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Francisco Miranda , Second-year Economic and Political Development and Urban Policy dual Concentrator
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Francisco is a second-year SIPA student pursuing an MPA degree with a dual concentration in Economic and Political Development and Urban Policy. He also is a Teacher Assistant for the class, Politics of Policymaking. He was awarded scholarships from Fulbright, Colfuturo and Barsa for his attendance at SIPA. He holds a B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia and a M.A. in Social Economics from the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia.
Prior to studying at SIPA Francisco worked two years as Deputy Chief of Staff and Special Adviser for Political Affairs to the Mayor of Bogotá City. In these positions he directed the design and implementation of the City strategy for 1.5 million youths, as well as five citywide programs and media campaigns working with international organizations and private sector donors.
Why did you choose SIPA?
“I chose SIPA because I was looking for a global policy school where I was able to combine good training in policymaking while enhancing my quantitative skills and SIPA offered me this interesting approach.”
How did you find the first-year core requirements?
“I found them very useful. The quantitative sequence of statistic classes was really good. My favorite class was Politics of Policymaking, a class for which I am currently the Teacher Assistant and this is a really useful course. You are trained to design strategic questions for policymaking scenarios with the different dilemmas that the political actors face during the approval, debate and implementation of policies in any democratic society.”
How did you get this position?
“The selection process for this position is a very competitive process. You need to submit your résumé, cover letter and a personal statement and then you are interviewed by the professors and notified of their decision. It seems for me a very transparent and professional selection process.”
Why did you choose two concentrations?
“I chose both concentrations because my academic and professional interests are in Latin American urban policy and in this field you need a combination of economic development tools and knowledge of urban policy. I found that SIPA offered me the possibility to combine these two interests and take courses related to these different topics to build my own curriculum.”
What did you do over the summer?
“I did an internship at the City Competitiveness Office of the Department of Economic Development of the city of Bogotá. This is a newly-created City government agency and I was very interested in working for them. I contacted the Office and since they were beginning from scratch they were not prepared to receive an intern. However, I convinced them using the reputation of Columbia and SIPA and the relevant coursework I had taken during the first year at SIPA. Both factors were very useful for my work there.”