Work-based Placement sought within the Voluntary Sector (Health and Social Care)

Joon Hun Song - University of Birmingham  - MA Policy into Practice 2008-2010
Joon Hun Song is currently Director of a team for Social Welfare in the Ministry of Health, Welfare and the Family in Seoul, South Korea. He was successful in being awarded  a Korean Government Fellowship for Overseas Study in 2008. These fellowships  are competitive and much sought after amongst the middle/higher levels of the Korean Civil service  and funding is for two years with the opportunity to study at on the MA Policy into Practice programme at  the University of Birmingham and have work-based placements in relevant public, private and third sector organisations in Birmingham. His wife and child have accompanied him to Birmingham.

Joon Hun Song has a degree in Economics and has been employed in the Civil Service for ten years. Throughout his career he has worked in social welfare and social policy including work on the national pension scheme and social security and more recently the administration of welfare within the Ministry of Health, Welfare and the Family.  He has  been involved in policy development and implementation and system reorganisation and liaising with other countries welfare benefits during a period of intense change and development in South Korea.

Joon Hun is eager to find a work-based opportunity within the voluntary sector which will enable him to develop his understanding of partnerships and contracts between the voluntary and other sectors. He hopes to have some work experience within a voluntary sector organisation that is involved in partnership and contract arrangements with the public sector.  This would support his dissertation research and more importantly inform the policy and practice development he hopes to be engaged in when he returns to Korea.

The MA Policy into Practice programme
The programme is designed and delivered under a Memorandum of Agreement with the South Korean Government and has been running for eight years. It includes taught modules, a dissertation and a work-based placement.
During 2008-9 Joon Hun successfully completed taught modules:
Presessional English for Academic Study
The Politics of British Social Policy
Sectors and Services in British Social Policy
Social Policy: beyond welfare
International Social Policy
Introduction to Applied Social Research
Researching Social Policy

2009-2010 Dissertation
His dissertation will be a comparative study between UK and South Korea and focus on   the  contract culture between the public, voluntary  and private sectors in  Social Services and Health. He hopes to include a study of a UK voluntary sector organisation as part of his dissertation research.

2009-2010 Work-based placement
Students are expected to spend up to 20 weeks in a work-based situation between September 2009 and June 2010.
This can be:

a) one placement which might include:

• Familiarisation
• Shadowing
• Opportunity for discussion with key personnel
• Working alongside others on organisational work
• A project  within the organisation – perhaps something which is additional to the organisation’s regular work
• A research project of value to the organisation.

OR

b) A number of short placements  and visits with different organisations including any of the above activities

We hope that the work based placement will also be of significant benefit to the organisation with opportunities to learn more about another country as well as draw on the student’s  skills and expertise. If you are interested in discussing a possible placement opportunity please contact me – Liz Ross, Institute of Applied Social Studies, University of Birmingham, e.m.ross@bham.ac.uk, 0121 414 5717