• Summer Internships
• MPA/ID Policy Tracks
• Second Year Policy Analysis

Curriculum

Harvard Kennedy School Curriculum

Teaching and Learning at HKS

Classes at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (HKS) are taught by the case method, the more traditional lecture format, or a mixture of both. Students work together in small groups on projects and will have assistance from course assistants, teaching fellows, and faculty members in a collaborative and non-competitive working environment.

Methodological Areas at HKS

The HKS curriculum is built around the concept that future leaders and policy makers need to be adept in analytical, management, and leadership skills in order to serve the public good. The three foundational methodological areas at HKS are:

• Quantitative Analysis
• Strategic Management
• Leadership and Advocacy

Whether as distribution requirements for graduation or as part of a core curriculum, these three areas are the foundation upon which the HKS education is built. No matter what policy area students focus on while studying, HKS graduates depart the school with a powerful complement of skill to increase their effectiveness in working in their chosen field.

Policy Areas at HKS

Teaching and research at HKS are organized around a framework of policy areas that reflect the evolving research of the HKS faculty, the needs of policy makers, and the interests of the HKS student body. Please see HKS Policy Areas for listing.

MPA/ID Curriculum

MPA/ID students take microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics sequences that are taught at the same level as first-year courses in top PhD programs in economics, but with an emphasis on policy applications to development over pure theory.

In addition, they take a demanding set of core courses in legal and political institutions, governance, management, and the theory and policy of economic development. Thus they are fully steeped in multidisciplinary approaches to development problems.

Finally, MPA/ID students gain professional expertise through case workshops, a required summer internship, a substantial second-year policy analysis, and elective coursework in specific fields of development.

In short, the MPA/ID program is built on three pillars: (i) PhD-level training in economics and quantitative methods; (ii) multidisciplinary approach through coursework on governance, politics and law, and management; and (iii) professional orientation through case workshops, a summer internship, and other integrative work.

MPA/ID Core

The MPA/ID program requires two years (four terms) of full-time study at HKS.  The first year is dedicated to courses especially designed for this program, which introduce students to the main economic, quantitative, political, and managerial tools needed by analysts and leaders in the area of development.

The rigorous core of required courses includes:

• Advanced Microeconomic Analysis I & II
• Advanced Macroeconomics for the Open Economy I & II
• Advanced Quantitative Methods I & II: Statistics and Econometrics
• Economic Development: Theory, Policy, and Evidence
• Law and Legal Institutions in Development
• Getting Things Done: Management in a Development Context
• Choice: Innovations in Democratic Governance: Solving Public Problems, or Understanding Democracy Through History, or Good Governance and Democratization, or The Politics of Development Policy
• Applications and Cases in International Development I
• Case Workshop in International Development II
• Second Year Policy Analysis

See the chronological listing of the core courses for detailed information on the degree requirements.

Electives

The goal of the second year of the MPA/ID is to broaden the students' knowledge in the field and to deepen their understanding of a major area of development practice. Students are given wide latitude to choose their six electives. They develop the ability to apply the theoretical and empirical tools learned in their first-year core courses to a policy track which they have chosen based on their professional and career interests. The three policy tracks are:

• National and international economic policies
• Sectoral policies and programs
• Private sector development and its regulation

Additional electives may be chosen from the broad array of courses available at HKS or through cross-registration with other graduate schools at Harvard University or MIT.

Summer Internships

MPA/ID students spend the summer between their first and second years working on a development project, usually in a developing or transitional economy country as part of an experienced team. Students may arrange their own internships or select from project descriptions from participating agencies. Students are encouraged to do internships in areas of the world which are new to them.

To learn more, click on MPA/ID Summer Internships.

Second Year Policy Analysis

The Second Year Policy Analysis (SYPA) is an integral part of the MPA/ID program. Designed to serve as the student's final "thesis," the SYPA offers students the opportunity to apply the skills acquired during the program and integrate their learning from the core courses while investigating a policy problem of their choosing. The SYPA is intended to provide a conceptualization and analysis of a policy problem, recommendations for action, and an assessment of the implementation of those recommendations. For many students, it is also an opportunity to extend and deepen the work undertaken during the summer internship. The definition of the research agenda, collection of data, quantitative and qualitative analysis, development of conclusions, and writing of the final paper will be supervised by the student’s SYPA advisor and the SYPA seminar leader.