MASTER PROGRAMME: SCIENCES PO, FRANCE

The leading French Institute’s Master Programme in Public Affairs lasts for two years and provides knowledge and analytical skills with regard to public affairs at the local, national and global levels, with an emphasis on comparative perspective. It includes courses in economics, quantitative analysis, political science, organizational sociology and public management. The Master Programme curriculum was reorganised and changed for the 2012/2013 academic years.

Originally lectures were organised into seven thematic groups: the first - Organizations and Leadership (with disciplines: Situating Ourselves in Complex Settings; Scenario Planning; Management of Organizational and Institutional Conflict; Transnational Collective Action; Organizational Leadership and Ethics; the second - Methods for Policy Making (Statistical and data-Analysis for Policymakers; Seminar on qualitative research methods), the third - Policy and Politics which includes disciplines: State Restructuring and Political Change; Governing by Delegation; Comparative Public Management; From Analysis to Policy; Comparative Politics of Policy Reform; the fourth – Economics (Microeconomics for Public Policy; International Macroeconomics and Policy Making; Globalization: theory and evidence; Public finance and financial management; Research methods; the fifth thematic group Law (Global Management and Conflict Resolution beyond the State; Global Dimensions of Democracy and the Rule of Law); the sixth Policy-making in Transition (Policymaking in Transition: tools and strategies; European Union / Asia in a comparative perspective; Trade and development in Low Income Countries) and seventh Critical Policy Challenge" includes the following disciplines: Environmental Policy; Innovation Management in a Globalizing Knowledge Economy; The Role of Innovation and Innovation Policy in Economic Development Strategies; Risk Governance; International Health; Economic and Territorial Development; Human Security; Global Governance for Sustainable Development; Comparative and Global Social Policy and Governance of Welfare States; Generation of Individual Action in Synchrony/Asynchrony with Public Policy.

In 2013 the training programme was organised in four semesters as each contains basic elective disciplines and the implementation of a research project. The first semester includes the following compulsory disciplines: Situating Ourselves in Complex Settings; Statistics and Data Analysis for Policymakers - part 1; State Recruiting and Policy Change: government and governance; Microeconomics for Public Policy; International Macroeconomics and Policy Making; Foundational Proseminar: Understanding Ourselves as Public Affairs Actors. Elective courses are as follows: Complexity Science: New Ways of Thinking for Policy makers; Policy-Making in Transition: Tools and Strategies; East Asian Political Economy in Transition; Trade and development in Low Income Countries; European Union/Asia in a comparative perspective.

Education in the second semester covers the following basic subjects: Study trip; Governing by Delegation; Comparative Public Management; Statistics and data Analysis for Policymakers, second level); Microeconomics for Public Policy – Level 2); International Macroeconomics and Policy Making - Level 2; Microeconomics for Public Policy, level 3). Elective disciplines (study courses) are: Management of Organizational and Institutional Conflict; From Аnalysis to Policy; Transnational Collective Action; International Health; Global Dimensions of Democracy and the Rule of Law; Scenario Planning; Capstone project.

The third semester includes the following compulsory subjects: Globalization: theory and evidence; Elective modules (one out of two disciplines) - Risk Governance; Multilevel Economic Governance; Global Governance for Sustainable Development; Economic and Territorial Development; Comparative and Global Social Policy and Governance; Human Security. Elective subjects: Complexity Science: New Ways of Thinking for Policy makers; Policy-Making in Transition: Tools and Strategies; Trade and Development in Low Income Countries; East Asian Political Economy in Transition; European Union / Asia in a comparative perspective; Capstone project.

The curriculum for the last fourth semester includes mandatory lectures in Public Finance and Financial Management and the election of a study course from two groups: a) First group: Risk Governance; Multilevel Economic Governance; Global Governance for Sustainable Development; Economic and Territorial Development; Comparative and Global Social Policy and Governance; Human Security; Second group: Management of Organizational and Institutional Conflict; From Analysis to Policy; Transnational Collective Action; International Health; Global Dimensions of Democracy and the Rule of Law; Scenario Planning.

Master programme curriculum changes taken only in one year reflect the new realities of the national state, regional and global levels and that require new ways of thinking and action. Some disciplines are dropped out and other, new ones appear. The new disciplines are: East Asian Political Economy in Transition; State Recruiting and Policy Change: government and governance; Complexity Science: New Ways of Thinking for Policy Makers. Instead of the seminar dedicated to qualitative research methods, a new seminar has been introduced - Foundational Proseminar: Understanding Ourselves as Public Affairs Actors. Lecture courses such as Organizational Leadership and Ethics, Managing Innovation in Globalised Knowledge Economy, Generation of Individual Action in Synchrony/Asynchrony with Public Policy dropped out