During the two years of evening course work, Master of Public Service and Administration students hold full-time student status.
A Master of Public Service and Administration (MPSA) can open the door to a wide range of career opportunities across sectors such as public policy, government, human resources, consulting, and management. More specifically, students will be equipped to work in:
The MPSA equips you to lead with vision, partner with stakeholders, and turn purpose into lasting impact — whether in government, NGOs, or in the private sector.
Please click on any specific module below to see its description.
Modules
Year 1
This module aims to provide a fundamental understanding of public administration theories and practices. In addition, students will gain in-depth knowledge of the principles and values underpinning public administration, its functions, decision-making processes, institutions, and actors. Finally, the course will offer students an overview of the contemporary challenges and changes in public administration.
The course aims to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of public management and the theoretical frameworks that underlie public sector reforms in recent decades. It will also cover emerging theories that guide public management at both local and global levels, including networks, public-private partnerships, co-production, and open innovation.
The module analyzes the relationships between the various state institutions and the individual’s relationship with the state. In this regard, the course equips students with the foundational principles of constitutional and administrative law in Mainland China and the Special Administrative Regions (SARs). More specifically, it will furnish students with the tools to distinguish between norms regulating public sector activities and those governing private sector activities; to comprehend the principles of separation and interaction among public powers; and to understand the normative process and the legal accountability system in public administration.
This course is designed to introduce students to the concepts and strategies of public procurement, the legal framework governing it, including international standards, and the management and closure of public procurement contracts. Additionally, it will address the role of technology in enhancing governance within public procurement.
This course is designed to introduce students to the framework for designing and implementing public policies. The module describes how public policies emerge at the crossroads of political, social, and economic constraints. It provides students with the tools for formulating, implementing, and evaluating public policy.
The module offers insights into the ethical considerations involved in the planning and delivery of public services. It examines the essential role of ethics at both the individual and organizational levels, the theories that inform ethical decision-making, the relationship between ethics and the quality of public service delivery, the development of an ethical culture, the mechanisms for ensuring compliance, and the responsibility of leaders in promoting ethical conduct within public organizations.
The primary objective of this module is to deliver advanced knowledge and analytical skills essential for understanding international organizations and their administrative systems. The module will also endow students with in-depth knowledge of the concepts and structures of Global Governance. It empowers students with the analytical abilities necessary to evaluate the roles of global, regional, and non-governmental organizations in shaping and addressing global issues.
This course introduces the foundational principles of sustainable development. In this regard, the module will provide background knowledge on the evolution of sustainable development commitments, from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It will offer insights into the adoption process of sustainability goals, the various dimensions of sustainability, and the challenges encountered by diverse stakeholders in implementing these goals. Finally, students will gain an understanding of the role of technology in the implementation of SDGs.
This course introduces the theory and practice of public budgeting and financial management. It offers a comprehensive overview of the planning, legislative process, execution, and forecasting of government budgets and finances. Students will gain foundational knowledge of the budget cycle, financial controls, budget evaluation, and the revenue sources that finance public budgets. Finally, the module will explore various models of public budgeting.
This module introduces the theories and knowledge necessary to analyze the causes and assess the likelihood of unexpected events that require urgent responses or may necessitate crisis communication. It prepares students to manage an organization’s strategic communications and relationships with its diverse publics to achieve its goals, fulfill its purpose, and satisfy the public interest during times of crisis. In this regard, the module focuses on the following topics: strategies and tools for crisis communication, the issue of trust and reputation management of public sector organizations in times of crisis; stakeholder and community engagement in the process of crisis management, media relations and content management, and the skills needed to communicate during a crisis. Accordingly, the module will be divided into the following parts: the pre-crisis phase (prevention, preparation, planning); crisis response (crisis communications and stakeholder engagement during the critical period); and post-crisis phase (lessons learned, corrective actions, and reputation recovery).
The objective of this module is to enable students to grasp the principles and strategies of process and project management in the public sector. Students will become acquainted with the life cycles of both process and project management. Specifically, this course will enhance students’ abilities to design and implement processes and projects, as well as to utilize tools for improving practices in process and project management.
Year 2
This module will provide students with an understanding of the fundamentals and practices of public human resources management, the application of human resources management strategies and techniques, and the analysis of personnel issues for the purpose of decision-making.
This course explores the leading and emerging theories and practices that have historically shaped and still influence the field and study of public administration. In this regard, the module will focus on the following substantive contents such as the fundamentals of digital government, the strategies, the privacy concerns and emerging technologies in public administration.
This course prepares students to understand, conduct research in the field of public policy. Students will be working in interdisciplinary teams to conduct research, analyze complex data and propose findings and recommendations to the policy problem. Each session will focus on a particular policy area or set of policy tools where students will be assigned.
The capstone project is the last stage of the master studies and is intended only for students who are completing their Master of Public Service and Administration. The capstone provides students with an opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills developed in the program to real-world situations.; it aims at solving public administration/services delivery or policy problems. The project must be undertaken with a focus on helping local or regional governments and public organization to choose between a course of actions, evaluate current programs, and improve the services they provide to the public.
