Public Administration

The Master of Public Administration M.P.A. degree emphasizes professional education for future public service leaders. By offering a variety of fields in which a student can gain substantive focus while obtaining training in public administration and policy, the dregee responds to the needs of tomorrow’s managers and policy analysts. Students have access to Syracuse University’s graduate courses as well as those at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Working with advisors, students have ample opportunity to create an individualized appropriate programs of study.

MPA Degree Overview

The degree requires a residency of 12 to 18 months. All students begin the program in early July. Full-time students complete the program the following June.

The MPA degree requires 40 credits of coursework. 25 of these credits satisfy core requirements, ensuring proficiency in economics, quantitative analysis, organization and management theory, public budgeting and finance, and the political context of public management.

Additional elective coursework satisfies the remaining 15 credits. These elective courses may be selected from the public administration and international affairs department, other Maxwell School social science departments, or elsewhere in the University.

Degree requirements are flexible enough to allow a student to design a program in state and local government, financial management and analysis, public and nonprofit management, international development administration, environmental policy and administration, international and national security policy, health management and policy, and social policy while completing the MPA core requirements.