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Follow-Up on MPPs and MPAs: 3 More Readings
A quick roundup of readings since my post about degrees in public policy and administration.
It has been great to see the reactions to my recent post about merging Master of Public Policy (MPP) and Master of Public Administration (MPA) programs!
A number of comments have come in, including on LinkedIn. It seems there’s a lot of interest in this issue.
I want to quickly highlight a few pieces I have come across since publishing the post.
More context + more ideas
Following the thread of my post, Emily Tavoulareas—who has been exploring this issue for a few years—published a piece digging into this subject further:
I fully agree with the assertion that policy schools are missing a focus on implementation, and am thrilled to see this issue on the minds of others in the civic tech arena. In the interest of identifying a viable “solution” I think it’s worth understanding the history and purpose of these degrees — and history tells us that these two fields were once one and the same.
She digs into the history of how such programs emerged, and suggests that “Perhaps instead of merging, we need a baseline set of knowledge that is present across degree programs, regardless of their focus.” She offers some suggestions on what kind of content that would include, particularly re: digital technology.
The full post is worth a read! Also see the comments on her LinkedIn post.
Following Emily’s post, Jennifer Pahlka wrote a post responding to both of ours:
A majority of MPP and MPA grads go to the private and nonprofit sectors
In the latest issue of National Affairs, Howard Husock of the American Enterprise Institute wrote an interesting essay that touches on some of these same issues, as well as exploring how we might attract more students into government service.
He looked at post-graduation employment statistics from a dozen leading public-policy schools, and found that:
Averaged across all schools, the number of graduates choosing public-sector employment (in federal, state, or local government, or at an intergovernmental organization) in 2022 was just 34% — barely more than those choosing the private sector (30%) or the non-profit/non-government organization (NGO) sector (33%).
He does note that a larger survey—covering hundreds of schools, and including public-administration programs too—found 48% working in government three years after graduation. Still, I think it’s a remarkably small number given the stated aims of such programs.
I have more thoughts on this; subscribe to hear about my next post, which will pull in the subject of MBAs! 👀 [UPDATE: Here’s the post.]
He also explores the curriculum of top public-policy programs, including a survey of the core requirements across schools, and discusses some alternative approaches, such as one that “would augment a focus on public policy, with its use of economic and statistical tools, with that of public management, focusing on what it's like to lead government agencies.”
He was director of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Case Program for around two decades, so presumably has spent quite some time on these issues. Check out the full essay.
Harvard is exploring an MPP/MPA merger
I just learned that Harvard is looking at combining its MPP and MPA programs, according to a Crimson article from April 2023.
It’s not clear to me how much this has to do with the kind of philosophical change that I discussed in my post vs. the specifics of Harvard’s situation, such as how their MPP program has a strong core curriculum and the MPA program does not. (If you know anyone involved in this effort, I’d love to hear from them!)
I think elite universities are generally over-discussed, but they are still important for several reasons:
They can be trend-setters
Their decisions can provide air cover for other institutions to do the same (“Harvard did it… so can we!”)
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