Master of Public Administration MPA

Program Overview

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Master of Public Administration MPA

Overview

The Master of Public Administration (MPA) is a postgraduate degree that aims to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and expertise necessary to excel in public sector careers. The program is designed to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of public administration, policy-making, and governance.

Course Structure

The MPA program consists of 120 credits, which are typically completed over a period of 12 months for full-time students and 24 months for part-time students. The program includes a range of core and optional modules, as well as a dissertation.

Core Modules

• Administration and Governance: From Concepts to Practice
• Exploring Policy: Key Theories and Debate
• Research Methods: Practical Skills for Policy Research
• Final Project

Optional Modules

• Leading and Managing People in Public Sector Organisations
• Strategic and Financial Planning in the Public Sector
• Delivering Public Services
• Economic Policies and Government Ideologies
• International Organisations and Global Governance
• Welfare and Social Policy Around the World

Learning and Assessment

The program uses a range of teaching methods, including lectures, seminars, tutorials, and supervision. Assessment methods include essays, reports, dissertation, group presentations, debates, reflective journals, and poster presentations.

Entry Requirements

• Home/UK students: 2:1 (or international equivalent) in any discipline, or 2:2 (or international equivalent) in any discipline plus one year working experience in national or local government, or public sector or third/voluntary sector
• EU/International students: 2:1 (or international equivalent) in any discipline, or 2:2 (or international equivalent) in any discipline plus one year working experience in national or local government, or public sector or third/voluntary sector
• English language requirements: IELTS 6.5 (no less than 6.0 in any element)

Fees

• Home/UK: £12,750
• International: £30,750

Careers

The MPA program is designed to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and expertise necessary to excel in public sector careers. Graduates can expect to work in a range of roles, including government, NGOs, consultancy, and public sector organizations.

Related Courses

• Global Social and Public Policy MA

Additional Information

• The program is accredited by the British Council for the teaching of English in the UK.
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Program Outline

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Degree Overview:

A career in public administration is a demanding but extremely rewarding way to improve the lives of the people around you. It's about finding solutions to complex societal challenges and organizing the implementation of these solutions through policies. If you consider yourself to be a leader who's not afraid to challenge existing methods and act as a representative of the public, our MPA is for you. It's an internationally recognized qualification to equip you with skills and knowledge of:

• governance
• leadership
• strategy
• public organization and management
• managing people
• public sector economics
• public finance and accounting
• public policy processes
You could end up working for the government, in NGOs or consultancy, looking at major issues affecting the population such as climate change, food and water supplies, public health, and national security.

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Outline:

Across the autumn and spring semesters, you will take 120 credits of core and optional modules. You will choose 20 credits of optional modules, subject to approval. Dissertation You will complete a 60-credit dissertation over the summer, and an appropriate dissertation supervisor will oversee your progress. Previous topics have included:

• Managing people in the public sector: recruitment and staff training
• Impact of privatisation in the NHS on quality of care
• Public procurement and corruption in Philippines
• Central and local government interaction in budgetary process in Kazakhstan
• Electoral systems/democracy in Hong Kong and Taiwan
• China's monitoring system to deal with corruption of civil servants

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Modules:

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Core modules

• Leadership, Strategy and Performance in the Public Sector
• Managing People in the Public Sector
• Policy Analysis: Concepts and Theories
• Public Management and Governance
• Public Sector Financial Management
• Research Methods and Research Management
• Dissertation in Public Administration (MPA only)

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Optional modules

• Dynamics of International Social Policy
• Economics and Policy Analysis
• Globalisation, Europeanisation and Public Policy
• International Organisations and Global Governance
• State, Business and Civil Society: Policy Decisions in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
• Welfare Policy

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Assessment:

Modules are typically assessed based on various forms of coursework.

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Teaching:

You will typically have one weekly two-hour lecture, and one weekly hour-long seminar, for each module over a 10-week teaching semester. Most students take three or four modules each semester. Each 10 credits represent approximately 100 hours of work, and for each module, approximately 30 hours will be taught.

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Careers:

Recent graduates have pursued careers in the public and voluntary sectors as managers and policy analysts. The MPA is rapidly becoming a standard global qualification for public servants.

• Stonewall
• Youth Movement for Reform Judaism and Zionism
• Nottingham Labour Party
• Ministry of Justice
• Mitsubishi
• Sky
• Taylor Wessing

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Other:

• 89% of our research ranked as world-leading or internationally excellent

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Qualification

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MA

|£11,850|£28,600

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PGDip

|£7,900|£19,067