"Speaking Truth to Power"

Programs Offered

Master's Degree Program ( M.P.P. )

Course Structure for the MPP
Core Curriculum - First Year
Core Curriculum - Second Year
Elective Courses
Coordinated Degree Programs with Other Berkeley Schools

Overview

The MPP degree is earned in a two-year, full-time program consisting of a core curriculum, a policy internship in the summer after completion of the first year, a second-year policy analysis project, and elective courses chosen from those available on the campus (including but not limited to those offered by the School).

The program emphasizes practical and applied dimensions of policy-making and implementation, encouraging students to develop skills in:

Defining policy issues to make them more intelligible to officials in the public or private sector
Providing a broader perspective for assessing policy alternatives
Examining techniques for developing policy options and evaluating their social consequences
Developing strategies for the successful implementation of public policies once they have been adopted

Given the relatively small class size, the School's approach to teaching emphasizes teamwork, cooperation, and interaction among students and with the faculty. Students work, either as individuals or in small groups, on real policy problems for real “clients” under close faculty supervision.

More specifically, the curriculum is designed to enable students to achieve the following:

Skill in written communication and in verbal reporting
An understanding of political institutions and processes, strategies, and skills associated with policy creation and adoption
Knowledge of the organizational and bureaucratic structures involved in program development and implementation
Skill in application of economic analysis to questions of economic trade-off and policy choice and efficiency
Familiarity with cost-benefit analysis and other applications of quantitative analysis and modeling, as well as the use of statistical software
An understanding of social science methodologies for dealing with problems of data collection, analysis, and program evaluation
The ability to apply legal analysis where appropriate to the creation and implementation of public policy and to recognize the role of courts and administrative law in program development and implementation

Course Structure for the MPP

First Year
Fall	Spring
PP220 Law and Public Policy	PP200 Introduction to Policy Analysis
PP210A The Economics of Public Policy Analysis	PP210B The Economics of Public Policy Analysis
PP250 Political and Agency Management Aspects of Public Policy	Elective Course
PP240A Decision Analysis, Modeling, and Quantitative Methods	PP240B Decision Analysis, Modeling, and Quantitative Methods
Summer Policy Internship (required)
Second Year
Fall	Spring
PP260 Leadership & Strategy	PP205 Advanced Policy Analysis (Thesis Seminar)
Elective Course	PP299 Advanced Policy Analysis (Thesis Independent Study)
Elective Course	Elective Course

The Core Curriculum

First-Year Core Courses

The core courses emphasize practical applications of analytical skills and encourage students to “learn by doing” through numerous exercises and projects conducted in teams and individually. Fieldwork activities are also a part of the core curriculum, involving real clients, a written report, and oral briefings on the report. In addition, colloquia with outside speakers are frequently held that further examine some of the policy issues treated in the core courses.

Introduction to Policy Analysis. (PP200)

Students bring together the skills learned in other core courses working in teams to solve real-life problems for off-campus clients.

The 48-Hour Project:

Each year, first-year students write an “issue memo” to a postulated, but real, “client” about some issue they know little or nothing about and do so on a 48-hour deadline. Topics are developed by the faculty and assigned to students randomly. The exercise is intended to simulate a real-life work environment in which rapid-response and “land-on-your-feet” skills are at a premium. Designed by Professor Eugene Bardach of the GSPP faculty, the 48-hour project is an annual rite of passage signaling the beginning of the students’ second semester.

The Economics of Public Policy Analysis (PP210A-210B)

Concepts of microeconomic behavior of producers, consumers, and government agencies are applied to specific policy areas. The effects of policy alternatives are assessed by such criteria as the efficiency and equity of resource allocation, impact on income distribution, and effectiveness in achieving policy goals.

Law and Public Policy (PP220)

Materials including court decisions, legislation, and administrative regulations are used to examine important legal aspects of public policy. Legal research, interpretation and draftsmanship skills are developed. Relationships among lawmaking agencies and between law and policy are explored through specific cases.

Decision Analysis, Modeling, and Quantitative Methods (PP240A-240B)

Students learn and apply quantitative methods including cost-benefit analysis; statistical and econometric analysis of policy-relevant data; survey design and interpretation; and formal policy models based on decision theory.

Political and Agency Management Aspects of Public Policy (PP250)

Political and organizational factors involved in developing new policies, choosing among alternatives, gaining acceptance, assuring implementation, and coping with unanticipated consequences. Includes case studies, theoretical, empirical, and interpretative works from several disciplines.

Summer Policy Internship

Students are required to complete a policy internship during the summer between the first and second year of study. Students choose positions as apprentices to policy practitioners in international, federal, state, or local government agencies; non-profit organizations; or private sector corporations and consulting firms; in the United States and abroad. Students enrolled in concurrent degrees with Public Health and Law are exempt from this requirement, since they are already required to do a summer internship with their concurrent degree program.

Student Internships, Summer 2008:
Public Sector	45%
Federal Government	46%
State Government	11%
Local Government	37%
International Governmental Organizations	6%
Non-Profit Sector	42%
Domestic Non-Profits	56%
International Non-Profits	44%
Private Sector	13%

The Core Curriculum

Second-Year Core Courses

Leadership & Strategy (PP260)

This course is designed to acquaint students with the basic principles and practices of leadership – defined as the ability to focus an organization's or a public's attention on common problems and to mobilize necessary energy and resources to solve or ameliorate them. The course is also designed to help students develop their own capacities for leadership. We will be examining public agencies and not-for-profit organizations, advocacy groups, and individual “change agents,” all seeking either to improve service delivery, institute new policies, or empower those who need more voice.

Advanced Policy Analysis (PP205, PP299)

The second year comprises two required courses, Advanced Policy Analysis (APA) and Political and Organizational Aspects of Public Policy Analysis, plus a number of electives.

The APA project is an intensive study of a significant policy issue of the student’s choice. The project is often done for a specific client in a public or private policy organization, and sometimes the student is paid for the work. For some students, the project is an outgrowth of the summer internship or may lead to a post graduation position with the client organization.

Students conduct their projects as members of an APA seminar, which provides them with a faculty supervisor and a peer group able to supply constructive suggestions. When the completed analysis is found satisfactory by the faculty, it then serves as the student’s required thesis. Frequently, the specific policy recommendations made in these analyses have been adopted by the student’s client.

The Following List of APA Titles, Drawn From Projects Completed During Recent Years, Illustrates the Range and Variety of Suitable Projects:

Countering Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man: The relative Efficacy of Anti-Smoking Ads
Cracking Down on Identity Theft: new Challenges for Law Enforcement Agencies
Designing Local Welfare-to-Work Systems: Federal Funding Options
Pros and Cons of Privatizing Solid Waste Collection Services in Mexico
The Costs and Benefits of Job Training in the Elder Care Market
Analysis of Frequent Winners in Small Business: A Case Study of Californian Firms
Health Information and the Internet: Protecting Consumer Privacy Online
Poverty Alleviation in Rural Nicaragua
Ensuring Contraceptive Supply in Ethiopia and Sudan: The Role of the Packard Foundation Population Program
Reducing Waiting Time in Public Hospitals in Hong kong: Private Insurance Approach
Controlling Street Prostitution in Oakland: What the Oakland Police Department Can Do to Improve Current Law Enforcement Policies
Supporting California’s Wildlife: An Evaluation of Funding Alternatives for California's Department of Fish and Game.
Raising Low Pay in a High Income Economy: The Economics of a San Francisco Municipal Minimum Wage
Re-examining the Property Tax reassessment for Commercial Properties
Children of Arrested Parents: Strategies to Ensure Their Safety and Well-Being
Russia’s regional nuclear Warhead Storage Facilities: Problems and Solutions
Safe Routes to School: Where exactly are we going?
Delinquency Risk Assessment: Improving the Performance of Home Mortgages
Addressing California's Overcrowded Schools: Equity in the State’s Distribution of Funds for School Construction
Fuel-Efficient replacement Tires: Guidelines for Transforming the Marketplace
Housing voucher Portability in Alameda County: A Caseload Analysis of Clients and Cost Pressures
Estimating the External Costs of Driving in San Francisco
The Emergency Food Assistance Program in California: Opportunities for Reform

Elective Courses

Most of the students’ second-year program consists of elective courses of individual choice relevant to the study of public policy. The School provides students with information on course possibilities around the campus, and each student determines a set of courses in consultation with a faculty adviser.

Students can choose electives from the full array of courses offered by Berkeley’s academic departments and professional schools and colleges, as well as courses taught by GSPP faculty. With nearly 300 degree programs, Berkeley offers opportunities for advanced study in a vast range of fields.

The following list, far from exhaustive, indicates some of the courses of particular relevance for public policy students:

Energy and Resources Group: Energy and Society; The Politics of Energy and Environmental Policy; Energy Economics.
Department of Economics: Economics of Public Enterprises; Public Finance.
Department of Political Science: Public Organization Theory; Public Policy and Decision Theory; The Politics of Taxation; Science and Politics.
Department of City and Regional Planning: The Urban Planning Process; Planning and Governmental Decision-Making; Introduction to Housing Analysis; Community Development Theory and Practice; Policy Analysis and Program Evaluation for Social Planning.
School of Education: Education Policy Analysis; Education and the Law; Organizational Aspects of Planning and Regulation; Economics of Education; Education, Politics and Government.
School of Public Health: New Boundaries for Health Policy and Planning; Legislation and Organization for Health and Social Services; Organization Theory and Health Institutions.
School of Social Welfare: Social Policy and Social Welfare; Development of Social Service Programs; Processes of Community Planning and Organizing; The Management Cycle in Social Welfare Administration.
School of Business Administration: Business and Public Policy; Management in the Public and Not-for-Profit Sectors; Labor-Management Relations in the Public and Nonprofit Sectors; Collective Bargaining; The Interaction of Business and Government.
Public and Nonprofit Management: Various colleges and schools on campus offer courses in this area such as: Public Sector Accounting; Financial Management; Managers and Management; Techniques of Management Control; Organizational Understanding for Managers; Advanced Seminar in Public and Nonprofit Management; Applied Microeconomics; Technology, Tasks and Politics; Organizational Skills for Managers; Information Resource Management; Management of Professionals in Organizations. For more information, call the GSPP Admissions Office at (510) 642-1940.
GSPP Elective courses offered by GSPP also provide opportunities for focused study in specific policy fields. Most courses are taught by regular GSPP faculty and some by visiting faculty, often policy practitioners. See the section on graduate electives for details.

For detailed descriptions of these and other electives, please consult the online General Catalog.

Concurrent Degree Programs with Other Berkeley Schools

The Master in Public Policy may be earned in combination with an advanced degree from the following Berkeley schools under a coordinated program:

Public Policy and Public Health (M.P.P./M.P.H.)

Students may pursue a concurrent degree program in Public Policy and Health Policy and Management, which requires approximately three years. The program combines the development of basic policy skills with an in-depth understanding of health policy in the public and private sectors. For application instructions, please visit the School of Public Health website at http://sph.berkeley.edu/admissions/apply.html. For further information, contact John W. Ellwood, director of the Concurrent Degree Program in Health Policy or the GSPP Admissions Office at (510) 642-1940.

Program Requirements:

The Health and Public Policy Program leading to the MPP/MPH degree has five major components:

One year of course work in GSPP.

Required courses in public policy include: Introduction to Policy Analysis, Microeconomics, Politics of Organizations, Quantitative Methods, and Law and Public Policy
One year of course work in the Graduate School of Public Health (students may select an area of concentration from among Health Policy and Management, Environmental Health Sciences, and Maternal and Child Health).

Required courses include: Introduction to Public Health, Epidemiology, Environmental Health, Health Policy and Management, Public Health Biology, and specific course in each concentration
Participation in the Fall Health and Public Policy Seminars
A six-month full-time internship in health policy
An advanced health policy analysis.

Career Opportunities

Both the School of Public Health and GSPP assist students in career planning and in locating summer, six-month and permanent positions. For the six-month residency, program staff work with each student individually to match learning objectives and career interests with an appropriate residency placement.

Graduates of the program often receive multiple job offers. Numerous career opportunities are available to individuals with MPP/MPH degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. Some graduates will assume research and policy analysis positions in federal and state governmental agencies, including staff to members of Congress, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Congressional Budget Office, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and state health agencies. Some graduates are employed in research and consulting organizations, HMO’s, health care corporations, health advocacy groups, private foundations, and health care associations.

Admission Requirements

A distinguished undergraduate record and a strong quantitative aptitude are required for admission to the Health and Public Policy Program. Although previous experience is not required, preference is given to applicants who have had some work experience in health policy, either during or after completing a bachelor’s degree. Applicants are expected to have taken the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) with a test date within five years of the date of the application. In addition to the GRE, applicants whose native language is not English must take Test of English Language (TOEFL).

Admission requirements include:

Bachelor’s or higher degree from an accredited college or university.
Grade point average of 3.0 or better (on a 4-point scale) in upper division undergraduate course work.
At least one college course in three of the following areas: anthropology, history, political science, psychology, sociology, or economics.
Adequate preparation in the biological, physical, or social sciences.

New students are admitted only in the Fall semester. Students must be admitted to both the School of Public Health and the Goldman School of Public Policy. All admissions are administered through the School of Public Health.

Public Policy and Law (M.P.P./J.D.)

Students may pursue a concurrent degree in law and public policy, which requires four years. At the end of the program the student will have earned both an MPP and a JD degree. The program requires separate application and admission to the University of California School of Law at Berkeley (Boalt Hall) and the Goldman School of Public Policy. To obtain program materials for the School of Law please write Admissions Office, School of Law, 5 Boalt Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-7200 or call (510) 642-2274. For further information contact the GSPP Admissions Office.

Guidelines For Concurrent Degree Students in Law and Public Policy

Students may elect to spend the first year at Boalt Hall or at GSPP. In either event, students spend their remaining years in residence at both schools. Students applying for admission to Boalt Hall may also apply to GSPP during the first semester in residence at Boalt or vice versa. Here is a brief description of the procedures associated with the MPP/JD concurrent degree program.

The First Year and Second Years

First-year students in the concurrent program have the option in enrolling at either GSPP or Boalt Hall. If enrolled at GSPP, students take the first year core curriculum; if enrolled at Boalt, students take the same sequence of required law courses as other JD candidates. The third and fourth years consist of jointly approved mix of law and GSPP courses meeting the overall degree requirement of GSPP and Boalt Hall.

Special Law Student Option During the First Year at GSPP

With one exception, concurrent degree candidates who have spent their first year at Boalt will take the same sequence of courses in their first year at GSPP as other MPP candidates. Students who have already spent a year at Boalt may not be required to take the GSPP course in Law and Public Policy (PP 220). They may instead, in consultation with the Law and Public Policy instructor, either (1) enroll for the course, (2) perform independent research on an agreed topic, or (3) take another GSPP elective or another approved elective on the Berkeley campus.

The Third and Fourth Years

A student will complete his/her MPP program by the end of the third year or fourth year by successfully completing the Advanced Policy Analysis (PP 205, PP 299), a minimum of 12 units of policy-relevant law courses, and one additional public policy course. To complete the JD program, the student must satisfy the remaining 50 semester units required by the law degree (8 of which are satisfied by GSPP courses).

Career Opportunities

The majority of students graduating with an MPP/JD degree accept positions as attorneys or associates in private law firms. Some graduates assume legal positions in federal agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Others go on to secure higher positions in judiciary branches of local, state, and federal governments. A small percentage use both degrees to work in federal, state, and local agencies, as well as private and non-profit organizations.

Admission Requirements

Applicants are expected to have taken both the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). In addition, applicants whose native language is not English must take Test of English Language (TOEFL).

Neither the Goldman School of Public Policy nor the School of Law require or even recommend any specific undergraduate major. Applicants with varied backgrounds and training enhance and enrich the educational experience of all students.

Students in a position to structure their curricula might do the following: develop skills in communication, both written and verbal, take courses in which written work is vigorously edited; develop analytical and problem-solving skills; obtain breadth in humanities and social sciences in order to understand the social context within which legal problems arise; and acquire a general understanding of economics because a significant number of legal problems are related to the economic functioning of the society. In selecting specific courses, consultation with an undergraduate adviser may be desirable.

Public Policy and Engineering (M.P.P./M.S.)

Government and technology interact more, and with greater consequences, every year. Whether the issue area is environmental protection, intellectual property (copyright and the internet), health care, water supply, or any of myriad other contexts, government agencies at all levels, non-profit organizations and private industry need people who understand technology on its own terms and also the ways government supports, controls, or directs it.

The Goldman School offers a concurrent degree program with the College of Engineering that allows a student admitted to both schools to receive the MS and MPP degrees in two years including a summer internship, or the M.Eng and MPP in three. Students in the MS/MPP program ordinarily take the first year core program of GSPP, and in their second year write a large paper that satisfies both the MS thesis requirement and the MPP APA requirement, and take electives mostly in the College of Engineering (18 units) plus six units of electives agreeable to both schools.

Because this program is small and students are admitted to specific departments of the College of Engineering, each student’s program tends to be customized with the agreement of advisors in both programs.

Applicants for the concurrent program must apply separately to the Goldman School and the engineering department of their choice, and should indicate on both applications their interest in the concurrent program. The units may communicate about these applications while considering them, but admission decisions are independent and it is possible to be admitted to one and not the other program.

For more information about this program, contact Michael O’Hare, Professor of Public Policy at (510) 642-7576 or Masayoshi Tomizuka (Tomi), Cheryl and John Neerhout, Jr., Distinguished Professor, College of Engineering at (510) 642-0870. Note that the two to three MPP/MS students are a tiny fraction of students in the very large College of Engineering and the program may be unfamiliar to many of its staff and faculty.

Public Policy and International and Area Studies (M.P.P./M.A.)

This concurrent program has been established for students interested in the development of their skills and methodological sophistication in international studies. Concurrent degree students complete the MPP/MA in three years, including a summer internship. Students are invited to apply to the International and Area Studies program after enrollment at the Goldman School of Public Policy. They must have at least one year remaining in public policy at the time of their application to the MA program. Students applying for admission to the IAS program should be aware of the requirement of demonstrated proficiency in a modern foreign language and a demonstrated strong background in economics and politics. For further information, contact International and Area Studies at (510) 642-4466 or (510) 643-4159 or the GSPP Admissions Office at (510) 642-1940.

Courses

Students may organize their course work around either a topical or an area concentration.

A topic-oriented program concentrates on selected aspects of current international affairs. Course work might combine studies in economics, political science, and contemporary history and could focus on international, transnational, or global issues such as trade, investment, security, communications, environment, multiculturalism, or migration.

An area-oriented program would focus either on a major country or region of the world and have a strong historical and cultural dimension. An area-focused program might call for work in regional history, anthropology, geography, and sociology.

All students must demonstrate a strong grounding in economics and politics. Students who have not completed equivalent course work prior to entering the program must take Fundamentals of Economic Theory (Econ 200 A&B), and at least one graduate level course in political science such as Theories of Development and Political Change (PS202 A&B); The Nation-Building Process (PS205); Comparative Political Economy (PS209 A&B); or International Political Economy (PS226 A&B).

Minimum Requirements for the Degree

A minimum of 24 units of coursework, independent of courses undertaken for the professional or Ph.D. degree is required. At least twelve of the minimum 24 units must be graduate-level course work. All courses must be outside the professional school or department in which the student registered.

Demonstrated proficiency in a modern foreign language relevant to the focus of the program of study equivalent to the completion of four college-level semesters of basic language study. None of the courses taken to fulfill this requirement count toward the degree. A maximum of four units of advanced language courses, if relevant to the focus of the student’s program, may count toward the degree.

A written or oral comprehensive exam based on program of courses.

How to Apply

Applications are to be submitted by graduate students during the spring semester of their first year of study. Students in degree programs requiring more than two years may apply in the spring semester of their last year of work.