The University of Hong Kong Department of Politics and Public Administration Table of Contents Message from the Programme Director The Department and the MPA Teaching Staff The Programme * Master of Administration (MPA) * Structure of the Programme * Course Lists * Class Schedule * Course Details The People * Our Faculty * Our Candidates * Our Distinguished Alumni The Facilities and Support Master of Public Administration Alumni Association (MPAAA) Admission * The Requirements * Application Procedure Programme Administration Message from the Programme Director ong Kong is currently experiencing profound political, administrative and socio- economic changes, which will continue Hto have significant and widespread implications in our community for many years to come. Serving in the public and nonprofit sectors has become more challenging than ever before. Administrators and managers need to be fully equipped with the latest knowledge, skills and toolkit in order to cope with the policy and management challenges of the 21st century. Our Master of Public Administration (MPA) Programme aims to provide students with the skills and knowledge necessary to meet these challenges. The University of Hong Kong has offered the MPA for over thirty years. Our extensive experience combined with an internationally recognized, dynamic MPA faculty makes us proud of our programme and confident that it will meet your professional and learning needs. Our experienced MPA faculty, well-designed curriculum, innovative teaching styles, and flexible class schedule for both full-time and part-time students are some of the highlights of our programme. We welcome your interest in our MPA programme and please contact us for more information. Peter T.Y. Cheung PhD Programme Director 2 The Department and the MPA teaching staff he Department of Politics and design, comparative civil service Public Administration has been system, service delivery systems, civil playing a leading role in research engagement, policy process, public sector Tand education in public administration reform, regulation and intergovernmental in Hong Kong and the Asia-Pacific region relations. since 1969. At the forefront of Politics and Public Administration education Many of our teachers have extensive at both the undergraduate and post- experience in the training of the graduate levels, we offer a professional senior management of the Hong Kong education essential for students to become government and the nonprofit sector. future leaders in the public, private and Some have also served as consultant nonprofit sectors. The programme is or advisor to the government and non- designed not only to enhance students’ government think tanks and international knowledge and awareness of politics organizations such as the UNDP and the and public affairs, but also to help them Asian Development Bank. develop a critical and analytical mind and the skills to meet policy and managerial Many of our MPA faculty members have challenges in our globalized world. been awarded research grants from the Research Grant Committee and other We aim to provide an intellectually international sources. A majority of our stimulating and professionally rewarding faculty members have been consistently programme. Our MPA faculty members rated as fully international-level consistently produce work of the highest researchers by the Research Assessment international academic standard and are Exercises (RAE). In fact the Department, widely published in international journals. as a whole, received the highest ratings in They are actively involved in research in Hong Kong from the University Grants public administration and policy, focusing Committee (UGC) for research in previous on critical issues such as institutional RAE. 3 The Programme Degree Title: Master of Public Administration (MPA) he Master of Public Administration (MPA), launched in 1978, was the first of its kind in Hong Kong. The programme is designed to provide quality professional education to students and prepare them for Tmanagerial and leadership roles in the public sector. No effort is spared to enhance our students’ educational experience. Apart from traditional classroom instruction, we include various dynamic interactive elements such as group projects, seminars and guest lectures. Distinguished international scholars are regularly invited to teach in our MPA programme. Our MPA students enjoy full campus facilities such as library (including loan service), computer centre, health service and sports amenities. In addition we offer the option of attending a course at Tsinghua University ( 清華大學 ) so that they can have greater exposure to China and the valuable learning experiences gained from residential education. The curriculum is designed to achieve the following objectives: Objectives Learning Outcomes Students should be able to: I. Acquire cutting edge 1. Demonstrate advanced capacity in critically k n o w l e d g e i n p u b l i c examining the knowledge and best practices administration and public in public administration and public policy policy 2. Reflect upon the relevance and limitations of the existing theoretical knowledge and practices II. Understand the changing 3. Identify and analyze the key socio-economic, institutional and political political and institutional factors shaping the contexts of public affairs public and non-profit sectors 4. Assess the impact of the changing regional and global contexts III. Examine the critical issues 5. Demonstrate a sophisticated understanding and possible solutions to the of the political and policy processes challenges in governance 6. Recognize the strengths and limitations of different policy instruments and institutional mechanisms 7. Analyze and design policy alternatives and strategies to address challenges in governance IV. Develop professional 8. Demonstrate competence in the theories and knowledge and core skills practices of management, communication needed to become effective and leadership critical to managing the managers and leaders in public and non-profit sectors managing public and non- 9. Enhance their collaborative and team profit organizations building skills in problem-solving and generating novel solutions to public issues 4 We are committed to offering an outstanding programme for candidates who are interested in advancing their careers in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Since the launch of the programme, we have continuously improved the curriculum and the entire programme design. Distinctive features of the programme include: 1. the only Master’s programme that provides an (optional) live-in course in Tsinghua University; 2. the extensive use of interactive teaching (such as debates, project presentations, seminars, simulations, and case teaching); 3. the inclusion of distinguished overseas academics to enhance the international nature of the programme; and 4. the involvement of senior professionals in the public, private and nonprofit sectors to share their insights and experience with students. Structure of the Programme PA is offered on a 2-year part-time or 1-year full-time basis. Students are required to complete eight taught courses and one dissertation/ capstone project (pending University approval) in order to graduate. MThe eight courses include four compulsory courses, and four courses from the lists of elective courses. The curriculum can be summarized as follows: Part-time Full-time Year 1 Semester 1 September POLI7002 + POLI7002 + October POLI8027 POLI8027 + November 2 Elective courses December Semester 2 January 2 Elective courses POLI8017 + February POLI8026 + March 2 Elective courses April May *Tsinghua live-in course *Tsinghua live-in course June July August Year 2 Semester 3 Dissertation Timeline September 2 Elective courses October November December Semester 4 January POLI8017 + February POLI8026 March April May to or Capstone Project [pending University approval] August * The optional Tsinghua course is available to students at additional cost. It lasts for about two weeks and will require time off work. The course is equivalent to POLI8008 Public Administration in China. 5 Course Details Course Lists (i) Compulsory courses list: POLI7002 Public administration: scope and issues POLI8012 Dissertation or POLI8028 Capstone Project (pending University approval) POLI8017 Workshop in public affairs POLI8026 Workshop in managerial skills POLI8027 Public administration in Hong Kong (ii) Elective courses list: (the offering of these courses varies in each academic year) POLI7001 Human resource management POLI7003 Public policy: issues and approaches POLI7004 Public management reform POLI8001 Bureaucracy and the public POLI8002 Ethics and public affairs POLI8003 Financial management POLI8004 Government and law POLI8005 Government and the economy POLI8006 Policy-making in China POLI8007 Policy problems in Hong Kong POLI8008 Public administration in China POLI8009 Policy design and analysis POLI8010 The state and urban policy POLI8011 A selected topic in public policy POLI8014 NGOs and governance POLI8018 Management information systems POLI8019 Comparative public administration reform POLI8020 Administrative research and programme evaluation POLI8021 Organization theory and management POLI8022 Comparative public policy POLI8023 A selected topic in public management POLI8024 China’s governance in the reform era POLI8025 Public administration in action Class Schedule The compulsory courses will be scheduled on Saturdays and elective courses on weekday