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Graduate programs in public policy
The field of Public Policy is becoming more and more popular amongst those students that wish to make a leading contribution to the society around them. Erik A. Devereux, Executive Director of the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM) takes us through some of the considerations of the field.
Many Masters in Public Policy (MPP) programs also provide a strong education in public management, anticipating that program alumni will work as managers as they progress through their careers. To add a bit to some brand confusion, these programs don’t always use the MPP name; alternatives include Master of Public Affairs, Master of Science in Public Policy and Management, Master of Government Service, and Master of Public Service. The majority of these programs are 18 months in duration, divided into three parts: a first year (actually nine months or two semesters) of courses devoted to the program core, a summer internship experience, and a second year (two more semesters) devoted to specializations/concentrations and often a major client-based project.
Given that there are so many MPP alternatives to choose from, interested students need to structure their search for the best policy schools that meet their needs. One very common mistake when looking at schools is to focus on their strengths in particular policy topics. The problem is that a master’s program of 12 to 18 months duration is not sufficient to produce expertise on such topics that enable the student to immediately become an experienced practitioner. Instead, students need to focus on the key skills that they can acquire through completing a program that will best suit their proposed career choices. Most of these skills will be developed in the core courses and then applied in the concentrations, electives, and projects that occur later in an MPP program.
What are these skills? It turns out that they can be connected directly to the two very different career tracks briefly mentioned above: policy analysis and public management. Let’s look at these two in more detail and connect them back to the core of the MPP.
- Policy analysis is about gathering and processing information to inform efforts to solve new policy problems. Candidates who seek careers in policy analysis enjoy working with quantitative and qualitative information to develop and assess alternatives for solving these problems. An MPP core curriculum that emphasizes policy analysis will feature many required courses related to economics and statistics or data analysis and will include significant projects that apply policy analysis methods to current issues.
- Public Management is generally about using scarce resources to achieve policy and management objectives. Students who seek management careers enjoy building the solutions to problems using raw materials, such as financial and human resources. An MPP core curriculum that emphasizes management will feature a wide variety of courses on topics such as management principles, human resources and personnel, financial management and information systems, and may include a significant group project that exposes students to a managerial work environment. Some of these elements are also common to a traditional MBA program.
For more information about studying public policy at the graduate level and the member schools in APPAM, please visit the website at www.appam.org.
