Master's Degree Programme in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare, 120 op

Upon completing the programme, students will be able to:

- understand the European dimension of social policy and welfare

- engage in an open and critical examination in the fields of social policy and welfare

- use and accomplish research in the fields of social policy and welfare in the countries representing different welfare models.

- meet the different professional demands in the fields of social policy, welfare, social and welfare statistics, social security systems, labour policy, poverty, gender etc.

- discuss relevant current literature, approach new scholarship, and critically present in public

- develop, complete and defend scientific papers

Master's Degree Programme in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare is jointly organised by three European universities: Tampere University (Finland), Johannes Kepler University (Linz, Austria) and Mykolas Romeris University (Vilnius, Lithuania).

The COSOPO programme provides an interdisciplinary approach to contemporary societies in Europe. It is based on the strong research tradition on social policy and welfare in social sciences in the Tampere University, in the Johannes Kepler University and in the Mykolas Romenius University. The aim of the programme is to facilitate the understanding of social policy and welfare in Europe. The programme focuses, for example, on the dynamics of social policy in the countries representing different welfare models and on analyzing different fields of social policies from various perspectives. During the programme students will learn about comparative designs, and about methodology on qualitative and quantitative policy studies.

The curriculum of the programme combines contact teaching and literature examinations with on-line learning. Most courses start with contact teaching which takes place during the intensive programmes organized in Vilnius, Lithuania; Tampere, Finland and Linz, Austria. These two-week intensive programmes bring together the students of all three universities to participate in lectures, seminars and excursions. Afterwards the courses continue on-line. In addition, students conduct a Master’s thesis on social policy and welfare issues. Each partner university organizes a local Master’s thesis seminar for supervising the students. These seminar groups are brought together in the last intensive programme during the second year of studies so that all students can give and receive feedback for their Master’s thesis from each other and from the professors of all three universities.

The programme prepares students for postgraduate studies, independent research work as well as for professional expertise on social policy and welfare. At the Tampere University the students graduate with the degree of Master of Social Sciences.

Please note that there will be changes to the current curriculum from 1.8.2020. However, the changes will not apply to those students who have started their studies before 2020.