Learning objectives
At the end of the course, students are expected to be able to:
- Recognise the stages of the public policy cycle;
- Critically analyse a public policy;
- Apply the theoretical and methodological skills acquired during the course to real processes of public policy design, formulation, implementation and evaluation.
Prerequisites
This course does not require special prerequisites
Course unit content
The course will be organized in two different parts: the first one, dedicated to the presentation of the theoretical-methodological framework which, starting from the definition of public policies, will examine the main phases in which the planning and the implementation of a public policy is divided; a second one, focalized on how to build and evaluate projects in the social sphere.
In particular, the first part will deal with topics such as the public policy cycle; the actors and their role in the formulation and implementation of a public policy; the main theoretical approaches to the classification of a public policy and then go into the details of the single phases that make up the cycle. In the second part, attention will be focused on possible strategies for the construction and evaluation of public policies in the social field. The course includes individual and group exercises.
Full programme
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Bibliography
Attending students:
In the first part of the course in-depth readings will be provided;
For the second part: De Ambrogio, U., Dessi, C. e Ghetti, V., (2015), Progettare e valutare nel sociale, Roma, Carocci.
Non-attending students:
La Spina, A., Espa, E. (2011), Analisi e valutazione delle politiche pubbliche, Bologna, Il Mulino.
De Ambrogio, U., Dessi, C. e Ghetti, V., (2015), Progettare e valutare nel sociale, Roma, Carocci.
Students are warned against disseminating course materials (slides, articles) and notes associated with the lecturer’s name outside Unipr.
Teaching methods
The teaching activity will take place in presence and it will be conducted mostly with lectures in the first part of the course, in any case by promoting the exchanges and the discussions with the students. The second part of the course will alternate lectures with discussions on topics and research agreed with the students, exercises and group work. During the lectures, slides will be projected and materials for discussion will be distributed. All materials will be made available on the Elly platform, also used for communications and notices
Assessment methods and criteria
The exam will be written and will focus on the exam books. In particular, it will composed by 3 open-ended questions with no answer limits (time available: 90 minutes). The questions are open and general, and have the aim not only of assessing notional learning, but also the ability of the students to process critically and interconnect between various "chapters" of study.
For attending students, a report (3/4 pages) on one of the issues addressed in the second part of the course will be added to the written exam (2 open-ended questions). More details will be provided by the teacher during the course.
The final evaluation will be the result of the average of the scores obtained by the student in the different tests. In particular, for attending students the written test, evaluated expressed in thirtieths, represents the 50% of the final mark, while the other 50% is represented by the report evaluation. For non-attending students the final mark is the result of the written test.
Other information
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