Admission requirements
Students admitted to Public Administration Master, regardless of track affiliation.
Description
New concepts try to grasp the way the public realm is working with big data, such as the ‘Data Readiness Concept’ and ‘Digital-era Governance’. They are built on the assumption that data- and technology-driven innovations in government need an infrastructure for creating value from data and closely linked to the e-government idea of technologies transforming government towards being more responsive and accountable. The course will unravel these more recent concepts and connect them to the existing concept of evidence-based policymaking and the literature on e-government and new public management. Taken together, these approaches to data-based policymaking carry different labels, but they converge on several themes. First, the idea that government entities require the capacity, skills and data culture to deal with this type of evidence. Second, the role of big data in policymaking, where government uses various information policy instruments for reaching policy goals. Finally, the idea that this data is used by government to engage citizens and digitize public services. These themes will be addressed throughout the course.
Course objectives
Putting the data movement in policy into the theoretical context of various existing research streams as well as contrasting the data-based promises with the reality of making data-driven decisions in the public sector by looking at concrete examples from the areas of infrastructure, climate change and healthcare.
ICT in Business Students: Gain an understanding of how data is utilized in the policy-making process.
MPA Students: Analyze the opportunities and limitations of data in different policy sectors.
Labour market
The course facilitates a better understanding of policy processes for those with a technical background and gives insights into the technical dimension of data-driven policymaking to those with Public Administration knowledge. This enables labour market candidates to have a more holistic and critical understanding of including data analytics in policymaking – its opportunities, and also its challenges.
Timetable
On the right side of programme front page of the E-guide you will find links to the website and timetables, uSis and Blackboard.
Mode of instruction
The course contains a mixture of lectures, guest speakers, in-class group assignments and discussions. Interaction and discussions during class are based on the assigned readings that must be read in advance of the class.
Assessment method
Essay (30%)
Final Paper (70%)
To earn 5 ECTS for this course, the final paper will be longer (around 7,000 words) for Public Administration Master Students.
Reading list
The reading list containing a mixture of articles and book chapters will be made available on the blackboard page approximately two weeks before the start of the course.
Registration
Register for every course and workgroup via uSis. Some courses and workgroups have a limited number of participants, so register on time (before the course starts). In uSis you can access your personal schedule and view your results. Registration in uSis is possible from four weeks before the start of the course.
Also register for every course in Blackboard. Important information about the course is posted there.
Contact
Dr. Sarah Giest s.n.giest@fgga.leidenuniv.nl