Further details of this degree can be found at the front of the prospectus. In Applied Social Studies there is a 22-month course which offers the joint qualifications of an MSc and a DipSW from the UK Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work. In addition to the two compulsory papers, students write a dissertation of up to 7,500 words and take a third paper from a list of options which include Social Justice and Distribution, British Social Policy, Gender and Social Policy, Demography, Criminology, Health and Health Care, History of Welfare States, Comparative Education, Social Behaviour, Sociology of Politics, Sociology of Economic Life, Social Stratification, Sociology of Education, Sociology of Law, and Advanced Social Statistics. Teaching in some options may not be available every year. This is an extended version of the MSc course.
Students take the same two compulsory papers as they do for the MSc in Comparative Social Policy.
The MPhil thus provides a broad training in social policy and also enables the student to explore a particular problem in depth. It is possible to convert the MPhil thesis into a doctoral thesis in one further year of study. This is feasible for students who are analysing existing datasets, but students who wish to undertake their own fieldwork for the doctorate are advised to take the shorter MSc course. There is also some flexibility between the MSc and MPhil courses so that students can, in appropriate circumstances, apply to move from the shorter to the longer course, or vice versa. The department has been granted one ESRC 'quota' award.