Master in Public Policy (M.P.P.)
"M.P.P. candidates come from a variety of educational and professional backgrounds, and their courses of study at the Woodrow Wilson School naturally reflect this diversity. Successful applicants to the M.P.P. program demonstrate leadership, creativity, a commitment to public service, and the intellectual ability to thrive in a demanding academic environment."
Robert L. Hutchings
Faculty Chair of the M.P.P. Program; Diplomat-in-Residence
Nick Birnback (MPP '02)
Chief of the Peacekeeping Affairs Unit in the Office of the Under-Secretary General in the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations.
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Overview
The Woodrow Wilson School offers a one-year Master in Public Policy (M.P.P.) degree for mid-career professionals. The M.P.P. program has recently been expanded to qualified physicians, Ph.D. scientists, and lawyers. Outstanding professionals in the fields of medicine, science, and law thus will have the opportunity to develop and hone their policy skills in order to bring crucial expertise to bear on specialized public policy issues.
The expanded M.P.P. degree programs do not require a specified amount of work experience, but are intended to serve the School’s mission to increase the leadership capacity for careers in public service, especially government careers in international affairs. The first class of students for the expanded M.P.P. degree programs was admitted for the fall of 2008. It is important to note that the expanded M.P.P. programs do not replace the existing M.P.P. degree program for mid-career professionals described below.
M.P.P. for Mid-Career Professionals
The M.P.P. degree for mid-career professionals provides rising leaders in international and domestic public policy with an opportunity to broaden their economic, policy, and leadership skills. This rigorous in-residence program is designed for mid-career professionals with seven or more years of public service experience in government agencies or non-profit organizations in the United States and abroad. The program aims to prepare experienced professionals to return to their career ready to assume significant leadership positions in an increasingly complex public service environment. The program teaches skills in analyzing the political, economic, quantitative, organizational, and normative aspects of complex problems. M.P.P. candidates come from a variety of educational and professional backgrounds and their courses of study at the Woodrow Wilson School naturally reflect this diversity. Mid-career professionals enrolled in the M.P.P. generally have significant public sector work experience ranging from 10 to 20 years.
M.P.P. for Physicians
The M.P.P. for physicians aims to enroll medical doctors in a one-year training program in public policy. M.D.s play an active role in policy issues related to health, and medical degrees are implicitly, if not explicitly, a prerequisite for many senior policy positions concerned with health. The M.P.P. degree can be distinguished from a Master’s in Public Health (M.P.H.) degree by its focus on economics, politics, sociology, and statistics as tools for policy analysis. These skills are important for future health policymakers.
In addition, WWS offers a graduate certificate in Health and Health Policy (HHP), geared towards policy students who want to pursue domestic or international careers in health-related fields. The HHP certificate is earned by completing two required health courses—in political economy of health systems and epidemiology—in addition to two full-term elective courses (or the equivalent in half terms) drawn from a wide array of topics, including health economics, health and the environment, healthcare in developing countries, HIV/AIDS policy, and poverty, inequality and health. Physicians enrolled in the M.P.P. program will be encouraged, but not required, to enroll in the HHP certificate program.
M.P.P. for Ph.D. Scientists
The M.P.P. for Ph.D. scientists was created, in part, because many of today’s most pressing and controversial policy issues are rooted in science, such as global warming, stem cell research, the evolution of drug-resistant strains of disease organisms, and the protection of privacy in an increasingly wired world. While none of these issues are the exclusive domain of scientists, scientists will play an increasingly important role in addressing them. Therefore, WWS seeks to enroll leading professionals in the natural and physical sciences in such disciplines as physics, biology, engineering, information technology, atmospheric sciences, and the geosciences. Candidates for this one-year degree must have completed their Ph.D. when they apply to the WWS graduate program.
The vast majority of leaders and innovators in contemporary science have doctoral degrees, yet a Ph.D. in a scientific field typically provides no training in public policy. The result is a widening gulf between the scientific and policy communities, arising at a time when the need for dialogue, cooperation, and leadership is growing.
The School currently offers a graduate certificate in Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy (STEP), which includes a wide array of elective courses in science policy. Ph.D. scientists enrolled in the M.P.P. program will be encouraged, but not required, to enroll in the STEP certificate program. It is expected that candidates for the M.P.P. degree for Ph.D. scientists also will take courses in economics, politics, and statistics to round out their curriculum.
M.P.P. for Lawyers
The M.P.P degree for lawyers is intended for those who have completed their J.D.s and recognized, after several years of work experience, the need to acquire the analytical tools for policy analysis. They also may enroll in courses in International Relations or Domestic Policy analysis, depending on their interests.
As with the other M.P.P. degrees, the M.P.P for lawyers will add crucial exposure to politics, economics and policy that students would not get in the routine course of their other professional education.
