Overview

The Master of Public Administration in International Development has been designed to support managers or potential managers of public organisations in developing countries. While the content of the MPA and the MPA in International Development overlap in several skill areas (e.g. principles of public administration, policy analysis, policy learning, strategic planning and public finance), they differ with respect to considerations of the environmental factors (political, cultural, economic) that impact on the work of public managers and the ways in which those factors shape the character of governance and the management and delivery of public policy in these different state forms. Hence to understand governance in developing countries it is crucial to understand the meaning of development from an administrative perspective.

Participants pursue a cluster of core modules which are commensurable with the international modernising civil services agenda and indicative skills development in developed and developing administration. The core modules provide common skills training for managers in policy and operational delivery. In the summer term, all course participants are required to complete a 15,000 word policy report supported through personal supervision and a support workshop.

All participants on York Masters degrees in public administration are provided with additional support workshops in Graduate Study and Professional Skills and may also participate in the Politics Departmental Seminar, Political Science Workshops and Practice Workshops which bring high profile academics and practitioners to the department to share their ideas with staff and students.

The convenor of the Masters degree in Public Administration is Professor Neil Carter, E-mail neil.carter@york.ac.uk

• Aims of the Master of Public Administration programme

Length of the MPA in International Development

The normal pattern of study for the campus MPA will be:

• Masters: 1 year full time/ 2 years part-time

The normal pattern of study for the online MPA will be:

• PG Certificate: 1 year part time
• PG Diploma : 1 year part time
• Masters: 1 year part time

The online programme will thus normally be three years in length. This is based on the assumption that the majority of students will be in full time work and will be studying the programme at the rate of one module per term (three modules per year). However, it will be possible for students to take two modules at a time if their personal circumstances allow this.

Core modules

Public Administration and Development: 'Theories, Institutions and issues of development'

This module looks at the core theories and policies of development governance. Starting with an assessment of the meanings of development and governance it goes on to provide an overview of the study of 'development' as an experience and process affecting all countries, and a re-assessment of the reasons why the latest developers (the so-called 'Third World') experience acute problems of development today. This involves an assessment of the way the study of development has changed from approaches associated with classical development economics and development as growth, towards new ways of conceptualising the ends, the actors and the processes involved in development, including social actors, markets and states. This has changed from a focus orientated towards individuals' duties towards greater development ends, to collective responsibilities towards the promotion of individual freedom. Core approaches assessed include state-guided development, neo-liberalism and new perspectives on development as freedom. These approaches can be identified in the nature of different contemporary policy models, including models of democracy and good governance, privatisation and financial and social de-regulation, aid and loan conditionality, marketized welfare, and 'pro-poor policy'. Particular attention is given to the shift towards neo-liberalism in development and its policy implications, including on problems of industrialisation, growth, human development, individual liberty and welfare.

Public Finance

This module is aimed at providing students with a deeper understanding of the role played by economic factors on the decisions faced by policy makers involved in the development and delivery of public services. It explores how economic concepts can be used to address problems and issues that arise in public service delivery. It considers how the decisions and choices that governments make are shaped by economic factors and it equips the student with the basic tools with which to apply economic principles to everyday decision-making.

The module begins by looking at the role of economics in the decision making process. The first step is to introduce students to the main economic concepts and to explain how the different actors in the economy - such as households, firms and government- interact and decide on key issues of their economic life. What is economics, what are the issues that economists are concerned with and how can economics help us to understand problems and issues in public sector management, are the key questions explored in the first unit. The next two units focus on the government behaviour and consider two important aspects of its decisions: how choices are made between different priorities and services, and how governments intervene when markets fail. Once this general framework is understood, the economic concepts outlined above are applied to the labour market and specifically, to the study of employment.

The analysis of the government decision-making process and the role played by macroeconomic conditions and policy instruments is more deeply analysed in the following units. The main macroeconomic concepts and the policy tools in the hands of government to achieve social goals are explored. Among other topics, an insight is given to taxation and spending, with a detailed look at the tax system and the issues behind the provision of state benefits and pensions. We also look at the issue of who provides which services: why governments may choose to privatise certain services or introduce public-private partnerships.

Finally, the costs and benefits of public sector programmes are examined, with an introduction to different evaluation tools. These tools can be used to assess value for money when allocating scarce resources without the aid of the price mechanism in the free market.

Policy Analysis and Policy Process

This module provides an introduction to the specialist sub-field of policy analysis with a focus on the development of multi-level analytical skills. It covers contemporary issues and problems and aims to deepen participant knowledge of the theory and practice of public administration. The module is organised into three parts: decision analysis, meso-level analysis and delivery analysis. Decision analysis focuses on knowledge in the policy process, encompassing: the broad environs of the policy process such as the economic context: stages of the policy process (e.g. formulation, implementation, evaluation, termination) and methods of analysis (e.g. forecasting, cost benefit analysis, social indicators). Meso level analysis provides a critical examination of the recent emergence of inter-organisational decision making models and assesses their utility through empirical tests. The delivery component covers implementation analysis and evaluation. In sum, this module resources the student with a broad view of the nature of power and policy implementation in the modern state.

Leading and Managing Change

This module explores the theory and practice of managing change. The overall aim is to develop students' capacity and confidence in initiating and responding to change and thus to help them to deal more effectively with change within their own organisations.

The early units look at the broad context in which change takes place: the economic, social and institutional factors that are currently shaping change, and the role of stakeholders (nationally and internationally) in this process. The module then moves on to consider change at the levels of the organisation and individual, including how individuals respond to change and the approaches that can assist with the transition. The final part of the module considers collaborative approaches and the tools and skills that are helpful for managing change. The role of leadership in relation to change is also considered throughout the module as a whole. The module also contains two units, coming midway and at the end, which provide for review, reflection and consolidation of the ground covered in the previous units.

This module recognises the complexity of change and the limitations, therefore, of tools and techniques as 'prescriptions' for change. At the same time, it also seeks to enlarge students' sense of the scope for influencing and managing change and the role that tools and techniques can play. It begins by introducing some established theories, frameworks and techniques for diagnosing, developing and evaluating change processes. Throughout, there is a dual emphasis on the organisation and the individual: how organisational contexts affect and shape change and how individuals respond to change. The overall aim is to link theory and practice: to enable students to analyse and develop ways of dealing with real instances of organisational change.

Development Administration: Capacity, Instruments and Learning

This module seeks to provide an opportunity for participants of a practical orientation to enhance their personal growth by stimulating new ideas and developing new skills in public policy, administration and development. The module is divided into three parts: 'Developmental states - institutional design and capacity-building'; 'the tools of development administration'; and, 'organisational learning in development administration'. The 'institutional design and capacity-building' component covers the basic form and functions of development administration in developmental states encompassing: the role of administration in development; effective institutional design for development; and, capacity-building in development administration. The 'tools of development administration' explores techniques utilised at the micro-level stages of the policy process and methods of analysis (e.g. national development planning and programme management, evaluation, and performance measurement etc.). The final component - organisational learning in development administration - investigates how public organisations learn. It focuses on the constraints and opportunities for international lesson-drawing and the mechanics of rational policy transfer.

In sum, this module resources participants with a broad understanding of the theory and practice of development administration.

Structure

A series of induction workshops will be provided for new students in Week 1 of the autumn term in the Department of Politics. These include: orientation sessions on Graduate Study at York with the Director of the Graduate School; a course introduction with the Programme Convenor; a one day team building workshop with the course team; a social reception to meet colleagues and staff; and a Graduate School party.

Autumn Term

Two compulsory modules are delivered in:

• Theories and Policies in Development Governance
• Leading and Managing Change (York Management School)

These modules are designed to develop an understanding of the context within which public services are managed and delivered. Participants are also required to attend a Graduate Study and Professional Skills Workshop which provides them with an introduction to key study and transferable skills.

Spring Term

Three further compulsory modules are delivered in:

• Policy Analysis and Policy Process
• Public Finance (York Management School)
• Social and Political Issues in Development

The modules at this stage of the programme address key aspects of public sector management, with the aim of applying the understanding acquired during the Autumn term and developing further skills and understanding in relation to the implementation and delivery of services within a development framework.

Summer Term

• Strategic Planning (York Management School)
• A 60 credit policy report supported by a policy report workshop.

The purpose of the report is to review and integrate learning activities across a number of the modules which have already been undertaken during the autumn and spring terms. This is achieved through the development of an independent piece of research in which a process of policy or organisational change is evaluated from both a practical and an academic perspective. This 10,000 word policy report is supported by the Graduate Study and Professional Skills workshop convened in the autumn and spring terms which provides workshops in dissertation writing and apparatus of scholarship. A Policy Report Workshop is convened in the summer term at which participants present research proposals to a forum consisting of subject specialists and colleagues. This workshop includes a formal process of written peer and supervisory review providing a broad range of feedback for students. A specialist supervisor is provided for this component of the course. The Policy Report is completed during the last five months of the programme.

Participants also have access to a weekly term-time programme of Departmental seminars and research workshops in the Department of Politics throughout the academic year. However, attendance at these events is not obligatory for Masters students.