Master of Public Administration
Encyclopedia
The Master of Public Administration (MPA) is a professional
First professional degree
A professional degree prepares the holder for a particular profession by emphasizing competency skills along with theory and analysis. These professions are typically licensed or otherwise regulated by a governmental or government-approved body...

 post-graduate degree in Public Administration
Public administration
Public Administration houses the implementation of government policy and an academic discipline that studies this implementation and that prepares civil servants for this work. As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" its "fundamental goal.....

. The MPA program prepares individuals to serve as managers in the executive arm of local, state/provincial, and federal/national government, and increasingly in nongovernmental organization (NGO) and nonprofit sectors; it places a focus on the systematic investigation of executive organization and management. Instruction includes the roles, development, and principles of public administration; public policy
Public policy
Public policy as government action is generally the principled guide to action taken by the administrative or executive branches of the state with regard to a class of issues in a manner consistent with law and institutional customs. In general, the foundation is the pertinent national and...

 management and implementation; the relations between organizational management and legislators; the public and non-profit budget processes and financial management; administrative law; personnel management focusing on civil employees; professional ethics; and appropriate research methods. An MPA program typically takes 2 years of full-time, post-baccalaureate study to complete and can require additional time to complete a thesis
Thesis
A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...

.

Through its history, the MPA degree has become more interdisciplinary by drawing from fields such as economics, sociology, law, anthropology, political science, and regional planning in order to equip MPA graduates with skills and knowledge covering a broad range of topics and disciplines relevant to the public sector. A core curriculum of a typical MPA program usually includes courses on microeconomics, public finance, research methods / statistics, policy process and policy analysis, public financial management, managerial accounting, ethics, public management
Public management
Public management is a term that considers that government and non-profit administration resembles private-sector management in some important ways. As such, there are management tools appropriate in public and in private domains, tools that maximize efficiency and effectiveness...

, leadership, planning & Geographic
Information Systems (GIS), and program evaluation/performance measurement. Depending on their interest, MPA students can focus their studies on a variety of public sector fields such as urban planning
Urban planning
Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....

, emergency management
Emergency management
Emergency management is the generic name of an interdisciplinary field dealing with the strategic organizational management processes used to protect critical assets of an organization from hazard risks that can cause events like disasters or catastrophes and to ensure the continuance of the...

, transportation, health care (especially public health
Public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...

), economic development
Economic development
Economic development generally refers to the sustained, concerted actions of policymakers and communities that promote the standard of living and economic health of a specific area...

, urban management, community development
Community development
Community development is a broad term applied to the practices and academic disciplines of civic leaders, activists, involved citizens and professionals to improve various aspects of local communities....

, education, non-profits, information technology, environmental policy
Environmental policy
Environmental policy is any [course of] action deliberately taken [or not taken] to manage human activities with a view to prevent, reduce, or mitigate harmful effects on nature and natural resources, and ensuring that man-made changes to the environment do not have harmful effects on...

, cultural policy
Cultural policy
Cultural Policy is the area of public policy-making that governs activities related to the arts and culture. Generally, this involves fostering processes, legal classifications and institutions which promote cultural diversity and accessibility, as well as enhancing and promulgating the artistic,...

, criminal justice
Criminal justice
Criminal Justice is the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts...

, etc.

MPA graduates currently serve in some important positions within the public sector including Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong
Lee Hsien Loong
Lee Hsien Loong is the third and current Prime Minister of Singapore. He is married to Ho Ching, who is the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Temasek Holdings. He is the eldest son of Singapore's first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew....

, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon
Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon is the eighth and current Secretary-General of the United Nations, after succeeding Kofi Annan in 2007. Before going on to be Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic service the year he...

, General David Petraeus
David Petraeus
David Howell Petraeus is the current Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, sworn in on September 6, 2011. Prior to his assuming the directorship of the CIA, Petraeus was a four-star general serving over 37 years in the United States Army. His last assignments in the Army were as commander...

, President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Mexico Felipe Calderón
Felipe Calderón
Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa is the current President of Mexico. He assumed office on December 1, 2006, and was elected for a single six-year term through 2012...

, Foreign Minister of Serbia Vuk Jeremić
Vuk Jeremic
Vuk Jeremić is a Serbian politician and the current Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Government of Serbia. He was sworn in on May 15, 2007 and reelected on July 7, 2008.-Education:Jeremić was born in Belgrade in 1975 to Miško Jeremić and Sena Buljubašić...

, NYC Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly
Raymond W. Kelly
Raymond Walter Kelly is the current Commissioner of the New York City Police Department and the first person to hold the post for two non-consecutive tenures. A lifelong New Yorker, Kelly has spent 31 years in the NYPD, serving in 25 different commands and as Police Commissioner from 1992 to 1994...

, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius
Kathleen Sebelius
Kathleen Sebelius is an American politician currently serving as the 21st Secretary of Health and Human Services. She was the second female Governor of Kansas from 2003 to 2009, the Democratic respondent to the 2008 State of the Union address, and chair-emerita of the Democratic Governors...

, and former Commandant of the US Coast Guard Thad Allen.

In recent years, there has been a gradual convergence between the MPA and the Master of Public Policy
Master of Public Policy
The Master of Public Policy , one of several public policy degrees, is a master's level professional degree that provides training in policy analysis and program evaluation at public policy schools. The MPP program places a focus on the systematic analysis of issues related to public policy and the...

 (MPP) degree. Today, the course offerings of most MPA and MPP programs overlap to some degree, but MPP programs tend to provide more focused training in policy analysis
Policy analysis
Policy analysis is "determining which of various alternative policies will most achieve a given set of goals in light of the relations between the policies and the goals". However, policy analysis can be divided into two major fields. Analysis of policy is analytical and descriptive—i.e., it...

 and policy design, while MPA programs usually still provide more focused coursework in program implementation and public management.

Some educational institutions are now offering MPA degrees via online instruction. There are also Executive MPA programs for professionals who have prior work and management experience.

Outside the U.S., the MPA degree increasingly includes a substantial element of management education sitting alongside public policy and public administration thereby bringing it closer to the MBA
Master of Business Administration
The Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...

 degree. However, some MPA programs in the United States are housed in Business schools (see BYU
BYU
-Education:* Brigham Young University, a university located in Provo, Utah, USA administered by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.**BYU Salt Lake Center, a satellite center in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA...

's Marriott School of Management
Marriott School of Management
The Marriott School of Management is a business school located in Provo, Utah at Brigham Young University , a private university in the United States owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...

).

See also

  • Master of Public Affairs
    Master of Public Affairs
    The Master of Public Affairs , one of several public affairs degrees, historically has been a master level professional degree offered in public policy schools that provides training in public policy and the operation of government. Courses required for this degree educate students in public and...

  • Master of Public Policy
    Master of Public Policy
    The Master of Public Policy , one of several public policy degrees, is a master's level professional degree that provides training in policy analysis and program evaluation at public policy schools. The MPP program places a focus on the systematic analysis of issues related to public policy and the...

  • Master of Nonprofit Organizations
    Master of Nonprofit Organizations
    The Master of Nonprofit Organizations , Master of Nonprofit Management , Master of Not-for-Profit Leadership , Master of Nonprofit Studies , Master of Public Affairs , Master of Philanthropic Studies and similarly named degrees offer graduate-level training in management and leadership in the...

  • Public policy schools
  • Master of Business Administration
    Master of Business Administration
    The Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...

  • Doctor of Public Administration
    Doctor of Public Administration
    The Doctor of Public Administration is a terminal applied-research doctoral degree in the field of public administration , which is a sub-discipline of political science. The D.P.A. requires significant coursework beyond the masters level and a dissertation that contributes to theory or practice...


External links

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