Postgraduate Institute of Management

The Master of Public Administration (MPA) program is based on
a needs assessment of the transversal knowledge requirements of
executive level officers of the public service.
Most public servants belong to a transferable service. They have to,
therefore, acquire transversal knowledge, which could hold them in
good stead in any assignment. Such knowledge has to be reinforced
by institution-specific knowledge but the former facilitates creative
application of the latter. The MPA program caters to the transversal
knowledge requirements.
The course content flows from the concept of the new public
service paradigm, which has development promotion as it’s
principal function. The other aspect, which is the service delivery
function, is mostly subsumed in the development function; yet a few
course modules have been introduced to address separately some
of its specific issues. The focus of the course structure, one might
observe, is heavily weighted in favor of planning: macro, sectoral
and project. That is because the principal instrument of performing
the development function is planning, which also includes progress
monitoring and impact assessment.

A novel course delivery system is adopted employing techniques of
blended learning, combining distance education with the traditional
'face-to- face' method. The main reason is that busy public servants
cannot be away from their work desks too long, and must be able to
follow lessons when time permits. They also work in different
geographical locations. As a result, the traditional classroom lecture
based method becomes very restrictive. Yet, group learning has
many advantages, since it allows cross-fertilization of ideas and
promotes creative learning. This is the rationale of the blended
learning methodology that is adopted in the course delivery system
under the MPA program.

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