MSc International Social Welfare and Social Policy

Why study social welfare and social policy?

Studying social welfare and social policy will allow you to focus on the areas of most importance to people’s lives, including education, housing, health, and criminal justice, giving you the skills and understanding to make a difference to people’s lives at local, national and international levels.

It will prepare you for many careers in non-governmental organisations (NGOs), including community organisations, charities, social enterprises and not-for-profit organisations, as well as governmental or academic institutions.

What will you do on the course?

How can issues such as child labour and trafficking be overcome through global initiatives? Can changes to local policy do anything to stop domestic violence or knife crime?

On our Masters course, you will explore these and many other issues, comparing different strategies and policies across different countries, and from the perspective of many different disciplines, including politics, criminology and psychology.

Why study social welfare and social policy at ARU?

Our Master’s course attracts multicultural students with a variety of backgrounds from sociology to business studies, and health to the Arts.

Whatever their background, our students are all enthusiastic about making a difference to their communities by improving human rights and living conditions. This might include changing how their society handles issues such as gender equality, prisoners’ rights, children’s education, or environmental protection, among others.

The international dimension of our Masters course will also make you an attractive candidate for potential employers – you will be used to working alongside people from different backgrounds, as well as exploring social issues from the perspective of different cultures.

Your studies will be supported by an interdisciplinary team with international expertise in research and teaching, including:

• Course Leader Dr Claudia Schneider’s expertise relates to different aspects of forced and voluntary migration including the integration of migrant pupils and their families into schools, transnationalisation and education, and migration theory. She has been appointed as an international consultant on the integration of migrant pupils and adults in Norway, Germany and Sweden
• Dr Mirna Guha specialises in research on gender-based violence, social justice, and social relations in marginalised communities. She has published in particular on anti-trafficking interventions and child-marriage victims
• Dr David Skinner has researched and published widely in the field of social studies of science and technology. He is co-editor of Identity Politics After DNA: Re/Creating Categories of Difference and Belonging (Berghahn, 2012) and co-author of the key textbook Introductory Sociology (Palgrave, 2002)

You will have opportunities to attend talks by key figures in social welfare and social policy, and go on a field trip to London to visit a national or international organisation such as Chatham House, Oxfam, Refugee Council, UNHCR or UNICEF.

We also have connections with many local and national NGOs including Red Cross, and organisations working with ethnic minority groups and deprived communities in Cambridge, through which you can choose to find a short work placement, with help from your Course Leader and our Employability team. You can use this placement to support your literature review or primary research.

Our Masters course is flexible. You will be supported to tailor your own, individual career path with the help of our optional modules from a range of interdisciplinary subjects, including policing and international relations.

The impact of our Social Work and Social Policy research was judged as "world-leading" in the Research Excellence Framework 2021 (REF2021).

Course Leader: Dr Claudia Schneider

Take a guided tour and meet our students.

Teaching times 2024-25 (subject to change for 2025-26)

• Three contact hours a week per module, with about 15 hours for independent learning and research.