Integrated Social Services Management (MSc)

Training Objectives

The aim of the Master’s program is to train professionals who contribute to the development of integrated services and to meeting national and international trends and expectations in the fields of social services and management.

Our aim is to provide students with an innovative, open, and values-based learning environment where, alongside theoretical knowledge, they acquire practical, applicable knowledge and develop a process- and systems-oriented approach. The program prepares students for effective and innovative service provision and provides practice-oriented knowledge of current sector-specific and management concepts and techniques, while fostering a modern management mindset.

Our lecturers bring extensive professional experience, a practical approach, academic expertise, and active professional networks, providing a strong foundation for our objectives to support the professionalization of social services.

We believe that, at the Faculty of Health and Public Services of Semmelweis University, in close cooperation with leading experts and stakeholders in health and social policy, we can achieve lasting positive impacts in the sector, in the interests of people who require services, service users, and clients.

Training Information

Program Description

In recent years, there has been a lack of new knowledge to support innovation in the social services sector. The scientific foundations of the social service system have not yet been fully established; the academic background is one-sided in some areas; and there is a lack of active academic forums in this field.

The number of graduates obtaining degrees in the social services field has declined to one-tenth over the past decade, while growing societal demand for professionally managed social services, together with increasingly complex requirements, calls for up-to-date, high-level professional, leadership, and management knowledge among managers working in the field.

In response to these challenges, we have revised and further developed the curriculum of our postgraduate specialization program in social services management to establish our Master’s program in Social Services Management. This development reflects the growing importance of resilience and the recognition that the future quality of services will depend even more on well-prepared professionals and leaders.

The curriculum and teaching methodology of the Master’s program in Integrated Social Services Management prepare students to contribute through their work to the development of services and to meet national and international trends and expectations in the fields of social services and management. Alongside theoretical knowledge, students acquire practical, applicable knowledge and develop a process- and systems-oriented approach.

Upon completion of the program, students will be able to

• align the activities and services of a social service organization with the needs of service users;

• actively establish cooperation with professionals and stakeholders from related fields within the social services sector and develop joint solutions;

• recognize and leverage synergies within the social services sector;

• assess future operational opportunities for individual services within the framework of a sector-wide vision for the future;

• formulate service-level strategies and visions and plan, manage and oversee their systematic implementation;

• analyze their own institutional environment, identify critical points, development objectives, and required actions within organizational operations, as well as identify and analyze critical processes within their institution and formulate proposals for their optimization;

• analyze facts in detail and identify fundamental relationships based on theories and methods related to economic processes.

Target Group

The program is intended for applicants who hold at least a Bachelor’s degree in one of the following fields: humanities, social sciences, law and public administration, economics, or medical and health sciences, and who are, above all, committed to the fundamental values and objectives of the social services profession.