Our mix of online and in-person classes will allow you to move quickly toward pursuing your professional goals with the skills you need to fuel your success. Internships and client projects will provide you with invaluable real-world experience. With an average enrollment of around 45 students in the MPA program, students benefit from an engaged cohort of peers and a small student-to-faculty ratio.
Our MPA is one of the most affordable public policy degrees in the region. Our goal is to make the program financially accessible to all students, whether in-state, out-of-state, or international.
While the master of public affairs is structured as a one-year program, we also welcome part-time students. SPP faculty and staff work with students to craft a plan that is feasible for each student and to ensure successful program completion. On average, 71 percent of students complete the degree in one year, 86 percent graduate within two years, and 94 percent graduate within four years.
MPA Curriculum
The Master of Public Affairs (MPA) at the UMass Amherst School of Public Policy is a 37-credit program that includes the policy seminar, six core courses, a summer internship, and five electives, three of which must be SPP program electives.
Our one-year MPA program is open to any applicant who has completed a bachelor's degree in any field. Our 4+1 MPA program is open to undergraduates at UMass Amherst and the other Five Colleges (Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith colleges).
MPA Mission Statement
The Master of Public Affairs (MPA) degree is for students seeking public service through careers in government, non-profit organizations, businesses, and social movements. The program is suitable for mid-career or pre-service students seeking to advance their careers and obtain a grounding in the skills and knowledge of public policy and governance. Students follow a comprehensive core curriculum and choose from a range of electives taught by accomplished faculty and practitioners. These courses provide students with the essential leadership, communication, research, and analytical skills to become effective and ethical leaders. Our graduates will address complex policy and administrative issues in ways that uphold democratic principles and further social justice and sustainability.
Degree Requirements
- Public policy seminar (3 credits)
- Six graduate-level core courses (3 credits each, except 1-credit professional development seminar; 16 credits total)
- Summer internship (3 credits)
- Three program electives, from each of these three sections: policy, management and methods (3 credits each; 9 credits total)
- Two additional electives (6 credits total)
The public policy seminar (SPP 613) brings MPA students together to apply interdisciplinary tools to analyze possible solutions to a broad contemporary challenge in public policy, such as climate change.
Core Courses
Are designed to provide students with a strong analytical foundation, applicable to a wide variety of policy issues. The MPA degree requires the following six core courses:
- Politics and the Policy Process examines the influence of political factors on the initiation, formulation and implementation of public policy. The goal of the course is to give students the background necessary to devise strategies to develop public policy. (Comparative Public Policy can be taken instead of Politics of the Policy Process to satisfy this requirement.)
- Public Policy Analysis applies economic, political, social, organizational and other skills from previous core courses to actual and hypothetical policy issues. Students complete a client-based project as part of this course.
- Economics and Public Policy provides an introduction to microeconomic theory and analysis. The course examines economic rationales for and against government policy and the economic consequences of public policy.
- Policy Methods provides an introduction to qualitative and quantitative methodologies for analyzing and evaluating public policy. Topics include research methods, participant observation, survey research and questionnaire construction, measurement theory and practice, and framing categories.
- Introduction to Statistical Methods covers the use and interpretation of statistics in policy research. The course investigates such topics as probability theory, statistical methods, descriptive statistics, analysis of tabular data, correlation and regression, and multiple regression analysis. Students interested in acquiring additional methodological skills are encouraged to take advanced courses in qualitative and/or quantitative methods.
- The Professional Development Seminar sharpens students' job-seeking and networking skills. In addition to sessions on writing resumes and cover letters; interviewing; and internships, students get opportunities to meet SPP alumni who are working in a variety of government departments and nonprofit organizations. While this one-credit class is not required, it is highly recommended that MPA students take it in the fall semester of their undergraduate senior year.
Internship
Students in the MPA program are required to complete a three-credit summer internship. The internship will be integrated into the curriculum and will be supervised by a SPP faculty member. Students' interests will guide the internship placement process, and SPP staff and faculty will help students establish internships through our alumni network and through our connections via the Five Colleges.
Electives
SPP's program electives provide students with a deeper understanding of areas that affect professionals in the public and nonprofit sectors. MPA students are required to take three program electives, with one each chosen from these three sections: policy, management and methods. Elective offerings change frequently; for current information, check the SPP course schedules for graduate, and undergraduate courses.
The GRE is not required to apply to the master of public affairs program.
We offer two paths to the MPA degree:
The One-Year Master of Public Affairs
In this 37-credit program, you’ll complete the degree in one year by taking up to twelve online credits in the first summer (which may include the three-credit internship requirement), then finishing the remainder of credits during two semesters in residence.
Open to any applicant who has completed a bachelor's degree, in any field, by the time they begin courses in the summer.
View the One-Year Master of Public Affairs Course Timeline and One-Year Master of Public Affairs Requirements.
Apply to the one-year master of public affairs.
The 4+1 Master of Public Affairs
Open to outstanding Five College students. Current juniors at UMass Amherst or Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, or Smith colleges are invited to apply.
The 4+1 MPA program allows students to double-count twelve credits taken during their undergraduate year that can be applied to the MPA.
View the 4+1 Master of Public Affairs Course Timeline and 4+1 Master of Public Affairs Requirements.
Apply to the 4+1 master of public affairs.
FAQs (MPA)
1. Why has SPP changed the name of the one-year master's degree program to the master of public affairs?
As part of the ongoing growth and development of the School of Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst we have updated the name of our one-year and “4+1” master's degree program options. We now offer the master of public affairs as our one-year and 4+1 programs. (The previous program name was the master of public policy.) We undertook this name change to assure consistency with evolving accreditation standards in our field. The master of public affairs is the standard name for one-year master's programs like ours among competitive schools in the United States and internationally.
During the 2021–22 academic year we formally proposed to change the name of our master of public policy (MPP) degree to a master of public affairs (MPA). The Faculty Senate approved the name change on April 28, 2022 and then forwarded its decision to the Office of the President of the university and the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education. We received the final approval this summer.
2. Have the requirements for the one-year master's degree program changed?
The curriculum for the master of public affairs remains essentially the same with two small but important revisions. First, we added a management course elective requirement. It brings our program into line with other schools in the United States and internationally. The new requirement allows students to choose from the management course options. Second, we expanded the options for fulfilling the experiential requirement for the degree. Students now have several options for experiential learning, including an internship, a client-based project in either the capstone or workshop course, or another pre-approved course that includes an experiential component.
3. Are current students who were accepted into the master of public policy program able to change the name of their degree?
Current students who were accepted into the master of public policy program have the option to change their degree name to the master of public affairs or to keep the master of public policy degree name. Those who apply to our one-year and 4+1 master's degree programs after September 1, 2022 will apply for acceptance into the master of public affairs degree program.
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We’ve updated the name of our one-year master's degree programs, but our long-standing commitment to our students, our engaged faculty and our strong, supportive community remain constant.