MSc Public Policy and Administration

This programme offers high-quality teaching by leading scholars in public administration, public management, public policy and political science.

You will take a compulsory course in Approaches and Issues in Public Policy and Administration and will choose from a number of courses in the areas of public management and public policy, in addition to a methods course, and completing a dissertation. By taking appropriate combinations of courses you can obtain the MSc with a specialised stream in Comparative Public Policy and Administration or Public Management, and can choose to have the specialisation noted on your degree certificate.

Teaching methods

LSE is internationally recognised for its teaching and research and therefore employs a rich variety of teaching staff with a range of experience and status. Courses may be taught by individual members of faculty, such as lecturers, senior lecturers, readers, associate professors and professors. Many departments now also employ guest teachers and visiting members of staff, LSE teaching fellows and graduate teaching assistants who are usually doctoral research students and in the majority of cases, teach on undergraduate courses only.

Assessment

All taught courses are required to include formative coursework which is unassessed. It is designed to help prepare you for summative assessment which counts towards the course mark and to the degree award. LSE uses a range of formative assessment, such as essays, problem sets, case studies, reports, quizzes, mock exams and many others. Summative assessment may be conducted during the course or by final examination at the end of the course.

Careers

Graduates of this programme follow careers in a broad variety of fields including education, public policy research, advice and consultancy as well as government and the media. They have gone on to occupy senior positions in a range of organisations including the Financial Times, the National Audit Office, Morgan Stanley, the World Bank, leading universities and research institutes worldwide as well as the national, regional and local civil services of many countries.