Undergraduate Courses 2025-26

Undergraduate courses marked with [BLD] or [SPO] may be offered in the mode of blended learning or self-paced online delivery respectively, subject to different offerings. Students should check the delivery mode of the class section before registration.

• PPOL 1110

  Public Policy in Cases

  3 Credit(s)
  Description

  This course aims to equip students with conceptual and theoretical abilities that are essential for understanding the complex but fascinating world of public policy. Theoretical knowledge will be illustrated through 13 real-world policy cases from Asia, Africa, and North America, covering a wide range of areas including health care, poverty alleviation, rural development, technology innovation, and crisis management. Students will engage the class through dynamic co-production of knowledge. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to comprehend and analyze the dynamics of public policy in a professional way and will also develop higher-order capabilities of solving contemporary policy problems.

  Intended Learning Outcomes

  On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

  • 1.
    Identify and define key terms, concepts, approaches, and frameworks concerning public policy
  • 2.
    Classify, infer and explain important structures and interactions among key components of policy systems, such as policy actors, policy environment, and policy instruments
  • 3.
    Exemplify, summarize and paraphrase key theories and frameworks of the policy process and identify and apply areas of potential improvement
  • 4.
    Differentiate, distinguish and analyze the political system, policy approach, and socioeconomic dynamics of different types of societies around the world
• PPOL 2000

  Special Topics in Public Policy

  1-4 Credit(s)
  Description

  Selected topics of current interest in public policy studies. The course aims to broaden students' exposure to a broad range of topics within the public policy discipline. The course may be repeated for credit, if the topics studied are different. Graded letter grade or P/F subject to different offerings. Instructor's approval is required for enrollment in the course.

  Intended Learning Outcomes

  On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

  • 1.
    Have an understanding of many important areas from the Public Policy perspective
  • 2.
    Describe and critique existing approaches to special topics in public policy
  • 3.
    Use effective skills in communication, analysis, information collection and presentation within the team
  • 4.
    Explain the meaning and significance of public policy
  • 5.
    Analyze existing special topics of development to public policy
• PPOL 2110

  Science, Technology and Society in China

  3 Credit(s)
  Previous Course Code(s)

  CORE 2940

  Mode of Delivery

  [BLD] Blended learning

  Description

  This course aims to cultivate students’ systematic and critical thinking about science, technology, innovation, and society, especially in light of the transition from traditional China to contemporary China. Differing from the usual courses focusing on this subject, this course will take a social and critical approach, enabling students to understand and analyze the social, political, and cultural preconditions and impacts of scientific and technological development. By the end of the course, students should understand the significance of the social, cultural, and political preconditions underlying scientific and technological innovations and be able to gauge the impact of those innovations. They should also be able to systematically analyze the factors that make innovation significant and use this analysis to critically examine the development of science and technology over the course of China’s history.

  Intended Learning Outcomes

  On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

  • 1.
    Exemplify and classify the common definitions of science, technology, and innovation as well as the general relationships between science, technology, and society
  • 2.
    Describe the driving forces, features, and major achievements in scientific and technological development in ancient and medieval China
  • 3.
    Evaluate the sources, importance, and effects of the industrial revolution, especially its importance to global scientific and technological thought
  • 4.
    Differentiate and distinguish the ‘divergence’ between the West and China during the scientific and industrial revolutions
  • 5.
    Exemplify, analyze and apply the innovation systems conceptual approach to the development of science and technology in China over the various periods of the last century
• PPOL 3000

  Special Topics in Public Policy

  1-4 Credit(s)
  Description

  Selected topics of current interest in public policy studies. The course aims to provide students with a more in-depth knowledge of a broad range of topics within the public policy discipline. The course may be repeated for credit, if the topics studied are different. Graded letter grade or P/F subject to different offerings. Instructor's approval is required for enrollment in the course.

  Intended Learning Outcomes

  On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

  • 1.
    Provide in-depth understanding of many important areas from the Public Policy perspective
  • 2.
    Explain the meaning and significance of public policy special topics
  • 3.
    Describe and critique existing approaches to special topics in public policy
  • 4.
    Implement public policy special topics to address any related issues
  • 5.
    Design different public policy issues solving approaches
  • 6.
    Use effective skills in communication, analysis, information collection and presentation within the team
  • 7.
    Analyze existing special topics of development to public policy
• PPOL 3210

  Energy Policy

  3 Credit(s)
  Description

  This course addresses two fundamental questions about energy policy: Why and how do governments intervene in energy markets? What do we know about the relationships between government decisions and the economic and environmental performance of energy systems? The class begins with an overview of energy-related challenges confronted by policymakers: climate change, energy poverty, the competition for natural resources, and barriers to sustainable energy use and innovation needs. Policy types are introduced through the lens of energy technologies and their historial/ ongoing development. We examine the role of data, models, and uncertainties in policy decisions. The primary focus of the course is international.

  Intended Learning Outcomes

  On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

  • 1.
    Understand the basic concepts of energy economics, environmental policy, and climate change
  • 2.
    Discuss and gain the knowledge of energy challenges in four aspects: energy development, energy security, climate change, and energy policy
  • 3.
    Review existing policy approaches to energy challenges through international case studies
  • 4.
    Explore solutions to enhance the effectiveness of energy policy
• PPOL 3800

  Ethics, Emerging Technologies and Public Policy

  3 Credit(s)
  Alternate code(s)

  SOSC 3800

  Description

  This course studies the ethical dimensions of emerging technologies and public policy. The overarching theme is to explore the moral debate surrounding some pressing policy issues in emerging technologies nowadays. The first part introduces the essential moral concepts and theories for general reasoning in ethics and public policy. The second part discusses a selection of disputed policy issues in emerging technologies through the application of moral concepts and theories. By the end of the course, students will benefit with the knowledge and skills necessary for policy argumentation from the perspective of ethics.

  Intended Learning Outcomes

  On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

  • 1.
    Discuss the key concepts and theories in the study of ethics.
  • 2.
    Analyze and evaluate moral arguments surrounding policy debate in emerging technologies.
  • 3.
    Apply concepts and theories in policy argumentation.
  • 4.
    Construct, criticize and defend arguments.
  • 5.
    Exercise independent and critical judgments in ethics, emerging technologies and public policy.
• PPOL 4000

  Special Topics in Public Policy

  1-4 Credit(s)
  Description

  Selected topics of current interest in public policy studies. The course aims to provide students the advanced knowledge for a broad range of topics within the public policy discipline. The course may be repeated for credit, if the topics studied are different. Graded letter grade or P/F subject to different offerings. Instructor's approval is required for enrollment in the course.

  Intended Learning Outcomes

  On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

  • 1.
    Provide advanced understanding of many important areas from the Public Policy perspective
  • 2.
    Describe and critique existing approaches to special topics in public policy
  • 3.
    Implement public policy special topics to address any related issues
  • 4.
    Design different public policy issues solving approaches
  • 5.
    Explain the meaning and significance of public policy special topics
  • 6.
    Use effective skills in communication, analysis, information collection and presentation within the team
  • 7.
    Analyze existing special topics of development to public policy