Across the globe, the challenges faced by those charged with the implementation of public policy are growing all the time. Governments at local, regional and national levels are having to address issues ranging from poverty and unemployment, to disease and environmental degradation, while, at the same time, ensuring their approach is inclusive and, as far as possible, transparent.
In response to these challenges, the New Public Management movement – characterised by its emphasis on concepts such as flat hierarchies, customer orientation, contracting out and market-based governance – has been widely embraced. The new generation of ICTs—big data and AI—have been applied to automatic decision-making within the public services, a development which has far-reaching effects on public administration reform.
To help meet the resulting demand for graduates with the skills required to ensure coordinated, effective and accountable administration, Lingnan University will launch its new Master of Social Sciences in Comparative Public Administration (MSocScCPA) programme in September 2023.
Lingnan’s new programme
Students on the one year full-time or two year part-time MSocScCPA programme will analyse development, public policy and governance issues, from comparative and international perspectives. They will also have the opportunity to attend international symposium and conferences, conduct research projects and attend field trips and seminars.
The programme culminates in the Comparative Public Administration Capstone Project and Symposium Presentation course, which will enable students to apply what they’ve learned to the analysis of real-world public policy and developmental issues.
The MSocScCPA builds upon the Master of Cities and Governance, Master of China and Regional Studies, and the Doctor of Policy Studies programmes, which have been successfully launched by Lingnan’s School of Graduate Studies and Institute of Policy Studies.
Since Lingnan has forged a network of international and national collaborative partnerships, programme participants will hear from a range of renowned speakers from across the globe, and connect with a number of policy studies institutes within the region.
Opportunities for programme graduates in the GBA
One of Lingnan’s key development strategies is to strengthen the university’s connection with China’s Greater Bay Area (GBA), a world-class, city cluster comprising Hong Kong, Macau, and nine other cities in Guangdong Province. Despite the region’s vast potential, the varying levels of economic and social development across the GBA pose challenges for cross-regional public administration in fields such as environmental governance, social mobility, and global risk resilience. In addition, the need to adopt a more humane approach to public administration, and pay greater attention to the grievances of the citizenry, has also become more pressing. Resolving these difficulties, and meeting such needs, will require an end to the opaqueness and the secrecy which has formerly surrounded government activities, and the embracing of accountability and transparency, instead.
Within the GBA, MSocScCPA graduates will be well equipped to meet the rapidly growing demand in both the public and private sectors – in government departments, and in bodies such as NGOs, consultancies and think tanks – where they can work to promote speedy development along with good governance.
Please click here for details of MSocScCPA.