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Implementation of New Curriculum
A large number of faculty, staff, students and alumni worked over the past year on a comprehensive review of SIPA's MIA and MPA curriculum. A revised curriculum, which will go into effect in fall 2009, will add new managerial courses to the School's core curriculum, in response to suggestions from our alumni and employers about the skills that are critical for success. These changes create much more cohesiveness in the MIA and MPA cores, defining a shared skill set of analytical and managerial skills that all graduates will share.
In addition, the School will streamline the number of functional concentrations from nineteen to six. The six new concentrations, which serve as “majors” for MIA and MPA students, define the substantive policy areas in which SIPA already has comparative advantages and expects to focus its energies in the coming years. The reduced number of concentrations will enable the School to deepen the resources it offers its students in these fields and guide the recruitment of outstanding new faculty. The six fields are Economic and Political Development; Energy and Environment; International Security; International Finance and Economic Policy; Human Rights; and Urban and Social Policy.
Faculty and staff are now preparing to implement the new concentrations. Searches are underway to hire the faculty who will teach an expanded set of offerings in public and non-profit management as well as financial management. The new class that arrives in the fall of 2009 will undertake a curriculum designed to prepare them well for an even more challenging work place.