MPA项目的课程设置来说，一般包含三方面的内容：
（1）核心课程，相当于我们所说的专业基础课，一般包括公共管理和政策研究的理论基础、分析方法及技巧；
（2）选修课，即学生根据自己的专业领域或主攻方向以及个人需要与兴趣而选择一组课程（一般围绕公共管理和公共政策的实质领域选择主攻方向）；
（3）公共管理和公共政策的实习与研讨班，主要是让学生将所学知识和方法运用于公共管理与公共政策实践中，获得在真实的管理世界中分析、解决问题和实际管理的能力。
下面是雪城大学（全美MPA专业第一）的核心课程：
Public Affairs Colloquium,
Public Budgeting,
Public Administration and Democracy,
Public Organizations and Management,
Managerial Economics for Public Managers,
Introduction to Statistics,
Quantitative Analysis,
MPA Workshop,
Executive Leadership and Policy Politics.
另附英国伦敦政治经济学院的MPP/MPA的课程：
核心课程：
Approaches and Issues in Public Policy and Administration
Public Management Theory and Doctrine* or Comparative Public Policy Change* or The Politics of Policy Advice*
Introduction to Quantitative Analysis* or Applied Regression Analysis*
选修课程：
Accountability, Organisations and Risk Management*Public Management of Development*Public Management: Theory and Doctrine*Public Management: a Strategic Approach*Citizens' Political Behaviour in Europe: Elections, Public Opinion and Identities*Public Budgeting and Financial ManagementIntroduction to Regulation*Philosophy and Public Policy*Social and Political Aspects of Regional and Urban Planning*Environmental Problems and Development Interventions*Global Environmental Governance*Systems Thinking and Strategic Modelling*Policy-Making in the European Union*European Models of Capitalism*Network Regulation*States and Markets*Public Policy Responses to International Migration*Legislative Politics: US* †Politics of Economic Policy*Legislative Politics: European Parliament* †The Politics of Inequality and Redistribution*Media and Communication Regulation*The Governance of Welfare: The Nation State and the European Union*Contemporary Issues in European Social Policy*Behavioural Public Policy*Institutions in the Global Economy*Politics of Social Policy: Welfare and Work in Comparative Perspective*
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