Curriculum
The Master of Public Policy Program provides the basic structure for study while allowing students flexibility to tailor their educational experience.
The program consists of 42/43 credit hours of coursework and includes the following elements:
- Core Curriculum Requirements
- Policy Related Electives
- Master’s Project or Thesis
For those who do not plan to complete the MPP at this time UMD also offers a Professional Studies Certificate in Public Policy.
MPP PROGRAM OF STUDY (42-43 credit hours)
The program requires 21 hours of required core courses, and either
- (A) 21 credit hours of policy-related electives and a 1 credit hour project writing course, or
- (B) 15 credit hours of policy-related electives and a thesis (6 credit hours).
Core Curriculum Requirements (21-22 credit hours)
Core courses provide students with perspectives of several disciplines on how to evaluate and improve public policy. The premise is that we should be aiming at good public policy, attained by understanding both the policy making process and the methods of studying policy, particularly the tools of economics and political science, ethics and philosophy, cost-benefit analysis, policy evaluation, and rational choice theory, among others.