MSc In Ageing and Social Change

Population aging and rising inequalities are marked trends worldwide, while globalization, digitalization, urbanization, migration, and changing gender relations are having profound effects on our lives. A longer living population presents global challenges and opportunities that affect every aspect of our lives, such as welfare, the environment, health, finance, housing, and employment. Gaining a profound understanding of the potentials and challenges of aging is crucial for the well-being of humankind and the sustainability of society. Skilled experts to tackle the global social, economic, health, political, and cultural issues of aging will be needed to support public agencies, civil society, and private corporations in addressing the challenges of an aging population.

The interdependencies between policies, welfare institutions, populations’ dynamics, and individual lives are at the heart of this program. It offers a broad curriculum in policy-oriented aging research and addresses several policy areas such as the welfare state, life-course policies, pensions, health and care, family, and intergenerational relations. Teachers from a range of academic backgrounds will enable you to acquire a globally attractive and unique education. Together we will seek answers to the complex questions facing society today with regards to both individual and population aging. As a student in the new Ageing and Social Change master’s program, you will gain a broad understanding of the relationships between longevity and social change through a truly interdisciplinary perspective, combining up-to-date research and methodology.

The approach taken during the program emphasizes interactive teaching and communication, based on a hybrid model of digital learning that includes both classroom teaching and distance learning. You can choose either on-campus learning or distance learning with two on-campus periods each year. The program is offered as a one-year option, 60 credits, and as a two-year option, 120 credits.

Regardless of whether you are about to start a career or further develop your professional expertise, the program will offer you the ability to generate social impact. You will be well-prepared for a professional career in either the public or the private sector and further studies and research at a Ph.D. level and beyond. The Ageing and Social Change master’s program will lead you and your fellow students to become the next generation of managers, advisors, decision-makers, experts, and researchers.

Longevity, policies and social change

The interdependencies between policies, welfare institutions, populations’ dynamics and individual lives are at the heart of this programme. It offers a broad curriculum in policy-oriented ageing research and addresses several policy areas such as the welfare state, life- course policies, pensions, health and care, family, and intergenerational relations. Teachers from a range of academic backgrounds will enable you to acquire a globally attractive and unique education. Together we will seek answers to the complex questions facing society today with regards to both individual and population ageing. As a student on the new Ageing and Social Change master’s programme, you will gain a broad understanding of the relationships between longevity and social change through a truly interdisciplinary perspective, combining up-to-date research and methodology.

On-campus or distance learning

The approach taken during the programme emphasises interactive teaching and communication, based on a hybrid model of digital learning that includes simultaneous classroom teaching and distance learning. You can choose either on-campus learning or distance learning with a few on-campus periods. The programme is offered as a one-year option, 60 credits, and as a two-year option, 120 credits.

Generate social impact

Regardless of whether you are about to start a career or to further develop your professional expertise, the programme will offer you the ability to generate social impact. You will be well-prepared for a professional career in either the public or the private sector, and for further studies and research at PhD level and beyond. The Ageing and Social Change master’s programme will lead you, and your fellow students, to become the next generation of managers, advisors, decision-makers, experts, and researchers.

Syllabus and course details

The program runs over two years and encompasses 120 credits, including a thesis.

In the first and second semesters, students will follow mandatory courses that contain a historical and theoretical introduction to aging societies. Moreover, the course content provides insight into policy-oriented aging research and introduces students to data and methods for policy-oriented social science research on aging and Social Change. The courses informed increasing economic inequality and accelerated population aging as key features of contemporary societies between regional and global perspectives by looking into intersections between gender, social class, and ethnicity. Students that decide to take the one-year option, devote the second half of the second semester to the composition of the master’s thesis and participation in regular colloquium meetings.

In the third semester, the program leads to individual specialization through studies abroad, internships, intensive research and reading courses as well as elective courses on an advanced level in the field of aging, policy analysis.

The fourth semester is devoted to the composition of the master’s thesis and to the participation in regular thesis colloquium meetings. The master’s thesis regularly involves a small-scale research study. In addition to their thesis and course work, students will follow a schedule of thematic seminars.

Buro Millennial / pexels

Syllabus and course details

The program runs over two years and encompasses 120 credits, including a thesis.

In the first and second semesters, students will follow mandatory courses that contain a historical and theoretical introduction to aging societies. Moreover, the course content provides insight into policy-oriented aging research and introduces students to data and methods for policy-oriented social science research on Ageing and Social Change. The courses inform about increasing economic inequality and accelerated population aging as key features of contemporary societies between regional and global perspectives by looking into intersections between gender, social class, and ethnicity. Students that decide to take the one-year option, devote the second half of the second semester to the composition of the master’s thesis and participation in regular colloquium meetings.

In the third semester, the program leads to individual specialization through studies abroad, internships, intensive research and reading courses as well as elective courses on an advanced level in the field of aging, policy analysis.

The fourth semester is devoted to the composition of the master’s thesis and to the participation in regular thesis colloquium meetings. The master’s thesis regularly involves a small-scale research study. In addition to their thesis and course work, students will follow a schedule of thematic seminars.

Syllabus

Introduction

The Ageing and Social Change Studies master’s program (60/120 credits) is a second-cycle program that leads to a Master’s degree with Ageing and Social Change as the main field of study. The program educates the next generation of managers, advisors, policymakers, experts, and researchers in Sweden, Europe, and beyond, and it enables graduates to generate impact in various key fields of society. It opens professional perspectives in research, policy, and practice for its graduates, and it emphasizes the increased internationalization of scopes and competencies. The program graduates are prepared for professional careers working with various aspects from running policy programs to scientific research.

Aging is one of the key issues in today’s changing societies, which requires more research-based understanding as well as knowledge for adequate policies. The Ageing and Social Change Studies master’s program (60/120 credits) offers students the needed skills for both. Aging and Social Change Studies relate individual and population aging to overall social, economic, political, and cultural change, to new structures of inequality and policies addressing them. The specific focus on interdependencies of policies, welfare institutions, populations’ dynamics, and individual lives is at the heart of this program, which takes a broad and integrated social science perspective on contemporary changing aging societies. This program is momentous regarding its degree of internationalization and multidisciplinarity, and sustainable in its hybrid structure based on digital and web-based learning, involving a fusion of onsite and distance learning.

The program is characterized by progression in both knowledge and skills in Ageing and Social Change. The courses also provide a solid foundation for further studies and research towards a Ph.D. and beyond. This includes conceptual, planning, management, and evaluative activities on a variety of levels; e.g., in governmental institutions and international public organizations like intergovernmental agencies and departments of policy and planning at EU, state, and local levels, as well as in public institutions for social policy and policy consulting. In addition, also in specialist departments of national and international institutions and associations dealing with the programs’ issues as well as in research institutes and universities in scientific policy-oriented research, and teaching. Finally, also in stakeholder organizations, NGOs, private think tanks and consultancies, companies, and administrations.

Aim

Qualifications according to the Swedish Higher Education Act

Knowledge and understanding

For a Degree of Master of Science (60 hp) the student shall:

• demonstrate knowledge and understanding in the field of Ageing and Social Change, including both broad knowledge of the field and a considerable degree of specialized knowledge in certain areas of the field as well as insight into current research and development work, and
• demonstrate specialized knowledge about data sources, statistical and policy analysis methods, and interpretation of complex information in Ageing and Social Change.

For a Degree of Master of Science (120 hp) the student shall:

• demonstrate knowledge and understanding in the field of Ageing and Social Change, including both broad knowledge of the field and a considerable degree of specialized knowledge in certain areas of the field as well as insight into current research and development work, and
• demonstrate specialized methodological knowledge in Ageing and Social Change.

Competence and skills

For a Degree of Master of Science (60 hp) the student shall:

• demonstrate the ability to integrate knowledge and analyze, assess, and deal with complex phenomena, issues, and situations even with limited information
• demonstrate the ability to identify and formulate issues autonomously as well as to plan and, using appropriate methods, undertake advanced tasks within predetermined time frames
• demonstrate the ability in speech and writing both nationally and internationally to report clearly and discuss his or her conclusions and the knowledge and arguments on which they are based in dialogue with different audiences, and
• demonstrate the skills required for participation in research and development work or autonomous employment in some other qualified capacity.

For a Degree of Master of Science (120 hp) the student shall:

• demonstrate the ability to critically and systematically integrate knowledge and analyze, assess, and deal with complex phenomena, issues and situations even with limited information,
• demonstrate the ability to identify and formulate issues critically, autonomously, and creatively as well as to plan and, using appropriate methods, undertake advanced tasks within predetermined time frames and so contribute to the formation of knowledge as well as the ability to evaluate this work,
• demonstrate the ability in speech and writing both nationally and internationally to report clearly and discuss his or her conclusions and the knowledge and arguments on which they are based in dialogue with different audiences, and
• demonstrate the skills required for participation in research and development work or autonomous employment in some other qualified capacity.

Judgment and approach

For a Degree of Master of Science (60 hp) the student shall:

• demonstrate the ability to make assessments in the field of Ageing and Social Change informed by relevant disciplinary, social, and ethical issues and also to demonstrate awareness of ethical aspects of research and development work,
• demonstrate insight into the possibilities and limitations of research, its role in society, and the responsibility of the individual for how it is used, and
• demonstrate the ability to identify the personal need for further knowledge and take responsibility for ongoing learning.

For a Degree of Master of Science (120 hp) the student shall:

• demonstrate the ability to make assessments in the field of Ageing and Social Change informed by relevant disciplinary, social, and ethical issues and also to demonstrate awareness of ethical aspects of research and development work,
• demonstrate insight into the possibilities and limitations of research, its role in society, and the responsibility of the individual for how it is used, and
• demonstrate the ability to identify the personal need for further knowledge and take responsibility for ongoing learning.

Research

The Ageing and Social Change research environment

The Ageing and Social Change research environment conduct leading-edge research on key social, political, and cultural issues of aging.

EIWO - Exclusion and Inequality in Late Working Life

EIWO pushes the boundaries of knowledge about late work and the potential of its inclusive and equal prolongation - it provides evidence for aging work and life course policies.

GENPATH - GENdered PATHways of social exclusion in later life

GENPATH analyses gender differences in social exclusion across Europe. It asks for its roots and consequences in health and wellbeing in old age.

EuroAgeism (ITN EuroAgeism)

EuroAgeism is a multi-disciplinary, multi-sectorial, science-policy international research network. Advanced research and the training of a new generation of Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) in the field of ageism are key for this endeavor.

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on working life in Sweden from a social risk and inequality perspective

The project aims at understanding the effects and consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in working life in Sweden from a social risk and inequality perspective on age and gender.

Aging in a Changing Society

Research data infrastructure, life course analyses, and projections for future later life with an emphasis on disadvantage, exclusion, and inequality are at the heart of the project.

Older workers and the digitalization of work in the Nordic countries

The network and workshop action DigiNord addresses aim at improving the understanding of how the digitalization of work affects older workers and late work. It takes an exclusion and social risk perspective on late working life