My Career Journey

Having studied politics at undergraduate level, I have always worked at the intersection of policy, politics and public engagement. I've been involved with a range of impactful organisations from Labour HQ and Shelter, to the ONE Campaign and the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change; but more on the political, campaigning and communications side. For a while, I'd wanted to get back to the debates and ideas that got me involved in this space. To challenge and further my own thinking on the different approaches and tools that can be used to tackle the big public policy issues of today.

Choosing Bath

When looking into options for further study, Bath stood out to me early on as it felt practical, contemporary and relevant to my work. The course is designed to be studied alongside working full time, and the residential component looked really interesting.

A blended learning approach

Though the majority of the MSc in Public Policy is delivered as a distance-learning course, one of the things that really made it stand out were the residentials that take place in Bath and London. These provide an opportunity to meet the teaching staff, as well as the other students and to really get to know them from the beginning of the course. This has helped create a support network amongst the group, and makes it feel much less like you are doing it by yourself.

Course Highlights

There have been lots of highlights for me. I’ve enjoyed refreshing and exploring my own thinking further around key policy areas and learning more about the different approaches to policy making. I’ve also really enjoyed the discussions with teaching staff and other students. It’s really refreshing to lift my head out of the day-to-day, now a decade into my career, and apply my experience to my learning; and my studies to my work.

Feeling supported

The level of support on the course is great. I feel like the team at Bath truly want us to succeed and are practical about what’s achievable on a weekly basis alongside full-time work and other commitments. I’ve found the week-to-week study absolutely manageable, and I’ve just had to ensure I am very focused with my time around assessments. It’s worth it though!

Future Prospects

Not only is this course helping shape my thinking in my current field of work, but it is also giving me a more solid grounding if I did wish to pivot my focus more towards the policy side in future.

If anyone is considering studying this course, I would say go for it. You’ll have a supportive team, interesting discussions and the opportunity to challenge your own perspectives.