Public Administration (MSc)
About the programme
The Master of Public Administration is a master's degree focussed on governance from a multi-level perspective. You will hone your research skills in this strongly academic master's programme. You will combine research with practical experience, working on cases while being taught and guided by speakers and experts from the field. You will also develop the professional skills demanded of public administration experts by the labour market. Furthermore, you will examine the normative ethical aspects op policy: what is considered to be acceptable behaviour for a manager or organisation.
Joost Dalhuijsen
Student Public Administration
'For my master thesis I am doing empirical research on the consideration students make between taking on a student loan or working part time during their study. Specifically I look at how this affects academic performance and what policy implications this has.'
Economics in society
My choice for the specialisation of Economics and Governance of the Master Public Administration stems from my positive experience with the preceding bachelor. Both focus on societal issues from an economic viewpoint and on the relationship between government & market.
The program lends itself for researching a broad range of subjects as long as the public policy aspect is represented. The economic courses have helped me discover my interest in the financial sector, whether that’s the financial system in general or personal finances. I learned a lot about the different institutions that come into play in this sector and see myself working with similiar topics in the future.
Master thesis
For my master thesis I am doing empirical research on the consideration students make between taking on a student loan or working part time during their study. Specifically I look at how this affects academic performance and what policy implications this has.
I would definitely recommend this program to anyone with a broad interest in society and who plans on working in the (semi) public sector.
Focus
The Master of Public Administration focusses on the management, steering, and coordination of political, administrative, economic, and social actors, as well as the formal and informal regimes and policy processes within which they act towards addressing collective social problems at regional, national, and international levels. A defining hallmark of the master is that governance is studied and taught from a multi-level perspective. This means that there is no single level of governance at which societal challenges can be addressed best. For example, the Ebola disease started as a local governance problem of a few countries but transformed itself rapidly into a global problem due to the disease’s spread by means of modern transportation. Boat refugees, to take another example, who flee their homelands because of local famine or civil wars poses a major challenge for the European Union.