, 575/paper-based
• IELTS (Academic), International English Language Testing System; 6.5 with no individual score below 5.5
• PTE (Academic) 62

Applicants who have taken their Bachelor studies and obtained their Bachelor's degree conducted in English in one of the following countries are exempt from the language test: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Students are selected to the programme from those applicants who fulfil the official admission criteria. The following selection criteria are taken into account in the selection process:

• Above average academic performance in Bachelor degree studies
• Above average academic performance in those disciplinary fields (social policy, sociology, social work, political sciences) which are relevant to the programme
• Evidently high academic motivation
• Previous activities in social policy and welfare –related fields

The selection will be firmly grounded on previous academic merits and motivation. However, considering the scope of the programme, also non-academic activities (such as voluntary work on relevant NGOs or previous international experiences such as student exchange) will be taken into consideration in the selection process.