Master of Public Administration

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The Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree is one of professional Public affairs degrees that provides training in public policy and project/program implementation (more recently known as public management).

MPA programs focus on public administration at the local, state, and federal level as well as in the nonprofit sector. Through its history, the MPA degree has become more interdisciplinary by drawing from fields such as economics, sociology, 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, ethics, public management, leadership, urban policy & 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, transportation, health care, economic development, community development, education, non-profits, information technology, environmental policy, etc.

In recent years, there has been a gradual convergence between the MPA and the master of public policy (MPP) degree after the realization that policy/project/program implementation could benefit from an understanding of policy analysis, and vice versa. 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 and policy design, while MPA programs usually still provide more focused coursework in program implementation and public management.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration - an accrediting body for MPA programs in the United States
European Association for Public Administration Accreditation - an accrediting body for MPA programs in Europe
Global MPA web portal - the most extensive database of available MPA programs on the web

Academic degrees
Associate's degrees (U.S.)	AA, AAS, ABA, ABS, AOS, AS
Foundation degrees (U.K.)	FdA, FdEd, FdEng, FdMus, FdBus, FdSc, FdTech
Bachelor's degrees	AB or BA, BAccty, BAdm, BAgrEc, BArch, BBA, BBus, BCom or BComm, BCS, BCL, STB, BD, BDent, BEc, BEng or BE, BFA, BHE, BHK, BJ, BLibStud, BMath, BMus,BSN, BPE, BPharm, BS or BSc, BSocSci, BTech, LLA, LLB, MB ChB or MB BS or BM BS or MB BChir or MB BCh BAO, MA (Cantab.), MA (Dubl.), MA (Hons), MA (Oxon.)
Master's degrees	MA, Lic Arts, MS or MSc, MSt, MALD, MApol, MPhil, MRes, MFA, MTh, MTS, MDiv, MBA, MPA, MPD, MPS, MProfStuds, MJ, MSW, MPAff, MLIS, MLitt, MPH, MPM, MPP, MPT, MRE, MTheol, LLM, MEng, MSci, MBio, MChem, MPhys, MMath, MMus, MESci, MGeol, MTCM, MSSc, BCL (Oxon), BPhil (Oxon), ThM
Licentiate degrees:	LDS, JCL, STL, SSL, LSS
Specialist degrees	EdS, SSP, CAS
Engineer's degrees	AE, ChE, BE, CE, CE, EE, CpE, ECS, EnvE, MSE, MechE, NavE, NuclE, Ocean E, SysE
First-Professional Degrees	AuD, DC, DCM, DDS, DMD, JD, MD (US), ND, OD, DO, PharmD, DP, PodD, DPM, MDiv, MHL, DVM
Doctoral degrees	PhD, EdD, DEng, EngD, DBA, DD, JCD, SSD, JUD, DSc, DLitt, DA, MD, DMA, DMus, DCL, ThD, DrPH, DPT, DPhil, PsyD, DSW, LLD, LHD, JSD, SJD, STD