6 ECTS credits
151 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 4023478FNR for all students in the 2nd semester at a (F) Master - specialised level.

Semester
2nd semester
Enrollment based on exam contract
Impossible
Grading method
Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
Can retake in second session
Yes
Taught in
English
Faculty
Faculty of Social Sciences & SolvayBusinessSchool
Department
Political Science
Educational team
Vjosa Musliu (course titular)
Nadège Boels
Activities and contact hours

3 contact hours Lecture
8 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
140 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
Course Content

The Skills Lab aims to bring students and policy makers and civil society together to come up with innovative solutions for complex and often difficult to manage policy problems. The aim is to expose the students with tangible and pressing societal and policy problems and at the same time encourage them to contextualize knowledge that they learn at the university in concrete societal problems. The themes for discussion in the Skills Lab will vary annually. The lecturer of the course will announce a topic at the beginning of the academic year. The aim is for the students to work out a solution in group during the semester and explain these to policy makers or civil society actors involved in a particular area or topic.

Additional info

The Skills Lab does not use one single book or source. Relevant material will be uploaded on Canvas in due time. Importantly, students are required to look up the literature through their own research.

Learning Outcomes

General Competences

After completing Skills Lab, students must have achieved the following objectives:

  1. Students can independently follow developments within one or more sub-domains of political science.
  2. Students can independently and critically grasp social developments and problems in politicological terms and translate them into a concrete policy question.
  3. Students can independently make the appropriate methodological choices for answering a policy question.
  4. Students can independently set up a research design and outline the steps in a research plan.
  5. Students can independently carry out a research design to answer a policy question in a scientifically sound manner.
  6. Students can position themselves in a critical manner with regard to international political and policy literature.
  7. Students can independently reflect analytically, nuancedly and critically about current problems and policy developments.
  8. Students can independently report in writing about their research and explain this to students in a scientifically sound manner and answer questions about it.
  9. Students can independently and on the basis of their own research develop a balanced argumentation and formulate and defend a reasoned standpoint.
  10. Students can critically reflect on their research and deal constructively with critical comments from colleagues.
  11. Students are not guided in their research by political or ideological dogmas.
  12. Students conscientiously deal with the intellectual property of others.
  13. Students can use their political insights to make critical comments about stereotypes, platitudes and rushed generalizations.
  14. Students can develop creative policy solutions for complex social problems.

 

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Other Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Other Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Project Paper with a relative weight of 70 which comprises 70% of the final mark.
  • Presentation with a relative weight of 30 which comprises 30% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

Students will be evaluated in three ways:

  1. Project paper: the project paper is a group report in which the students describe their solution to the policy problem and substantiate each of the proposed policy measures. 70%
  2. Presentation: During the presentation the group explains to a public of policy makers and peers what their proposed solution to the policy problem is. 30%
  3. Peer feedback: as this course strongly focuses on independent group work, each of the group members will have the opportunity to judge the others. This prevents freeride behavior. A negative peer feedback leads to a negative weighting of the scores for the project paper and the presentation.

Attention: students cannot succeed if they have not submitted their project paper and have not done the presentation.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark
The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context

This offer is part of the following study plans:
Master of Political Science: European and International Governance: Standaard traject