Master of Social and Community Leadership

This masters programme, designed with flexibility in mind, is able to be completed 100% online (depending on elective selections), as well as face-to-face and a mixture of both. Meaningful social change is only possible when we prioritise the experiences of people at the centre of the issues. Equally, leadership skills are more critical than ever for driving social transformation, especially in a complex world where it can be difficult to identify and respond to the root causes of issues. On a strong foundation of leadership training, this programme will teach you how to implement solutions that respond to social and community contexts, opportunities and complexities. By learning about evaluation and research, you will gain the knowledge and abilities to produce more sustainable and scalable change in a complex world. These will help you to lead, innovate and evaluate for social change. This 180-point programme is flexibly designed to suit those working full-time or part-time in community, government, not-for-profit and social good sectors, as well as graduates from a range of disciplines aspiring to work in this area.

Taught Masters 180 points

• Take four core advanced taught courses (120 points total) in the programme that focus on leadership, systems thinking, Innovation, ethics, and Evaluation.
• Develop postgraduate expertise in one or more subject area by taking 60 points from a wide range of elective courses across the University, including the Faculties of Education and Social Work, Medicine and Health Sciences, Arts, Science, Creative Arts and Industries.
• You have the option to combine face-to-face and online courses
• Students typically complete the programme in 1.5 years full-time or two years part-time.

You can view an example programme structure below. Please note that this is an example only, for all elective courses you can choose from, visit the University Calendar.

You can see the courses required to complete your programme through the University Calendar. Please note that not all courses are offered each year. Visit the calendar regulations for the Master of Social and Community Leadership.

Research Masters 180 points

• Two core courses (30 points total): Innovation, Design and Evaluation (SOCCLEAD 706) and Leadership, Ethics, Systems (SOCCLEAD 703)*
• A Research Methods course (30 points): Research Methodologies (EDUCSW 700) or Maori and Indigenous Research (EDUC 787)
• Thesis (90 points)

This programme is designed for flexibility, to suit those working full-time or part-time.

It comprises the core courses from the Postgraduate Certificate in Social and Community Leadership, plus a research methods course and a 90-point research thesis project. The thesis project can be focused on a need or opportunity within the community or something relevant to your workplace. The project will give you real-life, in-depth experience as you build strong research, investigative and evaluative abilities. You will learn how to use research to increase and improve social and community leadership.

You will have the guidance and support of an experienced supervisor throughout your research.