This course is concerned with real world issues such as poverty, social exclusion and global population change. It is about understanding and addressing social problems in society and examines the formation and implementation of policy, and how this affects people’s wellbeing. The subject is diverse and exciting, and plays a crucial role in contemporary politics. The study of government involves analysing the ways in which individuals and groups define and interpret political issues and seek to shape government decisions. These two subjects are closely linked. The social policies you see around you were not created in a vacuum but reflect an accumulation of decisions in which political behaviour by citizens and their representatives, and governments and other organisations at local, national and international levels, have all played key roles. The BSc Social Policy and Government has social policy as its major subject and government as its minor subject; and the study of social policy will make up approximately 75 per cent of the degree. The programme is designed to provide you with the skills to understand how voters, political parties and politicians, civil servants, different governmental departments and agencies interact, whether proposing, modifying, blocking or implementing policies across the world. You will discuss current and past social policies and the analytical principles underlying them. For example, levels of social security benefits and their eligibility conditions, the nature of private-public partnerships in health service provision, or the mix of local authority schools and academies. BSc Social Policy with Government is based in the Department of Social Policy which was ranked second in the world for the subject in the QS World University Rankings. The Department prides itself in being able to offer teaching based on the highest quality empirical research in the field. In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (the UK's nationwide assessment of research quality, impact and environment, which is undertaken every six to seven years), the Department was ranked first in the UK for world leading and internationally excellent research and was also awarded the joint highest marks for the non-academic impacts of its work. Students will also be able to benefit from studying in one of the largest political science departments in the UK. The Department brings together staff from many parts of the world, covers almost all areas of political studies, and represents a comprehensive range of academic approaches and expertise. The skills you will develop by studying social policy and government are attractive to a range of employers. Our graduates have found work in a variety of industries including; politics and government, education and teaching, banking and finance, NGOs, charities and international development, as well as journalism, media and publishing, advertising, marketing and PR, and accounting and auditing.