Postgraduate Diploma in Public Management

Overview
Structure
Study materials
Fees
Assessment
Requirements
Leaders

Is this programme for me?

Public sector organisations need good managers. The Postgraduate Diploma in Public Management is a preparation for managing and advising public sector organisations. There is an emphasis on managing people, managing change, and designing and using information systems.

Programme aims

This programme offers an excellent preparation for managing and advising public sector organisations.

Programme summary

	You study	Study period	Cost (2012-13)
Postgraduate Diploma	4 courses	1-5 years	£4,920
Individual Professional Awards	You can take up to three individual modules from this distance learning programme. Each module lasts eight weeks and you are registered for two years. The fee per module is £1,230.

Prestige

The programme has been developed by academics at the Centre for Financial and Management Studies (CeFiMS), a postgraduate research and teaching department within SOAS, University of London. Staff at CeFiMS have international reputations and are involved in researching their subjects at the very limits of current knowledge.

Career progression

Graduates of this programme will be well prepared for senior positions in government, public services, international organisations and NGOs.

Comprehensive study materials and support

You will be given all of the learning materials that you need to complete each course. These will typically include:

The Study Guide, a core text specially written for the course. This takes the form of a looseleaf binder containing eight ‘course units’. The units are carefully structured to provide the main teaching of the course, defining and exploring the main concepts and issues, locating these within current debate and introducing and linking the further assigned readings.
Textbooks and collections of key journal articles and book extracts.
Online and multimedia tools. You will have access to the Online Study Centre (OSC), which is a web-accessed learning environment. Via the OSC, you can communicate with your assigned academic tutor, administrators and other students on the course using discussion forums. The OSC also provides access to the course Study Guide and assignments, as well as a selection of electronic journals available on the University of London Online Library. In addition, some course material will also include video lectures on DVD, CDs of case studies, and econometric software.
A Welcome Pack is available online, which provides you with resources and tips on effective distance learning. We will also send you a Study Skills textbook to help you manage your studies.

Your time commitment

This will depend partly on choices you make, but most students take two years to finish the Postgraduate Diploma. The study calendar consists of five sessions per year. Each session is devoted to a specific module and lasts eight weeks (with the exception of the first session which runs for 10 weeks). During each session you will need to allocate between 15-20 hours per week to complete the programme.

Summary of key dates

Application deadline	8 October 2012	17 December 2012	3 April 2013	4 June 2013
Start date	3 December 2012	18 February 2013	20 May 2013	22 July 2013
Examinations	Late September-October

Structure and Syllabus

Four modules from the following

Public policy and management: perspectives and issues

You will be introduced to the main principles and techniques of public policy and management. The course examines the scope and functions of government in a critical and comparative way, ideal types of management and policy transfer, and introduces policy evaluation.

Unit 1: The State, Public Policy and Management
Unit 2: Understanding the State
Unit 3: Ideal Types
Unit 4: Policy Analysis and Evaluation
Unit 5: Policy and Management Dilemmas I
Unit 6: Policy and Management Dilemmas 2
Unit 7: Policy Transfer
Unit 8: The Future of the State?

Human resource management and development

You will study the management of people in public organisations as well as models of human resource management and development. Other topics studies include job analysis, career management, recruitment and selection, performance management and appraisal, training and development and rewards management.

Unit 1: Human Resource Management: Introduction
Unit 2: Resourcing
Unit 3: Performance
Unit: 4 Development
Unit 5: Employee Relations
Unit 6: Pay
Unit 7: Cross-Functional Issues
Unit 8: Human Resource Strategy and Management

E-Government

You will explore the potential of information systems in the public sector. This will be undertaken through a critical examination of the role of information in public sector organisations, of different models of information planning and management, and of the appropriateness of different information systems and technologies.

Unit 1: An Introduction to Information Systems in Public Sector Organisations
Unit 2: Information and Communication Technologies in the Knowledge Era
Unit 3: Knowledge and Decision Making
Unit 4: People and Information in Organisations
Unit 5: Types of Information Systems
Unit 6: Planning Information Systems
Unit 7: Information Systems Development
Unit 8: eGovernment Strategy

Managing organisational change

Managing organisational change is one of the core challenges facing modern managers. This course develops conceptual and theoretical frameworks for understanding the process of organisational change. Students evaluate, critically, research in and theories of organisational change and change management with a view to exploring and evaluating different theories and practices of managing the change process. Students develop diagnostic and analytical skills with which to explain complex organisational situations.

Prerequisite: a pass in 'Strategic management'.

Public Policy & Management: Development Assistance

The purpose of this module can summarised by the questions that students will be asked to think about and analyse in their study of this topic.

Has aid increased the rate of economic growth in the aid recipient countries?
Does aid change government policies?
Does aid have a detrimental effect on governments’ accountibility to their citizens?
Do donor conditions have an effect on the quality of governance in recipient countries?
Does the aid industry distort the labour market in recipient countries and adversely affect government capacity?
Do donors need recipient governments more that governments need donors?
Does food aid adversely affect food production?
Does aid promote corruption?

Unit 1: A Brief History of Development Assistance
Unit 2: Development Assistance and Economic Development
Unit 3: Humanitarian Assistance
Unit 4: Making Poverty History
Unit 5: The Aid Agencies
Unit 6: Funding and Resource Allocation
Unit 7: Implementation: Aid Modalities, Conditionality and Aid Effectiveness
Unit 8: Reflections on Development Assistance

How you study

Without leaving your job or home you can study, write and submit assignments, receive expert guidance from your CeFiMS tutor and advice from the student support team. In addition to printed study materials, the Online Study Centre allows students to work with course materials, send queries to tutors and submit assignments via the Internet.

When you take a CeFiMS distance learning course you will be sent everything you need to complete your studies. A typical set of course learning materials would include:

The Study Guide, a core text specially written for the course. This takes the form of a looseleaf binder containing eight ‘course units’. The units are carefully structured to provide the main teaching of the course, defining and exploring the main concepts and issues, locating these within current debate and introducing and linking the further assigned readings.
Textbooks and collections of key journal articles and book extracts.
Online and multimedia tools. You will have access to the OSC, which is a web-accessed learning environment. Via the OSC, you can communicate with your assigned academic tutor, administrators and other students on the course using discussion forums. The OSC also provides access to the course Study Guide and assignments, as well as a selection of electronic journals available on the University of London Online Library. In addition, some courses materials will also include video lectures on DVD, CDs of case studies, and econometric software.
A Welcome Pack is available online, which provides you with resources and tips on effective distance learning. We will also send you a Stu dy Skills textbook to help you manage your studies.

Online Study Centre (OSC)

Created by CeFiMS to provide additional resources and support, the Online Study Centre allows students to:

access study materials that complement printed texts
submit assignments
communicate with tutors
contact support staff regarding administrative queries
access online resources provided by the University of London Library including full-text journal database s of JSTOR and EBSCO.

Note: Students who are eligible to use the OSC are automatically contacted by CeFiMS staff and given information about how to access the system for their course.

Fees

Fees may be paid in one of two ways:

Either, pay the total fee on registration by making a single payment for all the module fees;

Or, if you prefer to spread out your payments, pay the fee for each module you want to take in the first year, and then in subsequent years pay the fee for each new module you take.

Fees are subject to annual review. The 2012-2013 fees take effect from 1 August 2012.

	2012-13
Fees per module	£ 1,230
TOTAL Postgraduate Diploma	£ 4,920






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Other costs

In addition to the fees payable to the University, you should also budget for

the fee charged to your local examination centre to cover its costs; this fee will vary
customs duties/taxes where these are payable on educational materials, including educational USB stick/CDs. We recommend that you check the status of imported educational materials with your country’s customs authorities.

Note

The University reserves the right to amend previously announced fees, if necessary. For a full list fees that may be applicable, please see the fee schedule.

Academic Requirements

In order to be considered for registration applicants must have:

A Bachelor’s degree in a social science discipline, or other appropriate discipline, from a UK university or other institution acceptable to the University, or an equivalent international qualification (qualifications in other subjects will be assessed on their merits)

Previous education and experience without a UK Bachelor’s degree, or international equivalent, that satisfies the University as a qualification on the same level as a UK Bachelor’s degree approved under the point above for this purpose and has included suitable preliminary training.

Language Requirements

For awards at FHEQ level 7, students must provide satisfactory evidence showing that they have passed within the previous three years a test of proficiency in English at the following minimum level:

IELTS with an overall grade of at least 6.5 with a minimum of 6 in each sub test; or
TOEFL with a score of 250 on the computerised test plus a Test of Written English (TWE of at least 4.5); or
a test of proficiency in English language from the prescribed list published by the Universtiy.

Where an applicant does not meet the prescribed English language proficiency requirements but believes that they can demonstrate the requisite proficiency for admission the University may, at its discretion, consider the application.

Note: Some programmes will require greater proficiency in English language; these requirements will be reflected in the relevant programme regulations.

Computer Requirements

Online access and general computer requirements
As one of our students you need to have regular access to a computer and the internet; this may be for accessing the Student Portal, downloading course materials from the Virtual Learning Environment, and accessing resources from the Online Library. You will also need to have access to appropriate software, for example, a PDF reader and suitable hardware capacity on your computer, e.g. for document storage. Additional requirements include that you have JavaScript and cookies enabled to access particular online systems, for example, the Student Portal.

Supported Browsers include:
Internet Explorer 7+
Firefox 5+
Chrome 13+

Screen resolution (recommended)
1024 x 768 or greater

Certain programmes may have their own specific requirements, please refer to the relevant Regulations.

Postgraduate Diploma in Public Management