Public Policy and Administration Master's Degree Requirements

Faculty | Master's | Courses

The Master's Degree in Public Policy and Administration program is a professional academic program intended to prepare students for careers as public managers, policy analysts, advocates, and public leaders. The program welcomes and encourages both recent college graduates and mid-career professionals with diverse backgrounds to apply. A bachelor's degree or equivalent international degree is a prerequisite for admission.

Students are encouraged to specialize in a substantive or methodological field of interest. Those students who choose to build their own specializations are encouraged to do so by drawing upon the rich resources of the entire University, allowing for flexibility and focus in individual program design.

Further information concerning the Master's in Public Policy and Administration program can be obtained by calling the department's office, tel. (413) 545-3940, or by visiting its website at www.masspolicy.org.

General Requirements

The Master's Degree in Public Policy and Administration is awarded for completion of a two-year, 48-credit degree program and a full-time summer internship usually taken between the first and second years. The program welcomes part-time students, and offers core courses at times convenient for working students. The internship requirement is waived for part-time students with relevant experience.

The core couses are designed to provide students with a strong analytical foundation, applicable to a wide variety of policy issues. The core courses are organized into four categories: 1) Politics and Management; 2) Economics and Public Finance; 3) Methods; and 4) Integration and Application.

Core Electives

In order to gain a deeper understanding of areas that affect professionals in the public and nonprofit sectors, students are required to take two core electives, from current offerings in Administrative Law, Budgeting and Financial Management, Comparative Public Policy, Conflict Resolution, Ethics and Public Policy, American Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations, Information Technology in the Public and Nonprofit Sectors, The Political Economy of Public Policy, Nonprofit Management, and Public Employee Management.

Electives and Specializations

The program encourages students to take elective courses from the wide array available at the University. In addition to the core electives, elective courses may be chosen to lead to specialization in various fields.

Elective courses may be taken from various departments of the University with the approval of the student's adviser.

Specializations can be developed to help students build a body of knowledge in a particular area of interest, guide students as they design their program, and connect students with faculty involved in their chosen area of research and teaching. Although not a requirement of the program, some students choose to focus on a particular specialization. Students in the program have specialized in areas including Education Policy, Environmental Policy, Health Policy, International/Comparative Policy, Public and Nonprofit Management, and Social Policy. In addition, there are substantial resources on campus to develop specializations in information technology, conflict resolution, macroeconomic policy, advanced quantitative methods, labor policy, and media and public policy.

Application and Financial Aid

Application for graduate study should by made directly through the Dean of the Graduate School, as described elsewhere in this Bulletin.

Admission to the Master's program is for the fall semester only.

The program offers teaching and research assistantships to qualified students; these carry a stipend and a waiver of tuition and curriculum fees.