Master of Public Administration Online
Presidio Graduate School
Key Information
Campus location
San Francisco, USA
Languages
English
Study format
Distance learning
Duration
2 years
Pace
Part time
Tuition fees
USD 800 / per credit
Application deadline
Request Info
Earliest start date
Request Info
Introduction
The Master of Public Administration (MPA) program is a dynamic, forward-looking, and transformative degree that enables graduates to drive change in the social and public sectors.
MPA Program Overview
Today’s urgent and complex economic, social, and environmental realities require a new type of leadership. Our public leaders must rethink policy and administration and engage business, nonprofit, and community constituencies like never before. We have designed this cutting-edge program to empower you with the mindset, tools, and network to address our most pressing sustainability and social justice challenges and opportunities. Built for changemakers seeking to build solutions, our program will prepare you to lead in the public and nonprofit sectors with boldness and vision.
Our public administration degree is unique because we integrate principles of sustainable and equitable solutions into all coursework and empower students to think and act holistically. Whether we’re discussing climate change, racial justice, healthcare, or urban planning, for example, you’ll learn how to apply a powerful systems-thinking lens to understand how to create true, lasting impact. You’ll emerge with the confidence and competencies to transform policy, program implementation, and public service that creates equitable social change.
Online MPA Program Format
Presidio’s online MPA program is a 45-credit curriculum with 10 required courses and a Capstone that center pressing, real-world issues like climate change, inequity, and public health. The part-time program (two courses per trimester) can be completed in 24 months, and the structure is supportive to professionals who need to balance multiple responsibilities.
You’ll experience your online courses in both synchronous and asynchronous learning environments, interacting with your professor, your peers, and critical information. You’ll benefit from the flexibility of interactive distance learning in an environment that employs cutting-edge, best-practice online learning techniques that engage and empower you to create communities, grow your network, tailor your learning experiences, and focus your passions.
In your MPA program, we utilize student-centered, inquiry-based experiential learning and case studies. You’ll master the ability to analyze real-world challenges like climate change, inequity, and public health effectively and be able to apply these learnings in real time. You’ll also benefit from personalized mentorship and career coaching throughout your program in order to prepare for an exciting change-making career in the social sector.
Please consult this State Authorizations web page to see if we are currently enrolling students from your state.
Admissions
Scholarships and Funding
Curriculum
The MPA curriculum rests on three program foundations that empower students to serve the public with empathetic leadership, build effective public policy and administration, and create social systems for justice and well-being.
Our Approach
These foundations are embedded within our program design to ensure our curriculum prepares students to reimagine and redesign equitable systems, policies, and organizations.
Graduates will leave prepared to innovate within the social sector on critical issues like climate change, urban planning, and racial inequities. They will be equipped to work with diverse stakeholders and community members to collaborate and coalesce around equitable solutions. They will build a deep understanding of the strengths and current challenges facing democracies around the world, and they will develop the hard skills needed to reinforce policies and structures that will lead us forward.
We’ve thoughtfully designed our program to equip graduates to provide a different kind of leadership in the public and nonprofit sphere, and we welcome our first inaugural cohorts to join us in reimagining what is possible.
MPA Curriculum
The Master of Public Administration (MPA) program at Presidio Graduate School consists of 10 required courses and a Capstone. Courses are designed to build on and integrate with coursework completed throughout the program. The curriculum is designed around three program foundations.
First Term
- MPA6111: Leadership in a Social Context
- MPA6121: Systems Thinking for Social and Environmental Solutions
Second Term
- MPA6211: Effective Communication Strategies
- MPA6221: Applied Analytics
Third Term
- MPA6311: Research Methods and Policy Evaluation
- MPA6321: Public Economics
Fourth Term
- MPA6411: Policy-Making for Sustainability and Social Justice
- MPA6421: Public Budgeting and Finance
Fifth Term
- MPA6511: Managing Public Organizations
- MPA6521: Technology and Policy
Sixth Term
MPA6531 (1-unit) and MPA6611: Capstone