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
Academic requirements
For this programme, you will need the following:
- A Bachelor's degree or Level 7 Graduate Diploma in the same or similar discipline;
- Demonstrate an ability to succeed in the programme by providing evidence of successful outcomes you've achieved in a work environment;
- A minimum of 8 credits at NCEA Level 2 in English (4 in reading, 4 in writing).
Please note: A phone or face-to-face interview may be required as part of the application process.
English requirements
If English is not your first language you will also need one or more of the following:
- Have achieved NCEA Level 3 and New Zealand University entrance;
- Be able to provide evidence you satisfy our criteria for existing English proficiency;
- Have achieved at least one English proficiency outcome in the last two years.
If you don’t meet the English criteria above, we have a range of English Language programmes available, depending on your current level of ability.
If you don’t meet these requirements, you may still apply under special or discretionary entrance.
For more information download the programme regulations:
Courses and timetables
For more details on the courses including timetables, please click on the course names below.
| Courses | Credits | Aim |
|---|---|---|
| Applying Research to Practice (CISC8000) | 15 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 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 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. |
Unitec is part of Te Pūkenga
On 1 October 2022 Unitec became part of Te Pūkenga. Find out more about Te Pūkenga and what this means for you.
