Public Policy and Management – (M.Sc.)

Contents

Programme Structure

* Eight courses from the following:
* Public policy and management: perspectives and issues
* Public financial management: planning and performace
* Human resource management and development
* Management information and information systems
* Decentralisation and local governance
* Public financial management: revenue
* Managing organisational change
* Project appraisal and impact analysis
* Public financial management: reporting and audit
* Privatisation and public-private partnerships
* Public policy and strategy
* The International Monetary Fund and economic policy
* Research methods
* Dissertation

How you study

Without leaving your job or home you can study, write and submit assignments, receive expert guidance from your CeFiMS tutor and advice from the student support team. In addition to printed study materials, the Online Study Centre allows students to work with course materials, send queries to tutors and submit assignments via the Internet.

When you take a CeFiMS distance learning course you will be sent everything you need to complete your studies. A typical set of course learning materials would include:

* Core text. All courses centre on a specially written core text analogous to a series of lectures.
* Textbooks. and collections of readings . Most courses also include one or more textbooks and a collection of recent or classic articles of importance to the subject.
* Study calendar. Students are provided with a study calendar for each course which sets out the schedule for your coursework and assignment deadlines.
* Student handbook. Contains advice on how to tackle assignments and written examinations. There is also a 'Study Skills' textbook and an audio CD offering suggestions on distance learning.

Online Study Centre (OSC) Created by CeFiMS to provide additional resources and support, the Online Study Centre [external link] allows students to:

* access study materials that complement printed texts
* submit assignments
* communicate with tutors
* contact support staff regarding administrative queries
* access online resources provided by the University of London Library including full-text journal databases of JSTOR and EBSCO.

Note: Students who are eligible to use the OSC are automatically contacted by CeFiMS staff and given information about how to access the system for their course.

Assessment

With the exception of 'Research methods' all modules are assessed by two assignments (of about 2,500 words each) and one three-hour unseen written examination. 'Research methods' is assessed by a dissertation of not more than 10,000 words (excluding the bibliography and appendices).

The grade awarded on each individual module will be based on the mark obtained in the written examination and on the combined mark for the assignments. The examination mark and the combined mark of the assignments will be weighted on the scale 70:30. If you fail an examination at the first sitting, you will be allowed one further attempt after which your registration will cease.

Exams, both overseas and in the UK, take place once a year in September/October. They are normally held in a student's country of residence, using the existing system of overseas examinations authorities which the University of London operates for all its External students. Exams for students in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland are normally held in London.