SCIENCESPO SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

1. Master in Public Policy

The Master in Public Policy is a two-year degree designed to prepare future professionals of public affairs for a great diversity of careers worldwide. 

Anchored in social sciences, with a focus on exploring the intersection between public affairs and cutting-edge technologies, it develops an emphasis on policy and decision making 2.0. 

The curriculum is built around a thorough core module in public economics, public policy, ethics, technology, management, international governance and law, with a choice of a multitude of electives that examine current policy debates with insights from academics and practitioners. In all of these core courses, the teaching fuses frontier research and pedagogical innovation to equip new actors to harness today's increasing complexities and to surmount the boundaries of clustered knowledge.

The School offers multiple policy streams for students to specialize in critical policy challenges.

• Administration publique
• Cultural Policy and Management
• Digital, New Technology and Public Policy
• Economics and Public Policy
• Energy, Resources and Sustainability
• Global Health
• Management of Public Affairs
• Politics and Public Policy
• Regulatory Policy
• Social Policy and Social Innovation

Students also choose courses among a broad offer of electives.

Starting in the academic year 2016-2017, a policy lab will give students the opportunity to collaborate with clients to co-develop and test practical solutions for public policy challenges in the field. This culture of innovation and exploration is the cornerstone of SciencesPo’s philosophy.

The Master in Public Policy curriculum is rounded off by the inclusion of:

• Two courses chosen among Sciences Po's hallmark common core curriculum
• Sciences Po's "in house" language courses.
• The personal project semester (internship, academic exchange, thesis, individual project)
• The final oral exam, Sciences Po's "grand oral

2. Master in European Affairs

The Master in European Affairs offers a comprehensive programme of instruction for students keen to embark on European careers, whether in the European or national public sector or in the private sector. It brings together students from over 35 countries and a faculty with the same multicultural profile, comprised of academics, researchers and European or French civil servants, together with the best practitioners from the European "galaxy".

The objectives of this Master are to educate specialists in European questions able to adapt easily to a multicultural environment. Classes are in English; however, students may choose to follow a bilingual study programme. The Master is therefore open to applicants who do not have a high level of French; however, during the two-year programme, students will attend French language courses to improve their level. The Master in European Affairs also offers a wide choice of double degree programmes

The curriculum is built around a thorough core module on Public Economics and on the Economics of European Integration, the Political System of the European Union in a time of crisis and the Constitutional Foundations of the EU including both the Actors, the Processes, the Principles and the Tools of EU Law as well as the Law of the Internal Market, with a choice of electives that examine current policy debates with insights from academics and practitioners.

During the first semester, students will start specializing in one of the policy streams offered :

• Economics and Public Policy
• Energy, Resources and Sustainability
• Politics and Public Policy
• Regulatory Policy
• Europe in the world

The knowledge and competences in the chosen field will be based on a progressive learning.

Starting with one course in the first semester, students, during the second and the third semester, will attend an increasing number of courses of the policy stream, deepening the knowledge and competences in the chosen field. The cases analysis of the third semester will allow students to develop different skills on the basis of their specialization they have chosen and of the professional project they are building. Negotiations games (decision making processes, budget) will also enrich the pedagogical offer, allowing students to simulate procedures and power balance between European institutions and Member States. Participating actively to those simulations, students will acquire analysis tools and leading and management methods through a unique collective experience.

During the fourth semester students will have a concrete experience to round off the program. Students may choose between an internship, a policy project, studying at a partner university or writing a thesis, depending on their professional project.

During the two years, students will be accompanied in the construction of their professional project. Starting the first semester, students will have an active role in a workshop on European careers which is based on roundtables with professionals of European Affairs who share with the students their experience and their career path, helping students to define their professional project. During the second semester, a trip to Luxembourg and Brussels enables a full immersion of the students of the Master into the life of European institutions which have been studied in many courses, but also to approach other actors of the great Brussels's galaxy.

During their two years at Sciences Po, students can attend the CPCE to prepare the EPSO selection to become EU civil servant.

3. Master in Public Affairs

1-year Master for mid-career professionals

The Master in Public Affairs (MPA) is Sciences Po's flagship full-time one-year programme for mid-career professionals interested in public policy and the interaction of public and private sectors. It prepares students for today's policy environment which is co-developed, co-produced and co-managed by empowered individuals.

The programme focuses on policy design and implementation as well as on the management of public affairs, and introduces participants to real-world policy problems. Graduates will be equipped with new skills to navigate between local and global perspectives, and from public-private partnerships to international organisations and civil society. In particular, the MPA will:

• Foster their analytical capacity through a multidisciplinary approach
• Develop their managerial skills, with a focus on leadership, negotiation, crisis communication, decision-making and budgeting
• Equip graduates with a multidimensional and panoramic vision of public affairs that embraces a plurality of values, ethics and cultural contexts.

The MPA emphasizes interdisciplinary analytical tools and hands-on training workshops. It uses case studies and relies on the experience and the diversity of the student body. A high level of interaction is enabled by the small size of the class (the programme enrols 25 to 30 students per year).

Students are also engaged in a policy lab exercise, which gives them the opportunity to collaborate with clients to co-develop and test solutions for public policy challenges in the field.

Structure and Curriculum

• One-week orientation period in August to refresh students' quantitative skills, to introduce major policy issues which will be discussed throughout the year, and to launch their individual projects.
• Fall Semester consisting of two core courses*, Politics of Policy Making and Economics of Public Policy, one common core curriculum course and two elective courses.
• Two-week session in January to develop practical skills.
• Spring semester consisting of two core courses, Policy Implementation and Leadership & Organizational Change, combined with two elective courses, and the Policy Lab.
• Summer semester consisting of advanced courses and focusing on developing practical leadership and management skills.

Students can specialize by choosing courses in the following policy streams

• Administration publique
• Cultural Policy and Management
• Digital, New Technology and Public Policy
• Economics and Public Policy
• Energy, Resources and Sustainability
• Global Health
• Management of Public Affairs
• Social Policy and Social Change

Courses can also be chosen amont the offer of electives.

In addition to the above, students may choose to enrol in a language course. Non-French speakers are particularly encouraged to enrol in French language classes.

The overall required number of credits is 82 ECTS (or 20.5 standard Sciences Po courses).

*Standard courses at Sciences Po are 24 contact hours (12 sessions of 2 hours, over 12 weeks) with about the same number of hours of work outside the classroom. One 24 hour-class is worth 4 ECTS credits.

4. Dual Degrees

Sciences Po has created several partnerships in the field of public affairs in order to offer the following duals degrees. 

The School of Public Affairs has developed the following dual degree programmes with four partner institutions of the Global Public Policy Network.

• SciencesPo/Institute of Public Affairs at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
• SciencesPo/School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University, New York
• SciencesPo/ Hertie School of Governance in Berlin
• SciencesPo/Graduate School of Public Policy (GraSPP) at the University of Tokyo

Dual degrees in English

• SciencesPo/University of St. Gallen (Switzerland)
• SciencesPo/University Luigi Bocconi (Italy)

Dual degrees in French

• SciencesPo/HEC Paris (France)- Corporate and Public Management
• SciencesPo/Ecole du Louvre (France)

Skills Development Focus

• Behavioural Management
• Communication
• Crisis Communication
• Digital Transformation of Organizations
• Financial Management
• Leadership
• Management of Information System
• Negotiation
• Organization
• Private-Public Partnership
• Public Budgeting
• Public Decision-Making
• Public Management
• Regulation
• Strategic Management
• Values, Ethics and Cultural Contexts