Social Policy at the University of Edinburgh will enable you to engage with confidence in many of the political debates of our time. We deal with a wide array of areas, addressing health, welfare, labour markets, education, family and childhood as well as many other policy themes. In addition, we discuss how policies affect our civic culture through studying political engagement and citizen participation. Our programme will equip you with the knowledge to understand how policies affect society and the economy, but it will also enable you to critically assess how policies are made and what actors and processes influence the policy making process. Our degrees are for students who are interested in how political actions affect the real lives of people. Our programmes are designed to foster critical thinking about policy to ensure our graduates are able to look beyond news headlines and understand in detail why certain political decisions are taken and what their impact may be. You will be taught by staff members who are passionate about conducting research that has strong applications to the world outside academia. We work closely with governments, NGOs, third sector and interest representation groups, international organisations and other external actors. International comparative analyses are one of our main strengths and we place a strong emphasis on providing our students with empirical research skills, so that they can become critical researchers themselves. Take a Social Policy degree at the University of Edinburgh and you will be challenged to re-evaluate how you look at politics, society and the economy with the ability to improve others’ understanding as well.Optional year abroad