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 curriculum on which the various universities and other interest groups within a specific country agree. This article considers the possibility of a core curriculum for a MPA programme that would address the intellectual, educational and practical needs and demands of a public official functioning in the context of a developmental state such as South Africa. The research for this article includes a survey of scholarly literature on the MPA and on curriculum development, a study of curriculum documents of the various Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) offering the MPA (or related) programmes in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, an analysis of the generic core management criteria and standards for the Senior Management Service (SMS) of the South African Public Service (South Africa 2006), and inputs obtained from several Public Administration academics. This article confirms that it is indeed possible to identify core modules with related competencies for a MPA programme in a developmental state such as South Africa, and proposes the following modules as part of such a core curriculum: government in a developmental state; leadership and management in a changing public environment; public financial management; public policies for solving service delivery challenges; master the designing of a research project and the writing of a research proposal; master the writing of a dissertation under supervision to solve problems which need scientific solutions.