Masters Degrees in Public Policy, Netherlands

'Public Policy' (formerly: Socio-Economic Policy) is one of the specialized tracks of the Master's program in Economics. The track focuses on how governments can achieve their domestic policy objectives, design effective policies, and finance their activities.

Tilburg University is ranked #11 worldwide in Business and Economics (Times Higher Education, 2016).

Important domestic public policy objectives range from reduced income inequality and job security, to an affordable health care and pension system. Effective public policy requires the balancing of public services provision and individual incentives to makes use of these services. In this track you study how public policies and tax schemes can be designed to create the right incentives and nudges and make societal goals within reach.

Career perspectives

This track is advised to you if you wish to pursue a career as policy advisor in national governments (Ministry of Social Affairs, or other Ministries) or in international organizations such as the EU, as a researcher in applied research institutes (e.g., Netherlands Bureau of Economic Research (CPB)), or as a consultant with nationally or internationally oriented consultancy firms.

Examples of functions of recent graduates of this track:
•Data-Analyst at the Municipality of Amsterdam
•Statistical Researcher labor and mobility at Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek
•Policy advisor Decentralisations at the Municipality of Culemborg
•Policy Advisor at the Ministry of Finance
•Doctoral Student at the University of Oxford
•Junior Pensions Specialist at Syntrus Achmea
•Economic Adviser at VÖB Bundesverband Öffentlicher Banken Deutschlands
•Policy Advisor at Ministry of Economic Affairs
•Consumer Finance Associate at De Lage Landen
•Policy Advisor at Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment
•Statistical Analyst at De Nederlandsche Bank
•Market Mitigation and Analysis at NYISO

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Worldwide, governments and societies today are confronted with big challenges like climate change, rapid technological innovations, and economic crises, that raise all kinds of new organizational, policy, and ethical issues. These challenges pose both opportunities and constraints for a multitude of public, non-profit, and private actors. For example, a sudden influx of refugees causes anxiety among citizens and high costs for shelter, but can boost knowledge and economic growth in the long run. Social media and advanced data sharing technologies enable citizens to organize themselves, but also come with potential risks of privacy invasion. The financial crisis has laid bare the fragility of the global economy, but also the important role that governments still play in regulating markets. Such challenges have political, administrative, financial, and policy aspects that need to be handled within a governance perspective.

Visit the website: http://en.mastersinleiden.nl/programmes/public-administration/en/introduction

Course detail

In the midst of all the turmoil, we expect governments to be transparent, effective, and efficient problem solvers. The main question that we ask in the Master of Public Administration is therefore:

How can we address humankind’s most pressing problems from the perspective of governance?

The Master of Public Administration focuses on the management, steering, and coordination of political, administrative, economic, and social actors, as well as the formal and informal regimes and policy processes within which they act towards addressing collective social problems at regional, national, and international levels. A defining hallmark of the master is that governance is studied and taught from a multi-level perspective. This means that there is no single level of governance at which societal challenges can be addressed best. For example, the Ebola disease started as a local governance problem of a few countries but transformed itself rapidly into a global problem due to the disease’s spread by means of modern transportation. Boat refugees, to take another example, who flee their homelands because of local famine or civil wars poses a major challenge for the European Union.

Format

These examples show that for educating future public policy professionals, in order to be able to address these problems in an adequate ways, a holistic rather than a single-level approach is needed. Hence, the various tracks within the Master of Public Administration span the intricacies of multi-level governance by a multitude of public and private actors, all the way to the management of organizations and the behaviour of individual public managers.

Specialisations

- Economics and Governance
- International and European Governance
- Public Management: Linking Politics and Policy

Careers

The combination of academic and professional skills taught in the master’s programme makes Leiden graduates excellent candidates for positions in national and international Public Administration as well as for managerial positions in the private sector. Many of them also find their way to consultancy organisations.

How to apply: http://en.mastersinleiden.nl/arrange/admission

Funding

For information regarding funding, please visit the website: http://prospectivestudents.leiden.edu/scholarships

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Economic Policy

The MSc in Economic Policy deals with complex societal issues, with a focus on the role of government policies, ranging from the organisation of care and the provision of social insurance to policies of sustainable growth. You will learn to apply modern economics to questions relating to labour market reform, inequality, the future of education and health care, energy transition and sustainable economic growth.
You will take courses that combine economic theory with socio-economic policy-making in a small group of students representing diverse academic and cultural backgrounds. This diversity helps to create a learning environment that encourages intense discussion and interaction.

Characteristics:
*Analyse topical issues in depth
In order to prepare you fully for the job market, you will explore important topics such as the key concepts of public finance, active labour market policies and sustainable economic growth.

*Pay special attention to questions around sustainable growth and development in public policy
One of the main challenges for the future is how to make the transition to sustainability, not only in terms of use of natural resources, but also with respect to the institutional framework of society, e.g. the tax-and-transfer system and the issue of sustainable finance. The insights of behavioural economics are used to improve public policy decision-making.

*Be part of a small, international community
The high staff-to-student ratio in tutorials encourages close interaction between you, your peers, and your professors and lecturers in this highly international programme.

*Learn from active and experienced professionals
Our tutors and academics have significant professional experience as researchers, advisors and consultants.

"The initial core modules are challenging, but covered important economic theories and techniques. This is built on with constant reference to real-world situations and implications throughout the year, making it all the more engaging. The teaching staff, who are open and extremely proficient in English, have extensive professional experience. Courses didn't just cover economic measurement and analysis, but also policy design, implementation and review."-John Appleton (MSc graduate United Kingdom)

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Tilburg University's Master’s in Economics program equips you with the tools needed to understand and manage the complex problems facing companies and governments in the modern economy.
What defines the modern economy? Increasingly integrated and turbulent markets, opening up unprecedented opportunities for firms as well greater risks. With your deep understanding of how markets function, when they fail, and the implications of this for market participants, you will be optimally prepared to help organizations and governments seize the opportunities available in the global economy while avoiding potential market pitfalls.

Tilburg University is ranked as #11 worldwide in Business and Economics (Times Higher Education, 2016). With its excellent quality and relatively low tuition fee, the program at Tilburg University is an excellent choice for those wanting to develop the skills, knowledge and attitude for a professional economic analyst.

The program is unique in its kind due to its flexible curriculum. Students can compose their own personalized curriculum by selecting courses from 13 different seminars and 5 methods courses. By selecting specific courses, they also have the opportunity to compose one of the specialized tracks:
-Competition and Regulation
-Public Policy
-Sustainability and Growth
-Pensions Aging and Retirement
-Money Banking and Financial Institutions
-Behavioral Economics.

Future jobs

Because of the excellent reputation of the Tilburg University Economics Department in both teaching and research, your Master's in Economics qualification gives you a competitive advantage in any career that requires sound economic knowledge, strong economic intuition, and sharp analytical and problem-solving skills.

Your degree will be an excellent launch pad for a career as consultant, analyst or policy advisor. Possible job opportunities include positions in:
•International companies
•Banks
•Management Consulting firms
•Research agencies
•Public sector
•Non-profit sector

Are you passionate about sharing your knowledge with others? After finishing your Master in Economics, Dutch graduates have the possibility to follow a one-year educational post-Master to become a teacher in General Economics.

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Social Policy and Social Interventions

In this Master's programme you will develop knowledge about interdisciplinary theoretical perspectives on social policy and interventions.

It will help you gain in-depth insight into the methodology and skills needed to research social policy and participation issues. More specifically, you will look into problems such as: loneliness, poverty, discrimination, segregation, the exclusion of vulnerable groups

You will also study people's strategies for dealing with social risks, including:
-Labour mobility and migration
-Care networks
-Neighbourhood initiatives
-Small-scale and/or multicultural collaborative efforts
-Independent entrepreneurship, etc.

This will be done by combining knowledge of the behavioural and social sciences.

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What is the societal and academic significance of 'art', 'heritage' and 'culture'? Why do we value certain works of art, heritage or cultural practices and not others? How do different ways of interpreting and presenting the arts and cultural heritage affect our ideas about the past, present and future? If you are interested in finding the answers to questions like these, and you have a passion for art and cultural heritage, the master’s programme Arts and Heritage: Policy, Management and Education might be the right choice for you.

In this programme, which you can choose to follow in English or Dutch, you'll develop the academic and professional knowledge and skills you will need to become a policy maker, art manager, museum curator or educator. This internationally-oriented programme approaches art and cultural heritage from different perspectives. You will also have plenty of opportunities to concentrate on your specific areas of interest.

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How can we understand the EU’s response to the financial crisis or to the confrontation between Ukraine and Russia? How do we account for the EU’s reaction to the refugee crisis provoked by conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa? What is Europe’s peacekeeping role and capacity? The master's programme in European Studies trains you to answer these complex questions. Because you cannot study Europe from just one angle, the programme examines global developments and multi-level governance in a broader context, combining political science, history, international relations, economics and cultural studies.

This student-centred, interdisciplinary programme is among the largest, and certainly the most international, in Europe and has an excellent reputation. You will study the internal and external dimensions of European policy, governance and administration. The focus is on the underlying issues of power and influence, governance and culture within the European milieu and between Europe and the wider world.

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The research-intensive master’s in European Studies is an interdisciplinary programme that combines political science and international relations with history and sociology. Research plays a primary role from the outset, with research projects integrated into each core module. You will gain in-depth training in methods such as quantitative and qualitative techniques, comparative methods and discourse analysis. You will also develop skills in designing research, writing research proposals, publishing your work and applying for funding and research positions. For the elective component, you can choose to take specialised courses, complete a research internship or do an exchange abroad. The master’s programme culminates with a thesis and the development of a PhD research proposal.

In this programme, you will:
- Learn to critically analyse and discuss challenges facing the EU
- Gain experience working in a multidisciplinary, international academic environment
- Receive in-depth training in conducting high-quality research
- Focus on designing, implementing and publishing your own research

A future in research

The overall objective of this programme is to equip graduates for high-level research careers in and outside academia. Thanks to the networks and activities of the research staff at Maastricht University, you will enjoy unique access to researchers at other universities, policymakers at EU institutions and member state administrations, Brussels-based interest groups, think tanks and other actors. Students in this programme also take active part in the Politics and Culture in Europe research programme, which is one of the largest research groups in European Studies.

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Master's specialisation in Economics, Behaviour and Policy

Bridging the gap between theory and practice – and applying them to the design of sound, feasible policies – can provide the key to solving micro, meso and macroeconomic issues.
How do policy makers make decisions that affect economic, societal and personal welfare? How is welfare defined and measured? And how can we design more effective policies? This specialisation covers not only econometric questions, but also psychological, cultural, legal and philosophical ones. By improving your insight into complex issues, it will prepare you for designing successful strategies in your future career as a policy maker or consultant .
Our graduates are experts in economic policies who work for government and semi-government organisations, and also as consultants in business and industry. You can do the same. By examining real-world scenarios, you’ll acquire the analytical skills you need to take research results and apply them to a wide variety of problems.

See the website http://www.ru.nl/masters/ep

Why study Economics, Behaviour and Policy at Radboud University?

- You’ll tackle economic and policy issues at all levels – focusing mostly on the real economy.
- You’ll combine learning with research: your lecturers are researchers who incorporate the latest findings into their teaching. As a student, you’ll also do research.
- You’ll interact with your professors in small seminar groups.
- By taking our ‘Economics Plus’ package, you’ll combine ‘standard’ economics with disciplines such as psychology and sociology. This will give you the knowledge you need to tackle policy issues in today’s globalised world.

Change perspective

You’ll gain a strong theoretical background in both mainstream and heterodox (i.e. non-mainstream) economic theories, augmented by methods derived from disciplines that include psychology and sociology. There’s good reason for this broad approach: if an economic problem seems intractable, you may need to change your perspective. We also examine the policy relevance of theoretical insights and give you the tools you need to design policies that will make a difference to people’s lives.

Admission requirements for international students

1. A Bachelor's degree in Economics – or a closely-related discipline – from a research-oriented university, with sufficient background in Research Methods and Mathematics (and Economics if you took a different degree).

2. Proficiency in English
In order to take part in this programme, you must be fluent in both written and spoken English. Non-native speakers of English need one of qualifications below. Please note that certificates must have been awarded in the past two years, and that no other certificates are accepted:
- A TOEFL (iBT) Certificate with a minimum overall score of 90 and no subscore not less than 18, or
- IELTS Academic Certificate: a minimum overall score of 6.5 less than 6.0, or
- A Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English (CAE) with a minimum score of C, or
- A Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) with a minimum score of C.

3. A letter of motivation (max. 2 pages)
Please explain why you want to follow this programme and why you think you should be part of this programme.

Career prospects

This programme will provide you with a toolbox filled with the skills and knowledge needed to tackle a whole array of economic problems. Besides issues at the micro and macroeconomic level, graduates learn to deal with issues at the meso level, for example, how to stimulate innovation.
Our graduates devise policies and learn to analyse critically which solutions are most likely to work in a specific economic and social context. They regularly find employment as policy makers for government and semi-government organisations, in ministries, national banks, NGOs, think tanks, the UN and the EU , as well as national and international labour organisations. But your career prospects are much broader than that. You could for example, work as a consultant in industry or as a lobbyist.

Our approach to this field

By giving you a strong theoretical grounding in a broad range of current economic theories – both mainstream and heterodox –this programme will show you not just what is happening, but also why and how. To ensure that it is always relevant, we update the content every year.

Our main aim is to unravel the diversity – and the complexity – of economic issues, and thus clarify the role of economics in society. At the micro level, we might look at, for example, policies for reducing traffic jams or encouraging citizens to opt for more sustainable ways of living. At the meso level, we might examine policies intended to determine which companies should be supported – those that are struggling or those that are successful? – and how companies can be encouraged to innovate. And at the macro level, we might try to determine whether government policies should respond to financial crises through austerity or through investment.

Lectures are devoted to detailed discussions of a wide range of real-world scenarios. As an active participant, you’ll join in debates with your lecturers and your fellow students, and sometimes with experts from the field. One module – Technology & Innovation Policy – is taught by an emeritus professor and two business leaders. Guest speakers are drawn from varied backgrounds, such as a recent speaker from the Dutch Ministry of Finance, who discussed financial illiteracy. Activities such as these all exemplify the kinds of concerns – economic and otherwise – you’ll be likely to encounter as a policy maker.

See the website http://www.ru.nl/masters/ep

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Security ranks high on both the societal as well as political agenda. The threat of terrorism, transnational organized crime, civil war, urban riots or natural disasters is making headlines almost every day and is a guarantee for political turmoil. Although from a factual perspective the risk of high-end security incidents is in most Western countries low, the risk perception is far more higher. When it comes to security and crisis, risk perception seems to be as important as actual risk assessments.

Visit the website: http://en.mastersinleiden.nl/programmes/crisis-and-security-management/en/introduction

Course detail

During the one year multi-disciplinary master program students will become familiar with the political and social dimensions of the governance of (in)security and crises. By analyzing security discourses, security actors, security practices and security outcomes students will become acquainted with the ‘wicked problem’ of security and crises topics in a complex and globalizing world.
As security is no longer a public good solely provided by state actors or public actors but the combined outcome of public actors, private security actors, civil society and citizens as well, the master program will focus on the multiplicity of actors engaged in defining and practicing security.

Further, as a result of the globalized and interwoven world of today in which incidents, images and messages travel within seconds from one part of the world to another part of the world, students will study current security and crisis challenges from a ‘glocal’ perspective: both global and local levels and especially the nexus of those levels.

Format

In the master’s program students will be confronted with the insights of various academic disciplines and a combination of theory and practice and skills relevant for a professional career in public or private security and crisis organizations. Students will become familiar with the causes of different forms of crises and threats to security, with patterns of responses and governance of these phenomena, and policies and strategies to prevent threats, incidents or crises. The Master thesis project provides students the opportunity to specifically focus on one particular type of crisis or security issue and how certain actors deal with it.

Careers

The combination of academic and professional skills taught in the master’s programme makes Leiden graduates excellent candidates for positions in national and international Public Administration as well as for managerial positions in the private sector. Many of them also find their way to consultancy organisations and other private companies in the field of crisis and security management.

This specialisation prepares students for a career in the rapidly expanding domain of local, national and international security and safety management. In recent years, there has been a rising demand for professionals with a background in crisis and safety management, both in the public and private sector. Students with this specialisation can apply for jobs in policymaking departments, local and provincial government, international organizations and NGOs, consultancy agents, and private industry.

How to apply: http://en.mastersinleiden.nl/arrange/admission

Funding

For information regarding funding, please visit the website: http://prospectivestudents.leiden.edu/scholarships

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