1. Introduction to the Program

The Master of Public Administration program is designed to strengthen decision making and public service delivery in a globalized community by preparing students designed to set in leading and managing distinctive public and nonprofit organizations. The program is committed to educate students with leadership capacity, administrative skills, and analytical abilities to manage public and nonprofit organizations in a diverse society.

This is an English-taught program especially designed for foreign students interested in Chinese economic transformation and development strategies, like the “One Belt, One Road Initiative.” The core of the curriculum thus covers: (1) the required courses for MPA students; (2) the introductive course on the political system and socio-economic changes in contemporary China; (3) the optional courses; and (4) a specially-design internship are also integral part of our program.

All program faculty members hold doctoral degrees, many of the MPA faculty obtained PhDs from the U.S., European countries or Japan. MPA faculty members have experience of research or consulting in public policy and public management, and have expertise in various field of specialty. Adjunct faculty members and practical advisors are highly qualified and experienced academics and practitioners. 

Students admitted to the Program will be able to apply for the scholarship offered by the Ministry of Education of China. And the SUFE will be able to arrange origination and accommodation. Students should complete the program within 2 years.

2. Curriculum Design for the program

1) Required Courses (Core Courses and Major Required Courses)

Full-time MPA students are required to take the following 6 core courses with 16 credits and 4 major required courses with 8 credits.

2) Optional Courses

Full time MPA students need to take 4 optional courses with 8 credits. The program provides various optional courses, such as Global Governance, Government and Market, International Laboratory, International Relations, Public Choice, Sino US relations, World Government and Politics, Local Governance and Urban Policy etc.

3)  Internship

Students also need to take a 2-credit internship and complete a report. The internship could be in public organizations or non-profit organizations which fit students’ research interests.

3. Brief Introduction of required Courses

1）Political Science

This course introduces the basic concepts and issues in the studies of politics. There are three major objectives. First, it will familiarize the students with vocabulary of political science as a field of scholarly research. It will cover some enduring concepts like power, state, ideology, culture, parties, and constitution. It will also discuss different organization of government and different schools of ideology. Second, it will enable the students to think of political issues more analytically and critically. Students are encouraged to apply the general theories to understand current happenings. Finally, it nurtures students’independent and critical thinking skills.

2）Public Economics

This course provides an introduction to the study of public economics. This course examines fundamental concepts and models in the theory of public economics. The objective of this course is to familiarize students with a framework and topic areas in public economics, both theoretical and empirical perspective. In addition to provide students a thorough grounding in the principles underlying the role of the public sector and its economic activity, this course aims to enable students to understand the practical issues involved in public economics and policy.

3）Public Administration

This course, which serves as the foundation course for the Master of Public Administration program, is designed to provide an in-depth understanding of the intellectual origins of contemporary public administration.

Its purpose is to: Familiarize students with the major questions being asked by scholars; Help students gain a better understanding of the general trends in each subfield;Expose students to classical, neoclassical and more recent approaches to the theory and practice of public administration.

By the end of the course students will be able to: Clearly define a problem or topic and demonstrate its relevance and importance to the field of public administration; Frame the problem in an appropriate theoretical construct, utilize appropriate methodology to demonstrate the relationship between previous research and data collected by the student;Show significant insight in analyzing study findings, drawing appropriate conclusions, and making practical and relevant recommendations;Present, orally and in writing, the results of the study in clear, concise, and appropriate language, and utilizing correct and consistent citations, figures, illustrations, tables, bibliography as well as appropriate presentation tools.

Emphasis throughout the semester will be on critical thinking and reading, as well as class discussion. The course focuses on the administrative and management aspects of the public sector and looks at the role of three sectors (public, private and nonprofit).

4）Social Science Research Methods

As a field of applied research, public administration has its theoretical foundation grounded in many social science disciplines such as economics, sociology, politics, psychology and so on. Moreover, the mainstream paradigm and methods in public administration research come from various social sciences disciplines. This course begins with the introduction of the scientific philosophy of social science, and discusses the development of quantitative and qualitative methods in social science research and their applications in public administration research. Research methods introduced in this course have two focuses: (1) The methods for theory development and (2) the method for obtaining evidence. For the first part, two strands of theory development are discussed: verbal logic and formal logic. For the second part, the method of questionnaire research, interview, experimental research, data analysis methods will be introduced. The course design seeks to synthesizes the student's research interests, social phenomena and methodological nuances which helps the student to understand the theoretical grounds of each research method and grasps their applications in public administration research.

5）Public Policy Analysis

The fundamental objective of public policy analysis is to introduce you to public policy as an academic discipline and as a systematic method of thinking about the design, development and assessment of public sector policies.  Throughout this course, we will discuss policy debates and controversies that are important in current American/Chinese politics.  We will follow the issues, examine the rhetoric, and begin our own analyses of these current policy problems. An important goal of public policy analysis is to help policy makers arrive at viable, informed policy choices with a credible expectation of what the expected outcome(s) of those policy choices will be.  In a world of complex political and socioeconomic processes, predicting the effectiveness of a particular policy relative to the intended goals while identifying potential unintended consequences is a difficult task.  If policy-making is an art, policy analysis aims to add a bit of science to the art. This course is designed to help you develop the skills required to define and critically analyze policy issues and problems, articulate relevant decision‑making criteria for policy analysis, evaluate alternative policy solutions, and assess the means and costs of implementation.   These skills and techniques will be applied to a wide range of substantive public policy issues, with the idea that a good policy analyst can approach problems as a generalist and bring more specific information from a given policy area to bear in the analysis.

6）Public Organization Theory and Administration

Public organization theory and administration is one of the core MPA courses. This course aims to help students to understand the general rules of modern organizational operation, the main factors which affect the organizational operation and administration, and the equilibrium between organizational effectiveness and efficiency. This course includes two parts: first, learning the general theory of organizational behavior and administration, including organizational structure, decision process, and organizational equilibrium; second, applying those modern organizational theories to analyze current problems in public administration. Through theory explanation and case study, students are required to be able to use modern organizational theories to analyze and solve all types of problems in real administration.

7）Introduction to Chinese Economy and Society

This course aims to provide students with a comprehensive knowledge of the development of Chinese economy and society and its reform pathways, the economy-society interaction, and the core issues in Chinese economic and social development. Being issue-based, the course includes the following contents: the evolution of Chinese economic and social structures, economic and social construction, Chinese economy and real estate market, economic development and environmental governance, risk management of the society, the value of social capital and so on. Combining various analytical methods with hot issues in economic and social development, this course aims to strengthen the students’ capability of identifying and solving problems, adapting to society and grasping market opportunities.

8）The Government and Politics of China

This course aims to provide students with a comprehensive knowledge of the structure, function and power of the Chinese government, the policy making process of government affairs, and the contents and directions of institutional innovation. Several important issues will be covered in this course: the basic concept of modern Chinese government, the organization structure, function and power of the Chinese government, the process of government affairs, central-local government relations and reforms and innovations of local governments. Based on these issues and combining the Chinese and Western political theories with contemporary political development in China, the course aims to bring to students both horizontal and vertical analytical perspectives and promote their level of understanding and capability of analyzing current affairs.