 Hello everyone, my name is Alberto a square. I'm a convener of the msc public policy and management public financial management programs and Which have been running it saw us in the last about four four years These two programs are not a brand new because they've been running it so as well public policy management for more than 20 years So far in the distance learning format and then later we start Also on campus and sometime in the future. We will probably move To provide also forms of a blend of the learning But that's a fire in terms of the background to our programs and most probably I'd like to spend some time here just to introduce What we teach and then hopefully what you can learn out of experience of studying here here at sauce so let me go back here to the slides and especially because I'd like to provide you just an overview about what we cover in these two programs and Then I'm happy to to receive questions if you have So let's start from the msc public policy and management first The msc public policy management does what it is written on the can in a sense So we are broadly concerned with the domains of a public policy and the public management So on the one hand that the issues that we face in contemporary societies about Deciding that there is a policy issue to be taken to identify which are the tools or instruments Which can be used when the government or public authorities more generally to fix social or economic problems Which are perceived in the environment how to implement policies So how the administrative machinery is put to work in order to execute the directives from a government or a public authority Taking into account the resource constraints or other kind of issues which they may face and then finally the last Important stage of a policy evaluation where we needed to appraise whether policies work or not and what we can learn And learn out of them. This comes together with some attention also to the public management side Which is more around the administrative machinery in a sense So there we are covering the issues of how to convert the policy into a strategy that a public sector organization should pursue How to deal with the issues of managing human resources how to measure appraise and report Performance especially to the public or to political overseas and then also to deal with the issues of a cross-cultural Management which are especially silent in many in many countries nowadays I should say we touch upon all these areas which are covered generally by the the scholar in literature from a political science Economics public administration Occasionally with a bit of sociology or even anthropology in between We do not really have any particular country focus. The program is pretty much International of course as based in the UK We may take a number of examples of the practices and institutions Which are present in the UK for making and implementing public policies on the other hand in the modules that we teach We typically take case studies and examples from a variety of countries in the world both industrialized and developing countries emergent countries and We are especially sensitive to that variety of local conditions in terms of Institutions which are present there in terms of culture which may affect the working of the society and the government in particular so these are the general features of the programmer which as such Pays attention to the disciplines what is in the content there But also as we are at source. We are pretty much in international This is a typically reflected also in the population of students that we have we have on campus and in this this very year and the classes which I have Here about 20 students in the most populated the class and that they come literally from everywhere from Latin America to Europe or to south of Asia from African countries and so on so the population of students is pretty much international and diverse Which comes as a source of enrichment that especially as I invite the students in Tutorials to provide the case studies and examples out of research from the country where the where we are from in terms of the structure of the program On campus the MSc programs are at present as such that they're behaving eight modules that students take dissertation the MSc public policy management consists of four core modules that students are required to take and then There are four elective modules that students can select out of a list plus the dissertation The modules are taken over the academy here and that means in terms one and two terms one runs from the beginning of october until the middle of december and term two starts in the beginning of January until towards the end of march And the typical students take four modules each term so that the workload is evenly evenly balanced I would say in about the January February students that start working on their dissertation They are assigned a supervisor and that during the course of the rest of the academy here They start polishing the research design doing the literature review and they start thinking about the issues of a data collection and then data analysis During the the second term Specifically students are expected to take the more research methods Which helps students to strengthen their research Proposal to embark in more detailed study on either quantitative or qualitative data collection and analysis so that later on in the year They are better prepared to carry out the research for for the dissertation Students take exams in between may and june But then later after the exams typically they find with more time to properly work on the dissertation Which is to be submitted by the first half of september and so typically over June July and August students Carry out the work on the dissertation until they come to the write up stage The four modules which are present in the msc public policy management Cover these subjects So this is a general model on perspective and issues which relates to the general theories on political economy from Neoliberalism to other forms of a running economy and intervening in the society Which the country is experienced over over the years and at present in terms of variety We may have all around the world Of course, it's pretty much up to date. So issues like trade wars that Gone at present and various forms in between Countries or regions in the world or such a dramatic policy shifts like a backseat for instance in this country These are typically part of the examples and the discussions that we have in class with with the students The module on public policy strategy is one where we focus on converting The policies into actual strategies for public sector Agencies and managing organizational change is a as a as the name says one where we focus on restructuring public sector entities and providing a new a different course of direction and then as a core module there are also The the the research method the research method one I stopped for a stop for a while also because i'm happy to take questions And along the way I noticed this one from paolo asks are there two applying processes to study msc in public financial management and in the department of languages so students Perspective applicants can apply to take the msc in public financial management And they are enrolled as such then of course as as so as a student You may you may also have access to all the various resources that you can find here at so as In part let me say these are resources about improving your Learning skills, but also other kinds of kinds of skills like writing for instance You have access of course to the library to the career center and so on But in particular the focus of the question is about the languages And as you probably know so as is right is really excellent In in terms of the quality of language teaching in a variety of languages especially of course in asia africa and in the middle east It's quite an excellent center within europe and i would say within within the world So I would say it's quite common that many Students here at so as including students who take an msc in public financial management find the time Also to take some language course Of course, this can be something students start from from scratch to learn a new a new language Or if they already possess some knowledge of a particular language The language department can help to appase the level of knowledge of the language as a baseline And to advise a student which could be the most appropriate level for taking a language course on the top Of those which they take for the for the msc And as I said many students who come here they do not miss the opportunity Of course to take also some some language courses to enrich their their knowledge in their city If you more if I go back to the presentation a few more words I should spend here concerning the elective modules and here I should highlight some Clarifications because at present there is a list of elective modules that you can find on the website So these are modules that that students can choose For them and as you can see at the moment the list which is present on the website Is about the six modules which are available But I should say I'm working to expand this list By for next year By next department meeting I'm submitting the request to approve to include more modules into this this range of Possibilities so students they will have more choices for the selection of their electives I can't anticipate Which these electives are because of the formalities that we need to go through an approval process But I'm proposing that That we include in the teaching of the msc public policy management more modules which are focused on regions So we teach modules about the society in the economy of countries like Japan China the Middle East and North Africa And I'd like to introduce them also into the msc public policy management because some students I believe they may like to gain some regional expertise And so therefore to become not just expert about public policy and public management But also to some extent the around the economy and the society of particular countries where So as is especially strong in terms of expertise So you may notice some updates hopefully on the website in some time to come Although at present these are the six elective modules that officially are on the website of of so as A few words about the dissertation So the dissertation is a piece of original research work It consists of a piece of work of up to 10 000 words Which is roughly the standard length of an academic paper that you can read from an academic journal And it is submitted in september students are Just left free in a sense to decide the the topic to focus on for their dissertation Of course, especially during the first term they can pick various ideas of topics and issues they'd like to work on But on the other hand it can be nice and convenient If they have already some specific interest or anything which may relate to their own work experience Or which may relate to the industrial sector or country where they expect to work in the future To do for the dissertation some research work Which already relates to some basin of knowledge or some interest Which the students have and so they can nicely combine an original piece of research With what they're really interested in And then of course the supervisor from about in January onwards Is there to help students to better frame the research question to take in the dissertation They can in thinking into account the requirements of originality and the requirements of feasibility In order to come out with a good work by by september I I posed for a while to take also the another question from paolo So he asks so whether the exam session in the summer covers the two semesters of lessons And yes, yes, as it is typically I would say in british university It is there is just one exam session which comes towards the end of the academy here So in may june students have the single exam session Where they are required to take models including those which they may have taken in the first part of the year in term one This is a general general rule because I should say there could be some variation to that So for instance, I am proposing to the department to change the way to appraise The modules which I teach in In the in these msc programs which are the modules on public financial management revenue and the public financial management financial reporting ipsus Because basically I wanted to move to a form of assessment, which is done just during the during the first term And to require students to do a presentation to do two pieces of written work through assignments And that would be enough without the exams to be taken in session of may june I believe this is an alternative form of assessment by taking exams I believe some students may appreciate to some extent Being appraised for the modules which they take in the term one By ways which do not require to see the exam so many months later after they completed the module And if you like another argument is that we are pretty much aware that nowadays in today's work environment Most of us they may be expected to write nicer reports Very convincing pieces of research as something much more relevant to our work today rather than producing Original knowledge or debating Arguments in the context of a couple of hours of an examination As you know, we do not have access to internet resources and and some So there are various rationales for starting diversifying the way in which we appraise students And so generally yes, you may expect to see the exam at the end of the year But some modules they may deviate and even not require to take an exam So I hope that's fine as an answer, but feel free to keep posting the questions here in the chat, of course Okay, good Let me move also to say something about the msc on public financial management. The other one It's a sister program Which partially overlaps with the one on public policy and management, but the focus of concern is different If you like it's a more of a particular take towards public policy and management because one important component part Of making public policies and implementing public policies is of course to have the money to do it And so public financial management is specifically focused on how can governments public sector entities Raise up money how do they spend the money on public policies and programs and projects? How the to the report to the public that money has been properly spent and how can we audit The activities which are done in public financial management And so as you can see I put here in the slide the main focus of this msc program, which is The institutions and practices for planning and budgeting The revenue side taxation and other ways through which Public sector entities can raise up money What are the practices in terms of financial reporting? Which are the accounting standards which are used? IFRS or ipsas especially and what are the auditing And the practices and to what extent they can cope with some key issues that we have here Like for instance corruption and misappropriation of public money in many countries Around the world Of course this is complemented with a focus on how public sector operations work And this is why I mentioned these are like two sister programs because here we start from a focus on the financial management side, but then of course as in terms of elective modules We also include we also study issues of how policies are made how policies are converted into strategies How we measure performance? How does the macroeconomic framework affect the state of finances of governments? I think for instance the impact they have on the sustainability of public debt For example in the role of financial markets in the contemporary world for funding Government operations where investors decide whether to buy or not government bonds for instance So in part the models which are offered in the msc public financial management are also provided as electives To the public policy management program because of course also someone with a special interest in ppm May may also be interested to look at how for instance a budget is made to allocate funds to public programs Here instead we start the other way around and so here in the msc public financial management first we look in depth to the management of public finances and Students may diversify their attention by selecting electives which look at how Government operations are managed and how we appraise into their performance Here as well the structure is the same however There are four core modules for elective modules and then the final dissertation So I will not repeat just highlight here the four core modules for the pfm program Please apologize for the headliner here. This is not about the public policy management That's about the public financial management program where the core modules are planning and performance financial reporting revenue and the research methods in management And there is a number of elective modules like perspective and issues public policy strategy macroeconomic policy financial markets manager accounting audit and compliance and regulation of international capital markets But again, let me say that also here. We are expanding the range of electives Hopefully for next year. So we are proposing to include another number of modules which generally relate to international capital markets and the regulation of international capital markets and of the banking sector Because of course how finance and banking works has an important impact on the public financial management side Let me also add that we are adding to these msc programs Also a new module which looks in particular at the state of emergent digital technologies Because we also propose the introduction of a new module which is titled Distributed electronic ledgers and the blockchain and implications on finance business government and society And this will be a model which looks at these these new emergent technologies blockchain But more generally distributed electronic ledgers And how governments can make use of it either for public policies and For public financial management So as you may well know there are initiatives around the world for instance to use blockchain technology under some areas that for example the digital records of the real estate And the cadastro so that they can provide a better Way to keep records of which of Transactions and property rights which are of relevance also for the public sphere But there is also an interest towards these technologies for instance for the creation of the digital currencies Possibly central bank issued digital currencies Which of course may have an impact also the way in which there could be some forms of monetary financing so the way in which Central banks can support spending from the side of the government So we will provide also some enrichment In the areas of contemporary technologies and how this can impact the work of governments Either in the making of a public policies implementation or in the public financial management side sites So i'm happy to pause for a while for the presentation and to take this question from rachel And i'll read it. So it's a what kind of academic professional background we expect from the applicants It sounds like a co-expertise in economics finance is essential. Is that correct? I should say it is not the case Actually, it is fair that I would say roughly half probably of the students we have in class They do have Finance or economics or accounting background So some of them may be chartered accountants. Some of them may work in governments Either in central treasuries for instance or in audit institutions They may be mid-career civil servants in the country where they are from So they may have either an experience in accounting finance Economics or to have a few years of experience in in government But it's fair to say that we also received the good applications last year from applicants who did not have any background in such disciplines So we have one student in class whose background is in biology for for example But nevertheless, especially because of some work experience which she had and the interest She stated in the personal statement, which is attached to application We believed that The msc public policy management she's taking this year can be beneficial for her career trajectory And so she made an offer and today she's in class taking taking the models And of course, it's a bit of a challenge if you like from the side of us as teachers To provide a baseline knowledge to all students in the class The very beginning of the of the academy here so that they are better prepared to understand some issues that we cover During the modules. So just to make an example I have some students who take the the msc public financial management And therefore they take the the module on the financial reporting which I teach And a few of them they do not have an accounting background So what what they do every year is to offer to them an extra tutorial We basically try to teach to them the very essentials of accounting the very basics of bookkeeping how to read Financial statements or what is in the balance sheet? What is in an income statement? They do not to to grasp the technicalities, of course They will never be expected most probably to do any accounting themselves But they may be expected to read the financial statement and to understand And so this is the kind of extra support that we offer at the beginning of the academy here to be to be everyone to the same baseline in a sense So I hope this helps as an answer I think another question from paolo Is it possible to use this master to work in international public entities? Such as the EU the united nations and and so on I would say yes, generally Let me share with you some experiences And a number I should say of students who take these two msc programs in the distance learning form They do actually work or in any case they continue their career in international organizations Especially the IMF the World Bank the FAO in Rome and other similar development banks around around the world And but also for on-campus students. They find it helpful. So for instance, I have a student in class who I think she she did an internship at OECD And actually she told me it was at the OECD where she was advised to look at these msc programs that saw us as something helpful for her And so this year she's taking these msc program I guess because she's interested as far as they know in pursuing a career in international organizations So I hope this couple of examples They they they're helpful to try and clarify the kind of profile of students that we have in programs Okay, so if there are no questions at the moment I just move on So just to conclude that also the msc in public policy management and public financial management They have a dissertation at the very end. So the same it's an original piece of research work It is typically submitted in September and as I said the students typically work on something which is of their of their interest So again, just to mention a couple of examples last year I supervised a few a few dissertation projects one for example was A lady working for the government in Pakistan And she was interested in some accounting reforms Which are taking place in the Pakistani government, especially the introduction of a cruel accounting in the public sector And so she did she did this piece of research on the issues which are encountered which are both on the accounting side and organizational changes side And this resulted in a piece of work which looks theoretically at these issues but also with a lot of empirical evidence on the issues which are encountered in Pakistani public sector organizations out of a number of interviews, which she did But another piece of work for instance was done by a guy who was interested in public private partnerships And especially in those which can help Countries to to to to raise a revenue out of the exploitation of natural resources And she did a case study on the ppb Which is enabling the country of Botswana to work with private partners and investors In extracting and commercializing diamonds and the impact that this has on the public finances of Botswana governments So this is just to mention a couple of example examples of dissertation projects that the students do Then I had a here another question from Paolo Which is about brexit and how this is going to change the opportunities of working and study studying in the uk And i'm afraid that the date of the present where we launched the 5th of december 2018 There are quite a number of question question marks around the outcome of this brexit process Which unfortunately prevent from saying anything anything to say probably So if brexit is actually going to happen and if it is in which kind of form And that there is a spectrum of possibilities as you know from Nothing happens and that the process is reverted until the very extreme outcome of a hard brexit and The kind of an impact these these may have In the kind of a hard brexit scenario It could be the case potentially, but this is just my speculation that any EU citizen may be practically not too different from any other overseas Person who is interested to work in the uk And so there must be a regime of visas to the work visas to to apply And in that in that case, of course, it could be a matter of a Sponsor to support the application of any overseas Candidate to a work to a work position But I think we can equally speculate that there are a number of Middle-range scenarios where some form of Let me say preferential treatment could be provided for european union citizens And but i'm afraid this is too early to say and Not the best person to provide advice in this in this regard But hopefully everything will be clearer after the end of the end of march I have another question Which is says I have already a master degree in public policy from india So I have to apply based on master degree of my undergraduate qualification But we generally invite applicants to provide the full Background they have both in terms of Education and work experience And then of course together with a personal statement and references As I mentioned earlier, this is helpful because we really praise the overall profile of the candidate So as I mentioned earlier, even someone who's a educational background is not On public policy or economics or finance or accounting Could be biology or any other discipline Nevertheless, they may have an offer to study with us if we see that there is a career trajectory Which anyway brings to work in the public sector closely to the public sector So I just invite you to provide as many details as possible Practically on the top of these I can also mention that as you know, there is an English language requirement for admission And of course if an applicant already studied In institutions where they are the education is provided in English This could be a basis a believer for a waiver of the English requirement If you already studied in an English speaking Institution this can be something advantageous to put in the the application So specifically I would advise the applicant Just to to providing the application details of both the undergrad qualification and the master degree Which they have Okay. Well, thank you and I can see that the applicant specifies that There can be some Concern related to the marks that the students received in the undergrad and the postgrad courses Especially if the marks are less less than 65 percent for example Uh, I should say that uh, in any case any more evidence about the background experience including courses which have been completed with Marks which may not be a distinction for instance They may not subtract any anything to the to the application I should say if there could have been a Degree that an applicant did in the past with marks, which were not too satisfactory But there was also another degree an applicant took which was more advanced possibly with better marks My personal advice is in any case to provide evidence of all of them Because in any case we do not really apply harsh threshold To just discard an applicant if at any point in their educational Career, they could have completed a degree with uh, uh marks, which are not really satisfying Uh, I believe one of the reasons which requires students applicants Sorry to provide evidence of all of their educational background, but also Work experience and a personal statement which outlines their career trajectory and the supporting references It is really we provided an overall appraisal Of the applicant we try and grasp what kind of career trajectory they have And and so even if some degree could have been done in the past with marks Which are far from a fully satisfactory or far from being a distinction These by itself is nothing is nothing which can preclude an offer Okay, if there are other component parts of the application which can be positively appraised So this is the kind of feedback that I feel to share with uh with you on on this question Well, so fine So that's enough from my side concerning the aims the content of the structure Of these msc programs and hopefully I provided you also some example of the profile of students We have with us and the kind of expectations the career trajectory, which which they have Oh, yes, of course This is something I was just about to say if you have any further question Yeah, feel free to to send me an email as a convener of these two msc programs I am like the first point of contact if you have any questions you can find my details online But my email is a a 144 at soas.ac.uk And feel free to drop an email I can just reply or if you like to have a conversation Which we can be in touch on the phone or over of a skype Whatever is more practical to to provide any any clarification So you're you're welcome Dinulla or Denada, whatever language we use to to communicate here Okay, thanks to everyone for attending and for your questions and Hopefully we will meet here at soas at some time and sometime sometime soon. Thank you. Bye