Curriculum

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Curriculum

NUS COMPONENT

PARTNER UNIVERSITY COMPONENT

PROGRAMME CLOSURE AND CONCLUSION

NUS COMPONENT

The NUS component comprises:

Orientation programme
Coursework (one full semester and a condensed second semester)
Attachment programme in Singapore

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 (July to December) and 1 in the condensed semester (May to June). 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.

PP5309 Public Management Seminar

This is a required module for all MPM students. The seminar series will be held in NUS after the overseas partner university component of the MPM programme. The series provides a forum for students to share their public management insights on a policy issue in their country or organisation. Students have to provide the context of the policy, address the current deficiencies in addressing this issue, and suggest possible measures to resolve it. They should integrate materials that they were exposed to in the MPM programme. The module will be graded "Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory" on the basis of student presentation and participation.

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

Knowledge of a public institution's financial operations is crucial to understanding the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization. The generation and application of this knowledge is the purview of the field of public financial management. This course examines the key concepts and methods in public financial management. Topics include budget preparation and execution, budget and institutional performance, financial reporting, and the analysis of financial statements and financial condition. Focus is on the development and use of budgets and other financial information in public sector management and decision-making. Best practices in the developing country context are stressed.

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, 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 Organisation 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 in 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.

Academic Calendar

SEMESTER ONE

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

July - December