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MPA Core Curriculum
Overview of Core Requirements (below) | View Core Course Listing
Total Credits: Minimum of 54 Credits
Minimum of 54 points, 3.0 GPA and 4 full-time residency units.
The MPA program is structured around four complementary components: core curriculum, policy concentration, and specialized skills or advanced knowledge:
- The core curriculum provides students with the knowledge and skills that any fast-track policy expert or manager is expected to bring to the table, whether in the public, private or non-profit sector. These core competencies include economic and political analysis, quantitative techniques, and critical management skills.
- Policy concentrations equip students with substantive knowledge about major global public policy issues. Students choose a concentration from the following six options: Economic and Political Development; Energy and Environment; Human Rights; International Finance and Economic Policy; International Security; and Urban and Social Policy.
- Specializations provide high-level skills and specialized knowledge that enable graduates to apply their policy knowledge effectively in a wide range of professional settings. Students choose the specialization from among the following six: Advanced Quantitative Analysis and Economics; Applied Science; Management; Communications and Media; International Organizations; Regions (Africa, East Asia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, Russia and Eurasia, Southern Asia, and the United States).
- Capstone workshops, which are mandatory for MPA students and will be mandatory for all MIA students who enter from fall 2010 going forward, engage small teams of students with cutting-edge issues facing real-world clients that have included in recent years: New York City Mayor’s Office, International Rescue Committee, J.P. Morgan, United Nations Development Program, World Bank, and numerous service-oriented NGOs with operations around the world.
MPA Core Requirements:
- Curriculum (PDF)