University master's degrees
University Master's Degree in Public Administration

An inter-university and interdisciplinary master's degree offered by top quality lecturers which will allow you to acquire the skills needed to succeed in the public administration sector
 

Content Official Master's Degree in Public Administration

Ideal student profile

Personal Characteristics:
Candidates to join the Master's degree programme in Public Administration should be interested either in creating knowledge in the field of public administration (research profile), or in pursuing a career in public administration (professional profile). In both cases they need to have curiosity, initiative and efficiency in their work.

Academic Characteristics:
Students from a variety of academic backgrounds can make valuable contributions to the programme, regarding both research and professional practice. Public administration can draw from multiple disciplines. Though the social sciences (economics, political science, sociology, law, etc.) are the traditional backgrounds for postgraduate programmes in public administration, we believe that other disciplines, like life sciences, engineering, architecture, health sciences, etc., can provide just as good a basis for excellent public administrators specialising in certain sectors. A knowledge of English at level B1 of the Council of Europe's Common European Framework of Reference for Languages is also recommended.

Basic skills

  • Use acquired knowledge as a basis for originality in the application of ideas, often in a research context.
  • Solve problems in new or little-known situations within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to the field of study.
  • Integrate knowledge and use it to make judgements in complex situations, with incomplete information, while keeping in mind social and ethical responsibilities.
  • Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Continue the learning process, to a large extent autonomously

Specific skills

  • Design and evaluate processes of public intervention in specific social, political and sectorial situations and problem areas.
  • Manage a varied and complex body of data and sources. Analyse public policies in different sectorial areas.
  • Apply concepts, theories and models from various disciplines in the exercise of public administration duties.
  • Identify, understand and analyse complex social and political phenomena that are important to the exercise of public administration duties.
  • Design a well-defined research project in accordance with the criteria of conceptual and methodological rigour in the framework of the social sciences.
  • Apply appropriate methodological techniques for rigorous analysis of public intervention in society and the economy.

Cross-curricular skills

  • Propose innovative solutions to solve social and political problems.
  • Address complex public intervention situations, possibly involving ethical dilemmas, on the basis of proposals founded both on explicit values and on conceptual and methodological rigour.
  • Work in international and multidisciplinary teams, with members from varying social, political, cultural and administrative backgrounds.
  • Design technical projects and reports using the appropriate research methodology.
  • Evaluate projects, reports and analyses produced by others, with appropriate methodological and argumentative criteria.
  • Lead projects within inter-organisational environments, with different levels and different political and administrative contexts.