MSLV4800 The State and Municipalities as Market Actors – Public Procurement, State Aid, and Corporate Organization Course description

The master's thesis is worth 30 credits, which constitutes a part-time workload over two semesters or full-time workload of about five months. The master's thesis is an independent scientific work. Students will choose and elucidate a topic from the subject areas covered by the programme through systematic use of social science methods. The research question may be linked to the student's own experiences.

Knowledge

The student has

• advanced knowledge of a specialised field of public management, primarily in the public sector
• in-depth knowledge of theories relevant to the topic of the master's thesis
• in-depth insight into a topic or phenomenon from several different perspectives
• insight into academic requirements for analysis and written work

Skills

The student is capable of

• carrying out a limited research project under supervision and in accordance with applicable standards of research ethics
• using relevant methods in report work and evaluations
• writing a text with the strucure and content required of a master¿s thesis

Competence

The student is capable of

• reading research literature in a critical and reflective manner
• evaluating the use of methods in and results of studies and evaluations
• communicating knowledge and own research results orally and in writing
• applying knowledge and skills in obtaining and using relevant sources, literature and other information, masters reference and quotation techniques, and is capable of defining what constitutes plagiarism and cheating

Insight Knowledge

The student has

• knowledge about different forms of organisation and market contracting in the public sector
• understand the goals of public procurement
• in-depth knowledge about the regulation of public procurement in Norway regarding planning, advertising tenders, how to conduct this process and the conclusion of the process and knowledge on the potential consequences of errors
• insight into what the prohibition against public funding entails and legal problems regarding Public sector entering the market in the sense of the EEA Regulations
• knowledge¿..

Skills

The student is capable of

• identifying and analysing legal issues and consequences relating to restructuring or market contracting processes
• identifying when different parts of the regulations on public procurement apply
• analysing and handling legal issues when advertising tenders, and how to conduct this process, assess the tenders received and award contracts

Competence

The student is capable of

• working independently on practical and legal issues

The topic of the course is the regulatory framework intended to ensure that public enterprises and public funds are managed in the most efficient way possible. It primarily deals with the rules on public procurement, which are rules aimed at ensuring the best possible use of resources when entering into public contracts. Another way of rationalising public enterprises is to define them as separate entities. The legal characteristics of such forms of organisation and its consequences will also be covered. The course also deals with the rules that place special limitations on the public sector as a market participant (The EEA Agreement's government assistance rules).

Fire av de individuelle veiledningstimene er obligatoriske, i tillegg kommer felles veiledningsseminarer for masteroppgaven, herav prøvemuntlig. Obligatorisk aktivitet må være gjennomført og godkjent innen fastlagt frist for å få adgang til eksamen.

The master's thesis will be assessed together with an oral presentation of the main aspects of the thesis, followed by an oral exam. The oral presentation will last 15 minutes for an individual thesis and 20 minutes for a group thesis. A grade will be awarded for the master's thesis with the possibility of adjustment on the basis of the oral presentation and oral exam.

When students work on the thesis in pairs, the written thesis will be awarded the same grade. Each student will present their part of the thesis in lecture form and then take an individual oral exam. However, the lectures and the oral exam will be considered the individual student's contribution and are used to adjust the final grade for each student as necessary.

If the student appeals against the grade, a new committee will be appointed and the master's thesis will be re-assessed. If the grade is changed, a new oral exam will be held.

Students are allowed to submit a new or revised master's thesis once if they are awarded a fail grade. A reworked version of the thesis must be submitted within the given deadline. The student has a right to one additional supervision session before the new submission. A student will not be allowed to submit a new master's thesis in the same programme if a pass grade has already been awarded.

The master's thesis must be submitted electronically. The student must sign a publication agreement in connection with submission to allow the thesis to be published and made publicly available. If the student consents to this, all non-restricted master's theses awarded a pass grade will be published in ODA, the university's digital knowledge archive.

Alle hjelpemidler er tillatt så lenge regler for kildehenvisning følges

A grade scale with grades from A to E for pass and F for fail is used.

Det benyttes en intern og en ekstern sensor til sensurering av alle besvarelsene, inkludert presentasjon og eksaminasjon.

Agnete Vabø

Grunnleggende kunnskaper om forskningsmetode og vitenskapsteori.