Master in Welfare Management (class 2006/2008)

The programme is structured in the following way:

Compulsory courses - autumn semester (45 credits in total):

• Philosophy of science and research method (15 credits) – offered each autumn
• The organisation of welfare (15 credits) – Autumn 2007
• Partnerships in welfare (15 credits) – Autumn 2006

Optional courses - spring semester (The students choose 2 courses of 30 credits in total):

• Preventive work with vulnerable children, adolescents and their families (15 credits) - Spring
• Welfare politics 2: Welfare and globalisation (15 credits) – (not offered in the spring of 2007)
• Welfare right topics (15 credits) – Spring 2006
• Digital management (15 credits) – (not offered in the spring of 2007)

Optional courses are offered each spring on the condition that enough students register. Students may also choose courses from the Master’s degree programme in Welfare Policy and the Master’s degree programme in Health and Social Work for Children and Youth.

Bachelor’s degree in social education, social work, child welfare or corresponding. Applicants with corresponding previous education – nurse, pre-school teacher, Bachelor’s degree or similar – may be admitted after individual evaluation. There is no practice requirement in order to be admitted, but work experience will be emphasised in the application process.

In connection with the application, the student is asked to draft a subject field of interest in relation to the optional courses and the work on the Master’s thesis. This is followed up at the beginning of the study when the students prepare individual education plans.

It will also be possible for the students to take optional courses at another institution if these courses are approved by LillehammerUniversityCollege. Individual supervision will be offered in connection with the preparation of individual education plans. In the education plan, the students should show how they plan their own study progression. The education plan should also include a draft of desired arrangement for a Master's thesis. The purpose of the latter is to ensure that the students wish to write about a topic on which they may receive competent supervision at LillehammerUniversityCollege. It is even more important, however, to ensure that the students already from the start work determined to acquire competence and the specialisation required for the thesis, and also that the work starts soon enough for it to be realistic according to the standard curriculum.

An approved education plan forms the basis for a contract between the student and the university college.

The programme is arranged so that it can be taken both part-time over a longer period of time and full-time over two years. Since the programme is based on courses, the students can take different parts at different pace. The difference between the part-time and the full-time programme will be flexible so that it will be possible to take some parts full-time and others over a longer period of time. The teaching will therefore be organised in meetings which are available both for full-time and part-time students. In addition, an essential part of the communication between the university college/teachers and the students will be done via the Internet for both the student categories.

An important evaluation method will be essay writing on a limited problem issue within the topics of the respective courses. The essays may be theoretical discussions or use of theory on empiricism which is obtained either from own practice or through data collection.

In addition, there will be other examination methods, e.g. home examination on a given topic, oral or written school examination.

The essays should normally have a volume of 10-15 pages.

The courses will also have a work requirement which will be included in the evaluation since these must be approved in order to sit for the examination. You will find more information about evaluation under each course.

The essays are graded (A-F).

Master's thesis
The central evaluation basis in the programme is the Master's thesis. The work on the thesis amounts to 45 credits in the Master's programme. Students may cooperate on the Master's thesis. The individual student's workload will nevertheless be the same.

The assignment is evaluated by an evaluation committee of 3 members of whom at least one is external and one of the internal members is the supervisor. The assignment should be defended in an oral examination.

Oral examination
There will be an individual final oral examination in which the evaluation committee members on the Master's thesis are the examiners. In the oral examination, the student will be defending the Master's thesis.

There will be given a total grade (A-F) on the Master's thesis and the oral examination.

The regulation on admissions, programmes and examination at LillehammerUniversityCollege01/10/06 is the basis of the examination arrangements in the Master's programme.

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