Throughput rate of the Master of Public Administration students at the University of South Africa from 2005-2014
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Authors
Ngele, Diakanyo Thakane Lynette
Issue Date
2019-01-31
Type
Dissertation
Language
en
Keywords
Master of Public Administration , Throughput rate , Students , Curriculum , Qualification , Admission
Alternative Title
Abstract
The Master of Public Administration (MPA) originated in 1909 and is offered by
universities in most countries around the world. It has been written about extensively by
various authors. The MPA is primarily focused on educating practicing public servants to
perform their day-to-day work in a manner that is informed by a broad understanding of
relevant conceptual perspectives for the work they do (McSwite, 2011:111).
A critical aspect related to the success of the MPA is the throughput rate of students. The
concept ‘throughput’ has earned its place in academia due to the ever-increasing turnaround
time for students completing their qualification, so the question surrounding
throughput is no longer “should we accommodate it”, but rather, “how do we
accommodate it?” In this instance, it can be formulated as “how do we accommodate
students to complete the MPA?”
The purpose of this study was therefore to investigate the throughput rate of MPA
students at Unisa. The study includes an extensive and in-depth review of scholarly
literature on the MPA qualification, as well as an analysis of the curriculum used by
various higher education institutions. In addition, it includes statistical data analysis, and
the researcher’s verification of the current throughput rate of the MPA qualification at
Unisa.
This research found that there is indeed a low throughput rate for the MPA qualification
at Unisa. Although this research is specific to the Department of Public Administration
and Management at Unisa, its findings pertain to any university offering the MPA.