Programme overview
Please note: This programme does not lead directly to professional registration. It's designed primarily for qualified and registered professionals who are currently working in the sector in various disciplines, including social work, counselling, community development, and other allied fields.
Develop your ability to work cross-sector in complex environments within the Aotearoa New Zealand's treaty partnership and wider cultural contexts, and advance your decision-making, problem-solving, and research skills. Extend your knowledge in a specialist area of social practice and enhance your career prospects while adding value to your organisation, community, and beyond.
Highlights
- Advance your practice and contribute to your profession by completing work-relevant research and projects as part of your studies.
- Ideal for those with practice-based skills who want to develop their management or workforce development competencies or validate their practice skills and ideas through research.
- Taught by highly experienced lecturers with roles in the community and national organisations.
- Graduates will likely find higher-level social practice roles or progress to study further.
- Places community engagement and understanding at the heart of research through Te Tiriti o Waitangi and indigenous approaches.
- Flexibility: choose full- or part-time study to fit in with your professional practice.
- Fast-track options into thesis work for students with undergraduate degrees that have a strong social practice component at an advanced level.
- Various scholarship options available.
Postgraduate option
You also have the option of starting with our Postgraduate Certificate in Applied Practice (1 semester full-time, 1 year part-time). Once completed, you can then move into the Masters programme.
Admission requirements
What you will need to study this programme.
Domestic students
International students
Academic requirements
You must have completed at least one of the following:
- A Bachelor's degree or Level 7 Graduate Diploma in the same or similar discipline;
- Provide documentary evidence of outcomes in the social work, community development, or counselling work environment to demonstrate an ability to perform in the programme and commit to achieving its outcomes;
And English entry requirements;
If English is not your first language, you will also need at least one of the following qualifications:
- Evidence of an IELTS (Academic) band score of at least 6.5 with no band score lower than 6
- University Entrance Literacy: 8 credits at Level 2 or above in English or Māori (4 in Reading, 4 in Writing); or
- Evidence of English language proficiency as outlined in the NZQA Rules on the Unitec English Language Requirements for International Students Web-page.
Non-Academic requirements
- A phone or face-to-face interview may be required as part of the application process.
Don’t meet these Academic requirements?
- If you don’t meet the academic criteria, our Bridging Education Programmes can help you qualify. Simply apply online, and we’ll discuss your next steps.
- If you don’t meet the above criteria, special or discretionary admission may apply; your eligibility will be determined at the interview.
For more information, download the programme regulations (PDF 501 KB)
Courses and timetables
For more details on the courses including timetables, please click on the course names below.
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| Courses | Credits | Aim |
|---|---|---|
| Applying Research to Practice(CISC8000) | 15.0 credits (0.125 EFTS) | To enable students to critically examine and contextualise practice and develop a critical understanding of how indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness, society, ethics, environment and law inform practice. |
| Community Informed Applied Research(CISC8001) | 15.0 credits (0.125 EFTS) | To develop the student to be able to critically examine and evaluate a body of literature in relation to a practice/work-based issue to arrive at a relevant and informed research question(s) and to contextualise and understand the relevance of this question to practice and the wider community |
| Applied Research Proposal(CISC8002) | 15.0 credits (0.125 EFTS) | Enable a student to engage industry and community relevant to discipline and then begin to create feasible and well-defined research questions as well as determine the most appropriate research method or range of methods to address these research questions. |
