MPA-EPM Students: Learning outside the classroom, Fall 2017

MPA-EPM Student: Beenish Amjad

Event: EU delegation to the United Nations - Columbia European Union Students Association

Where: European Union at the UN – New York.

Date: November 30, 2017

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"Expressing the views on the importance of climate change, Gerton Van Den Akker, Chief of Staff and Head of Delegation of the European Union (EU) to the UN, stated that EU is very ambitious on implementation of climate change accord. Residents of EU and its tax payers are well aware of the importance of climate change and they are looking forward to the outcome of COP 23. China is also supportive of EU’s stance. Individual nations in EU is already contributing funds for the climate change projects and EU is also focusing on the role of private sector or corporations in the climate change. He also emphasized on the role of private sector to achieve Sustainable Development Goals."

MPA-EPM Student: Sabahat Zafar

Event: 2017 Gabriel Silver Memorial Lecture with Dr. Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group

Where: Low Memorial Libray 

Date: October 24th, 2017

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Joint Japan World Bank Graduate Scholarship recipient Sabahat Zafar met Dr. Jim Yong Kim , the president of the The World Bank Group .

“In his speech, Dr. Kim emphasized the importance of the human capital project and argued that an accelerated effort is needed to encourage investment in people. He concluded that investments in human capital projects might be the critical step to boosting inclusive economic growth and ending extreme poverty.”

Prior to joining our program, Sabahat was the Deputy Director of Monetary Policy at the State Bank of Pakistan. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce, a Master of in Economics, and a Masters in Applied Economics from the University of Karachi.

MPA-EPM Student: Wen Huei Chang

Event: Martin Wolf Financial Times delivers the keynote address at the Infrastructure Investment and Sustainable Development Conference, CGEG

Where: Faculty House - Columbia University

Date: October 16th, 2017

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Martin Wolf on challenges of sustainable development - "reducing carbon emission is an economic, political and financial challenge."

"It was an insightful keynote address by Mr. Martin Wolf on the challenges in achieving sustainable development. He elucidated the difficulty faced by many countries in weighing the trade-off between maximizing growth and minimizing carbon dioxide emission. Mr. Wolf shared his thoughts on policies to decarbonize growth and the increasing role of the European Union, China and India and other key emerging economies in tackling climate change. While most countries have been reducing their carbon emission, Mr. Martin Wolf acknowledged that we are still far away from achieving the set targets. Inarguably, there are immense challenges which lie ahead in achieving sustainable development, as Mr. Martin Wolf puts it succinctly, tackling climate change is a “economic, political and financial challenge."

Prior to joining our program, Wen was working as the Associate Economist, Macroeconomic Surveillance and Assessment at the Central Bank of Malaysia. 

MPA-EPM Student: Beenish Amjad

Event: Alexander Van der Bellen: “EU – An Ever Closer Union?”

Where: Low Memorial Libray 

Date: September 20th, 2017

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"It was an outstanding experience of learning about the strengths of the union and its current issues from one of the European leaders. As a member of academia by profession and later a politician, the President exhibited knowledge and vision. Quite optimistic about the future of EU he quoted data to pin hope on the younger generation to strengthen the Union. He positively acknowledged how it feels about EU which can ensure better future for people of EU. He emphasized on the power of vote and hoped that people will take this responsibility seriously. His deep sense of democratic values reflects upon his respect for choice by the people. The address was very enlightening, and the subsequent question answer session deliberated on the core issues faced by EU such as debt crisis, Brexit, immigration and future road map."

Prior to joining our program, Beenish was working for the Government of Pakistan in the Economic Affairs Division. 

***During the Spring term, MPA-EPM Speakers and Extra-Curricular Activities include leading thinkers and policymakers in the field of macroeconomics and monetary policy issues, the Annual workshop with the Bank of England on Macroprudential Policymaking, the Spring Roundtable on Central Banking, and our class trip to Washington, D.C. for visits to U.S. governmental institutions, multilateral institutions and global development think tanks.

The mid-career MPA in Economic Policy Management program (MPA-EPM) is a 12-month MPA program at SIPA and is geared towards professionals with significant working experience within economic policymaking, financial, consulting, political science, engineering and energy backgrounds. 

For more information visit https://sipa.columbia.edu/academics/programs/mpa-economic-policy-management or email [email protected]. 

SIPA's MPA in Economic Policy Management (MPA-EPM) was formerly named the Program in Economic Policy Management (PEPM).