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NUS COMPONENT
PARTNER UNIVERSITY COMPONENT
PROGRAMME CLOSURE AND CONCLUSION
NUS COMPONENT
The NUS component comprises:
Orientation Programme
The Orientation Programme will commence two weeks before classes begin. This serves as preparation for the MPM programme, and provides an opportunity for interaction among fellow classmates. The two-week programme covers academic study skills, a short introduction to the case pedagogic approach and a team-building workshop to help build rapport.
Coursework
The 5 modules at NUS comprise 4 core modules and 1 elective. Of the 5 modules, 4 will be read in the first semester (January to April) and 1 in the condensed semester (July to August). The core NUS modules are:
- PP5301 Economic Reasoning and Policy
- PP5303 Public Management
- PP5308 Frameworks for Policy Analysis
- PP5311 Globalisation and Public Policy or PP5312 Public Financial Management
If a candidate reads both PP5311 and PP5312,one of these modules will be considered as an elective. Candidates may also choose to read an elective from the list of the electives (PP52XX series) offered by the School.
Core Modules
PP5301 Economic Reasoning and Policy
This course is designed to familiarise students with the strengths and the limitations of economic reasoning in addressing a wide variety of policy issues related to meeting the primary economic challenge of any society. This challenge is the necessity to allocate physical, human, and environmental resources among alternative uses to promote efficiency, equity and human welfare. The course is organised around key economic concepts, including economic and technical efficiency; information and institutional practices and structures; comparative advantage; different types of cost; the role of prices; money and taxes; strategic behavior; time; national income; wealth and resource accounts; technology; market and government failures; externalities; public goods; risk; uncertainty; insurance; and regulation. These concepts will first be explained in an intuitive and non-technical manner. These explanations will then be integrated with economic data, specific contexts, and behavioral and other assumptions to analyse specific policy issues in an interactive manner.
PP5303 Public Management
Starting off with a review of the evolution of thinking about public management from public administration to the manager as leader, the course will focus on how a senior manager in government succeeds. It allows for the examination of both internal and external management responsibilities and skills, and looks at the political responsibilities of managers, from creating a vision and building on an authorising environment to creating coalitions and increasing organisational capacity. The literature of customer orientation and reinventing government will also be explored.
PP5308 Frameworks for Policy Analysis
This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of the principal elements of public policy analysis and decision-making. The class will be structured as a seminar and will, in the first part of the term, focus on some relevant theoretical models of policy analysis and decision-making. The second part of the term will be directed at substantive policy areas from both a national and comparative perspective. Upon completing the course, students will have a broad perspective of the factors that contribute to the development of public policy; understand the role of interests- both public and particularistic- on state decision-makers; and develop the skills to analyse the rationale for public policies and policy decisions.
PP5311 Globalisation and Public Policy
The module analyses how globalisation affects and is affected by domestic public policy. The objective of the module is to understand the opportunities that global structures and processes make available to national policymakers as well as the constraints they impose. Topics to be covered include international investment, production, trade, security and global governance. Students will be introduced to both theoretical and empirical materials on the covered topics.
PP5312 Public Financial Management
Public institutions to enable excellence in discharging duties to the public in a modern market economy are of key importance. Many countries have adopted radically new institutional arrangements, some successful, some less so to improve the performance of public organisations. Within broad institutional structures, the importance of financial management in public organisations for effective and efficient use of resources is increasingly being recognised. This course provides students with basic skills needed to evaluate financial institutions and plans for public organisations and also to manage public finances. The analysis draws primarily on literature from economics, accounting and public administration and country practices, particularly from Asia and OECD countries.
Electives
Please note that not all electives will be offered in any one semester.
Please click here for list of electives
Attachment Programme in Singapore
PP5304 Attachment Programme in Singapore
The MPM candidate will be attached to Singapore Ministries or agencies and participate in a programme of visits to these organisations. The main objective of this attachment is to bridge theory and practice and provide a strategic overview of policy areas and the processes of policy-making. The training here will encourage the MPM candidate to explore factors leading to good governance and is intended to provide a hands-on practical experience in a particular area of interest the candidate may have.
The Attachment Programme is equivalent to 2 units of study and will take place from May to June. To complete the attachment programme, the MPM candidate will be required to present his/her paper in a Public Management Seminar Series. The audience will comprise fellow classmates, faculty members and officials from Singapore Ministries and Statutory Boards.
Candidates will complete their attachment paper and presentations by August before they leave for the overseas partner university in September.
PARTNER UNIVERSITY COMPONENT
The programme taps into the established strengths in public policy training at the partner university eg the John F Kennedy School of Government (KSG) at Harvard University or the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University, and complements the training provided at NUS. For this component, the MPM candidate will spend up to one semester (September to December) at a partner university on a specially designed academic programme.
Academic Programme
The academic programme consists of four electives from the regular curriculum offered at the partner university. Courses offered may include the following topics (subject to their being offered):
- Ethics in Government
- Reasoning from History
- Management, Finance, Regulation and Public Infrastructure
- Introduction to Health Policy
- Health Policy Reform
- Poverty and Social Policy
- Policy-making in Urban Settings
- Real Estate Finance and Development Fundamentals
- National Security Organization and Management
- The Political Economy of Trade
- The American Presidency
- Managing Political Campaigns
- Leadership and Ethics in Foreign Policy
- Why are so many countries poor, volatile and unequal?
- Public Finance in Open Economies
- Managing Policy Change in a Global Environment
- Foreign Policy, the News, and American Public Opinion
- Strategic Management in the Public Sector
- Organisational Analysis for Managers
- Public Management Reform and Innovation: A Comparative Survey
- Leadership for a Digital World
- Science, Technology, and Public Policy
- Ruling the Net: Technology, Policy, and the Future of Governance
- Theory of International Political Economy
- Politics of Policy-making
- International Law
- Politics of Middle East and North Africa
- Southeast Asia
- Central Issues- American Foreign Policy
PROGRAMME CLOSURE AND CONCLUSION
The one-year programme will conclude in Singapore, following the programme at the partner university. The MPM candidate will prepare and present a public management paper from end-December to mid-January. The programme officially ends with a Valedictory Dinner. | 
