A core curriculum for a Master of Public Administration (MPA) qualification: Some considerations for a developmental state

Abstract

The Master of Public Administration (MPA) seems to lack a core \ncurriculum on which the various universities and other interest groups \nwithin a specific country agree. This article considers the possibility \nof a core curriculum for a MPA programme that would address the \nintellectual, educational and practical needs and demands of a public \nofficial functioning in the context of a developmental state such as \nSouth Africa. The research for this article includes a survey of scholarly \nliterature on the MPA and on curriculum development, a study of \ncurriculum documents of the various Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) \noffering the MPA (or related) programmes in South Africa, Australia and \nNew Zealand, an analysis of the generic core management criteria and \nstandards for the Senior Management Service (SMS) of the South African \nPublic Service (South Africa 2006), and inputs obtained from several \nPublic Administration academics. This article confirms that it is indeed \npossible to identify core modules with related competencies for a MPA \nprogramme in a developmental state such as South Africa, and proposes \nthe following modules as part of such a core curriculum: government in \na developmental state; leadership and management in a changing public \nenvironment; public financial management; public policies for solving \nservice delivery challenges; master the designing of a research project \nand the writing of a research proposal; master the writing of a dissertation \nunder supervision to solve problems which need scientific solutions.

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