Master of Public Policy
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
About
The Master of Public Policy (MPP) is a two-year full time postgraduate program for current and aspiring policy actors.
The program is designed to support your development as a professional policy actor in the ‘art and craft’ of policy making able to work effectively across both government and non-government sectors.
Politics, governance and uncertainty shape policy responses to complex issues and social problems, and the new and enduring challenges facing communities locally, nationally and globally.
The program will provide you with transferrable skills for making policy, thinking and planning strategically, using evidence to shape decisions, leading and managing change, advocacy and representation, and developing ethical and reflective practice.The MPP program of study is informed by RMIT’s unique approach to meeting the challenge of being ready for life and work:
offering an education deeply grounded in ideas and cross-disciplinary understanding, applied through innovative, enterprising practice to solving problems and meeting the needs of our community.
This means your study of public policy will combine a mix of robust and challenging theoretical ideas drawn from the social sciences to support your critical thinking and research capacity development, workshop engagement with key tools and techniques for contemporary policy making and individual, industry-based policy research experience.
You are able to complete the program face to face or a blend of face to face and online.A capstone experience designed around a research project relating to your professional context will enable you to synthesize and integrate your knowledge, connect theory and practice as well as demonstrate your holistic achievement of the program learning outcomes.
You will creatively explore real-world issues, simulating the role of policy worker in the professional practice context.The program is designed to support your professional development as a policy change agent, able to confidently engage fully with complex problems, incorporate cross disciplinary knowledge and partners, use innovative and enterprising ideas and have the courage to deliver just and sustainable change.
Structure
Year One of Program
Complete the following Eight (8) Courses:
| Course Title | Credit Points | Course Code | Campus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Introduction to Policy: Concepts, Debates and Practices | 12 | POLI1107 | City Campus |
| Global Governance | 12 | POLI1099 | City Campus |
| Social and Political Theory | 12 | HUSO2075 | City Campus |
| Policy Making | 12 | POLI1052 | City Campus |
| Social Policy | 12 | POLI1051 | City Campus |
| Research Strategies - Social Sciences | 12 | HUSO2079 | City Campus |
| Policy Design and Implementation | 12 | POLI1108 | City Campus |
| Policy Making and Indigenous Peoples | 12 | POLI1112 | City Campus |
Year Two of Program
Complete the following Four (4) Courses:
| Course Title | Credit Points | Course Code | Campus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Policy Impact: Monitoring and Evaluating | 12 | POLI1109 | City Campus |
| Evidence, Policy and Practice | 12 | POLI1095 | City Campus |
| Ethics, Values and Public Policy | 12 | POLI1065 | City Campus |
| Integrated Policy and Research Project | 24 | POLI1100 | City Campus |
Select and Complete Thirty Six (36) credit points from any of the following Option Clusters: Research:
| Course Title | Credit Points | Course Code | Campus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Minor Thesis 1 | 12 | HUSO2351 | City Campus |
| Masters Minor Thesis 2 | 12 | HUSO2352 | City Campus |
| Masters Minor Thesis | 24 | HUSO2350 | City Campus |
Public Policy
| Course Title | Credit Points | Course Code | Campus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Policy Futures | 12 | POLI1096 | City Campus |
| Policy Communication | 12 | POLI1091 | City Campus |
| Sociology of Social Problems | 12 | HUSO2344 | City Campus |
| Environmental Policy and Governance | 12 | ENVI1127 | City Campus |
Human Services
| Course Title | Credit Points | Course Code | Campus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced Advocacy and Social Action | 12 | HUSO2069 | City Campus |
| Conflict Resolution and Mediation | 12 | ARCH1271 | City Campus |
| Discourses of Care, Control and Protection | 12 | HWSS2211 | City Campus |
| Working with Violence and Abuse | 12 | HWSS2159 | City Campus |
| Group and Community Work Strategies | 12 | HWSS2213 | City Campus |
Urban and Regional Planning
| Course Title | Credit Points | Course Code | Campus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strategic Planning issues | 12 | ARCH1261 | City Campus |
| Planning for Community Development | 12 | ARCH1268 | City Campus |
| Natural Resource Management | 12 | ARCH1482 | City Campus |
| Statutory Planning | 12 | ENVI1134 | City Campus |
| Critical Urban Issues: Resilience | 12 | HUSO2204 | City Campus |
| Indigenous Sovereignty and Contemporary Land Policy | 12 | HUSO2066 | City Campus |
| Social Planning | 12 | ARCH1321 | City Campus |
Environment
| Course Title | Credit Points | Course Code | Campus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Climate Change Responses | 12 | ENVI1222 | City Campus |
| Sustainable water management | 12 | ARCH1266 | City Campus |
| Ecosystems and Human Impact | 12 | ENVI1162 | City Campus |
| Sustainability, Governance and Social Change | 12 | ENVI1169 | City Campus |
International Development and Global Studies
| Course Title | Credit Points | Course Code | Campus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gender in Development | 12 | HUSO2085 | City Campus |
| International Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance | 12 | SOCU2234 | City Campus |
| Governance and Democracy in Development | 12 | HUSO2073 | City Campus |
| Humanitarian Intervention and Security in an Age of Crisis | 12 | POLI1113 | City Campus |
| Human Trafficking | 12 | HUSO2197 | City Campus |
Justice and Legal Studies
| Course Title | Credit Points | Course Code | Campus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comparative Criminal Justice Systems | 12 | HUSO2224 | City Campus |
| Criminal Law | 12 | HUSO2371 | City Campus |
| Introduction to Applied Human Rights | 12 | HUSO2286 | City Campus |
| Applied Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples | 12 | HUSO2295 | City Campus |
| Introduction to Criminology | 12 | SOCU2291 | City Campus |
Entry requirements
Successful completion of an Australian Bachelor degree (or equivalent overseas qualification) with a minimum GPA 2.5 (out of 4.0), or significant work experience or professional practice
For equivalents to Australian academic entry requirements, see the Country Equivalency web page on the RMIT website.
English language requirements
A minimum of IELTS (Academic module) overall score of 6.5, with no band less than 6.0, or equivalent. For equivalents to English entry requirements, see the English requirements web page.
Learning outcomes
As a graduate of this program you will be able to:
- Critically analyse the social, political, ethical, institutional, economic and environmental factors that both enable and limit policy change;
- Make use of complex theories, diverse evidence and modes of reasoning, to extend and challenge knowledge and practice in policy and social innovation.
- Demonstrate research literacy in terms of recognizing and accounting for the potential and limitations of research findings and their application to policy problems;
- Value ongoing professional development, diverse stakeholder engagement and collaborative relationships in the design and implementation of policy initiatives.
- Use problem solving skills/methodologies to develop creative responses to contemporary social problems/policy issues;
- Demonstrate well developed written and oral communication skills and confidently construct, debate and critique policy arguments.
- Independently develop and manage a professional project designed to contribute to policy change or social innovation.
Institution
