The Master of Public Administration
in Development Practice at Columbia

The 22-month MPA degree in Development Practice is designed to train aspiring practitioners to understand and manage integrated approaches to development challenges. This rigorous, cross-disciplinary academic program combines the social and natural sciences emphasizing the development of critical knowledge, skills, and attributes of effective professionals in developing societies.

Practitioners of a Cross-disciplinary Approach

Drawing on the superb educational and research facilities of Columbia University, the MPA DP combines elements of core courses in the social sciences, health sciences, natural sciences and engineering, and management.

• Social Sciences—anthropology, economics, education, politics and international political economies, statistics

• Health Sciences—nutrition, population sciences and reproductive health, basic epidemiology of infectious and noninfectious disease, health policy, and health system design and management

• Natural Sciences and Engineering—agriculture, forestry and fishery management, water management, energy, engineering, environment and climate science, information management systems and design

• Management—project design and management, budget planning and financial management, commodities management, communication and negotiations, critical self-reflection, geographic information systems and decision-making tools, institutional resource and human resource management, monitoring and evaluation

In addition, students gain a solid understanding of a range of areas including: the political and sociocultural context of development; data collection methods and statistical analysis used for the planning, monitoring, and evaluation of development interventions. The study of policy and management would also be explored within the context of the technical fields.

Choosing a course of action requires a sound ability to diagnose the core drivers of a situation, the relevant obstacles, and the practical steps that most directly affect outcomes. In this regard, development practice requires substantive expertise in cross-disciplinary problem solving.

This program is designed to provide the necessary knowledge and skills for:

“generalist” development practitioners for understanding the complex interactions among fields enabling them to coordinate and implement effectively the insights offered by subject-specific specialists;

“specialist” development practitioners in rounding out their knowledge base for the practice of sustainable development, so that they can contribute as effectively as possible to cross-disciplinary policy teams;

policy administrators, policy professionals, and other decision makers in the United States or abroad who want to pursue effective strategies for sustainable development practice;

private-sector professionals dealing with decision-making and problem-solving relating to sustainable development practice;

and educators training a generation that can no longer ignore the challenges of sustainable development practice.