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Issues in Australian Public Policy: Internship Program - POLS5100
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Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
 
 
School:  School of Social Sciences and International Studies
 
 
Course Outline: http://www.arts.unsw.edu.au/politics/
 
 
Campus: Kensington Campus
 
 
Career: Postgraduate
 
 
Units of Credit: 8
 
 
EFTSL: 0.167 (more info)
 
 
Contact Hours per Week: 2
 
 
Fee Band: 1 (more info)
 
 
Further Information: See Class Timetable
 
 

Description

Involves a two day per week research internship attachment where the student undertakes research for a selected organisation such as the Asia-Australia Institute, Amnesty International, The Refugee Council, The International Women's Development Agency, Paul Keating's Office, the US Information Agency and others. Students will meet weekly for debriefings on their internships and to discuss policy-related issues. These meetings may include lectures where appropriate and/or visitors of interest.

Note: Students are expected to undertake a research project or project as required by the organisation with which they are placed.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course, students should have:
  • Successfully negotiated a contract for a workplace project with their workplace supervisor
  • Improved their professional skills by fulfilling the obligations of the negotiated contract - i.e., by (a) completing a policy brief, (b) participating in the workplace and (c) completing an organisationally-supervised applied research project
  • Learnt about the application of relevant theory in a professional/community setting
  • Engaged in critical reflection by acquiring the skills of a reflective practitioner - this will be demonstrated via ongoing performance reviews, a final oral presentation to a panel of peers and professionals and a reflexive written report
  • Gained an enhanced understanding of public policy that will be evident in a completed research project
  • Increased their exposure to professional networks and heightened their understanding of their career options
  • Demonstrated good communication skills in the workplace, amongst peers and via an oral presentation.

Assessment

  • Assignment 1 - Negotiation of learning contract
  • Assignment 2 - Policy briefing
  • Assignment 3 - Workplace project report
  • Assignment 4 - Reflexive report
  • Assignment 5 - Oral presentation
Note: Weighting for each of these assessment tasks will be determined by the group in the first meeting.

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