University of Tasmania, Australia

Welcome to the Politics and International Relations Program

I would like to warmly welcome your interest in the Program. Our School (formerly School of Government) was founded in 1956 and is one of the oldest political science programs in the country, as well as one of the most accomplished. We are a dynamic, diverse program, in the beautiful island state of Tasmania, with a wealth of undergraduate and postgraduate offerings, as well as research strengths, in Political Science, International Relations, Public Policy and Police Studies.

From 2013, our School will be known as the Politics and International Relations Program in the School of Social Sciences. But this administrative change will not affect your study, or your planned study with us. We cater for the full range of students, including those attending either our Hobart or Launceston campuses, as well as Distance based students, Tasmanian college students (in HPP 110 Introduction to Politics and Policy), and international study abroad students.

Our program has a stellar history. Wilfred Asquith Townsley was appointed the first University of Tasmania Chair of Political Science and headed the School from 1956-1975. Some of our early, distinguished students, many shared with the Faculty of Law, included Enid Campbell, who taught with us for a while, Roger Scott, Peter Underwood, Guy Green, Henry Reynolds and Nick Evers. We remember Prof with the Townsley Resource Room, which includes his own collection of books.

Our historical roots are in Public Administration, which was first taught at the University of Tasmania in 1917. It was not until the 1920s that the teaching of public administration became mainstream in Australian universities. We are proud to say that today we have one of the strongest reputations for public policy research in the country at the University of Tasmania, and an excellent Public Policy teaching program within our Politics and Policy major.

The teaching of Political Science has been our mainstay for the last half century, and is an excellent choice of study, as is International Relations, which is now a major in its own right with offerings right across Faculty. Prof Townsley first taught Political Science, Public Administration (now Public Policy), and International Relations in our School in 1956. We have added a Police Studies major to our offerings and house the Tasmanian Institute for Law Enforcement Studies.

Please consider us as your first choice for postgraduate study, in either coursework or research based studies. We offer Graduate Certificates, Diplomas and Masters in both Public Policy and International Relations and you can study these online if you like. Our graduate research MA and PhD program is particularly strong, and you can be assured, if you decide to do graduate research, that you will have the very best prospects of finishing if you study with us.

Our staff has broad research expertise and can supervise community sector and women’s policy, green politics and environmental governance, political economy, Australian politics, climate change, trade, energy and business politics, and regional development policy. We can supervise projects on war, human rights, European politics, transnational activism, international political economy, East Asian issues, terrorism, security, great powers, conflict, defence and much more.

We pride ourselves on the quality and approachability of our people, our teachers and researchers. The program is home to very enthusiastic, helpful and inspiring staff. We are a research active program, recently ranked 8th in the country in terms of quality journal publications and 7th in the country in terms of the receipt of Australian Research Council Discovery grants*. So you will find your lecturers immersed in their own research questions, which they bring to their teaching as they discuss their ideas with you and as you follow the progress of their projects.

We would love to welcome you as a distance student if you are unable to study in Tasmania, or if you can't get away during working hours, or if you need to be home based for any reason. We will give you very good support through a web-based platform that includes lecture recordings, lecture notes, and online discussions as a minimum. If you are still at school you may like to consider taking our new Politics and Policy College Program offering which was first available in 2012.

So have a look at our offerings in the University handbook, get in touch with our coordinators or lecturers and follow us on Facebook. Again we welcome your interest, so please be in touch.

Associate Professor Kate Crowley

• Political Science (Public Policy) - Please contact Dr Hannah Murphy - P: +61 3 6226 7201
• International Relations - Please contact Dr Matt Killingsworth - P: +61 3 6226 1062
• Police Studies (Conventional Program) - Please contact Dr Isa Bartkowiak-Theron P: +61 3 6226 2739
• Police Studies (In-Service Program) - Please contact Dr Rob Hall P: +61 3 6226 2319
• Graduate Research (MA and PhD) - Please contact Dr Matt Sussex P: +61 3 6226 2326

*JC Sharman & P Weller 'Where is the Quality? Political Science Scholarship in Australia', Australian Journal of Political Science, 44 (4), 2009: 597-612. See also analysis undertaken for the Australasian Political Studies Association.

School of Government Facebook link.