Public policy school


A public policy school or school of public affairs is typically a university program, institution, or professional school of public policy, public administration, political science, international relations, security studies, management, urban planning, urban studies, intelligence studies, global studies, emergency management, public affairs, nonprofit management, criminology, and the sociology of law.
Public policy schools typically train students in two streams. The more practical stream treats the master's degree as a terminal degree, which trains students to work as policy analysts or practitioners in governments, government relations, think tanks, business-to-government marketing/sales, and consulting firms. A more theoretical stream aims to train students who are aiming to go on to complete doctoral studies with the goal of becoming professors of public policy, political science in general, or researchers.

Curriculum

Public policy schools offer a wide range of public policy degrees. At the undergraduate level, universities, especially research-intensive universities may offer a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree with majors or concentrations in public policy, public administration, political science, international relations, policy studies or any other differently named but content-wise identical major or concentration. These undergraduate degrees are typically offered by a university's public administration or political science faculties whether it be part of a public policy school or a college of arts and sciences. Well known Master's degrees within this academic field include the Master of Public Policy, the Master of Public Administration, the Master of Public Affairs, the Master of Public Service, the Master of Urban Planning, the Master of International Affairs, and Master of Arts or Master of Sciences in International Relations, Political Science, or International Security, or other sub-fields of political science. Schools with an international and interdisciplinary focus may award a Master of Arts degree in International Policy Studies. Some schools teaching nonprofit studies as its own field of study may offer a Master of Nonprofit Organizations or a Master of Public Administration in Nonprofit Management. In the field of criminology and the sociology of law, some offer bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in criminology, law and society, administration of justice, legal studies, and criminal justice. Some schools also offer Executive master's degrees in the same topics for mid-career individuals and a Master of Professional Studies degree to signify that the education takes an applied rather than theoretical approach. Other universities teach urban planning and confer professional degrees such as the Master of Urban Planning, Master of City Planning, Master of Regional Planning, Master of Urban and Regional Planning to qualify students and alumni to work as urban planners.
Doctoral degrees include PhDs in public policy, policy studies and public administration, or in political science with a concentration in any of the aforementioned sub-fields, as well as the Doctor of Public Administration. Some schools offer relatively short-duration certificate programs aimed at working policy analysts, government managers, public executives, or any other working professional who needs this education regardless of employment sector.
In North America, students typically pursue a graduate public policy degree after having completed an undergraduate degree, either in a public administration or political science field. Some programs admit students with any undergraduate degree; however, students without a background in public administration or political science may be required to do qualifying courses in these areas. Some universities allow students to complete both degrees concurrently. North American public policy programs are generally located in an autonomous graduate or professional school within a larger university, while at others combine both graduate and undergraduate programs into a single semi-autonomous constituent college.
While degrees in Public Policy and Public Administration at most universities are generally taught at the graduate level, some undergraduate degree program majors, concentrations, and minors either as standalone degrees or as concentrations within a degree in political science or international relations still exist, especially at research universities and professional schools where research, graduate, and undergraduate faculty overlap and/or have close cooperation unlike liberal arts colleges that focus on the more theoretical and philosophical sides of political science rather than the applied and administrative side of political science.

Notable institutions

North America

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Public policy schools in the United States tackle policy analysis differently. The Harris School of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago has a more quantitative and economics approach to policy, the Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon uses computational and technology-driven methods, while the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University has a more political science and leadership based approach. The Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs provides traditional public policy training with multidisciplinary concentrations available in the environmental sciences and nonprofit management. Moreover, the University of Illinois at Chicago offers public policy training that emphasizes the stages of decision-making in formulating policy, as well as the importance of framing effects and cognitive limits in policy formation.
Schools of public policy that have met professional standards of education and quality in the United States are accredited by the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration :
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