Bachelor of Social Sciences (Honours) in Social Policy

Programme Director: Dr SU Xiqing Susan

The Bachelor of Social Sciences (Honours) in Social Policy is a four-year full-time programme primarily for associate degree graduates who wish to acquire necessary knowledge, values and skills in policy studies. We believe that the state has the basic, essential obligations to plan, finance and provide goods, services and opportunities to fulfil social and national needs, enhance social qualities, social justice and equity. Social policies are therefore not merely responses to claims of partisans or interest groups, nor should be alternatives solutions to problems or challenges with structural factors. Social policies can champion for the long-term wellness and development for individuals, cohesion and mutual support among social groups and for a balance of development in the society. Administrators or managers of public and community services, other than efficient and effective operators, can also be advocates for positive changes, as well as the change agents for informal, decentralised, distributive and integrated process with due respect to citizen participation and empowerment.

More specifically, this programme aims to:

1. Develop students’ understanding and ability to participate in the making and evaluation of social policies in local, regional and international contexts. Emphases will be placed on understanding problems of social injustice and the unequal distribution of social resources in the Greater China Region;
2. Develop students’ understanding of diverse needs and the significance of social development through the studies of interface and relationships between social policies and other social science disciplines;
3. Develop students’ appreciation of and the ability to utilise social research as an integral component of social policy studies;
4. Develop students’ appreciation of and ability to utilise macro-intervention methods and knowledge to critically analyse the changing relationship between individual and the state in the local, regional and international contexts;
5. Develop students’ sensitivity to social injustice and inequality as a result of specific social structures, emergences of social changes and the promotion of general wellness of human beings in the contemporary society; and
6. Develop the understanding of the contents and impacts of specific social policies as well as the rights and needs of disadvantaged groups such as ethnic minorities and senior citizens in the society.

Most of courses are taught by a combination of lecture-discussions with relevant field experiences such as site-visits, observations, and case studies.

The structure of the curriculum is as follows:

Requirements

The four-year degree programme requires students to complete a total of 128 units, including 57 units of Major Courses, 6 units of Honours Project, 13 units of University Core Courses, 18 units of General Education Courses (3 units of General Education Capstone Course is included) and 34 units of Free Electives.

Students with Associate Degree or Higher Diploma qualifications will normally be admitted directly into the third year of study to complete the programme in two years. The number of courses/units the students are required to complete will depend on the number of courses/units for which exemption and/or unit transfer will be granted. All unit transfer or course exemption shall be considered on a case-by-case basis upon admission. Students are required to complete all programme prerequisites, University Core and General Education Courses to meet the graduation requirement. Make-up courses may be required on admission.

Specifically, students are required to complete 66 units for graduation, including 42 units of Major Required Courses, 15 units of Major Elective Courses, 3 units of General Education Capstone Course, and 6 units of Honours Project.

The programme structure is set out as follows: