Main themes in the first part of the study
At University of Twente, we organise education in modules, four a year, that integrate all important subjects of study. You apply your knowledge in projects to get to grips with current, societal topics and design viable solutions.
Module 1: Data security
In this module, you will dive into computer security and cybercrime. You will understand how hacking technologies work and you will get an introduction in modern public administration.
You learn how:
- to protect ourselves against cybercrime through technological solutions and human responses.
- governments and international institutions are legally and politically organised.
- to apply your knowledge on the (inter)national fight against cybercrime.
Your project assignment is to map out the high-tech challenges of cybercrime and how these are addressed over the world.
CASE EXAMPLE: WHAT DO SELFIES HAVE TO DO WITH PUBLIC MANAGEMENT?
Module 2: The Challenge of Mass-Migration
You will look at one of the biggest societal challenges of our time: mass immigration. The module introduces you to the politics of problem framing and agenda-setting theory in public administration.
You will understand how:
- modern technologies affect migration towards “high-tech fortress Europe” together with social, economic, political, and physical factors.
- social media, for example, inform potential immigrants about the promised land.
- modern technologies enable immigration officers to authenticate the identity of immigrants.
You learn to use descriptive data analysis and data visualisation for your project assignment: describe an aspect of the complex immigration challenge.
Module 3: Smart Health Policies
This module gives you an introduction to policy-making theory in public administration. By exploring how a wearable device may change your own behaviors, you get engaged with the world of wearable technologies in the domain of health promotion.
You will learn how:
- e-health interventions and smart policies can promote health.
- algorithms can covertly affect our behaviour.
- to design effective policies that are based on solid evidence.
- You learn to study scientific evidence through coursework in research methods and statistics.
Your project assignment is to design a smart health policy that will likely work in practice.
Module 4: Public Management
Have you ever wondered why ICT projects often fail? This module introduces you to modern theories of public management and program implementation while studying the digital government.
You will learn:
- that the organisation of government rapidly changes under new technologies. Think, for example, about the digital processing of service requests (passports), or the information exchange between government departments and units to protect our safety.
- to understand how such information technologies in government work.
- to interpret inferential statistics and data analytics.
Your project assignment is to study the large-scale implementation of an ICT application in a network of government organisations.
CASE EXAMPLE: WHAT DOES CLIMATE CHANGE HAVE TO DO WITH TRAFFIC LIGHTS?
