The yellow and brown leaves drifting into the Corrib river herald the beginning of autumn. The river laps NUI Galway's campus in Galway city and here the falling leaves also herald the beginning of a new academic year.

This autumn also marks the beginning of a new multi-disciplinary degree programme in the social sciences. Some 30 students have come to Galway to study for a BA in public and social policy. Professor Chris Curtin explains that, if course objectives are achieved, these pioneers will, as graduates, have developed two characteristics: the critical skills needed to operate in this field (they will be astute and well-informed when it comes to decision-making) and they will also have the practical policy skills.

The course was introduced in response to major changes in policy-making in the past decade. Curtin says these include "the growing influence of the EU, the re-evaluation of the State's involvement and the emergence of new institutions involving the private and voluntary sectors. Changes in the policy-making process have also occurred."

All of this has taken place against the background of "serious problems in areas such as urban decay, rural decline, unemployment, household structure, changing labour-force patterns, an ageing society and the challenge of technological change." For this reason, NUI Galway identified a need for the critical analysis of public policy objectives and the implementation processes. The new BA will take a multidisciplinary approach. The course directorship will be rotated on a three-yearly basis between the departments of political science, sociology, economics and law.

The interdisciplinary programme combines these three areas of study, Curtin explains. Students will take a core programme in sociological and political studies, economics and law.

The main thrust of the first component is to achieve "an understanding of Government, politics and society especially as these relate to the formation and implementation of public and social policy in Ireland and the EU." Allied to that, students will study the principles and practice of public management and social administration, including their impact on policy implementation.

Under economics, they will examine the theories and techniques of economics as well as "the analysis and critique of their application in the formulation, implementation and review of social and public policy."

In law, students will explore "the nature and role of law in society including its role in the regulation of Government and administration, its role in the maintenance of order and social control and its contribution to the attainment of the objectives of social and public policy." As if all of that were not enough, students will also take computing and business studies.

The three-year courses includes a three-month placement in the public or voluntary community sector. "We'll also be pushing quite strongly for opportunities abroad, both in Europe and, possibly, the US," says Curtin. NUI Galway is working on a firm relationship with Boston College, he adds. "We would encourage students to go there and other places to do some comparative work."

The reality for most BA graduates is that they will top up their undergraduate course with a postgraduate qualification which may be academic or vocational in nature. Curtin says that many students looking at the prospectus for a multi-disciplinary course such as the BA in public and social are concerned about future progression. In fact, the degree contains sufficient of each element for students to pursue postgraduate studies in any one of the three major disciplines.

"Some of these students will go in other directions," he says. "It also allows them to progress to jobs as well to top up their skills with a postgraduate courses." The types of organisations where graduates may find employment include service with central and local government, the European Union and other international organisations as well as non-Governmental organisations involved in policy-making.

A further two autumns must pass before these 30 students will graduate in the year 2001. Only then will the outcome of their odyssey into public and social science be known.

Subjects available in each year of NUI Galway's BA in public and social policy:

Year One:

Legal process; introduction to sociology; introduction to politics; principles of microeconomics; principles of macro-economics; public administration; social and public policy.

Year Two:

Introduction to social and political theory; social policy; constitutional law; sociology of law; intermediate microeconomics; Irish economy; Constitutional law; law and social policy; political sociology; sociology and politics of the European Union; intermediate macro economics; welfare economics; research and evaluation.

Year Three:

EU law; development and change; economic theory; comparative public policy; economic theory; policy seminar.

Students choose one course per semester from a range of policy options provided by each department.