Executive Master in Public Policy2022-07-25T14:06:43+00:00

Executive MA

Objectives

Executive Master is first of its kind inter-disciplinary and analytical degree program in Public Policy. Innovatively designed to cater to professional needs of mid-career leaders in the public, nonprofit and private sectors, the program integrates domestic requirements, philosophical dimensions and futuristic vision to promote leadership qualities, inculcate ethical values and develop analytical expertise in formulating citizen friendly policies and in providing efficient and transparent governance.

Who It’s For

Executive Master is a one year evening program tailored for mid-career working professionals interested in public policy and governance: public servants, development professionals, journalists, private sector professionals. It is a program for diligent and goal driven mid-career professionals who have a certain element of ambition and aspiration. If you like to be challenged, want to think outside the box, explore new career avenues, and develop needed analytical skills for the 21st century to enhance your career and understand the world around you, then this is the program for you.

Class Profile

10

Average Class Size

29%

Women

26%

Public Servants

8 years

Average Work Experience

Why Do It

Exec MA is designed to bring together policy relevant research, teaching, training and professional skill development under one umbrella. It aspires to open new avenues and is built around two fundamental concepts:

  1. To pass on skills and knowledge based education ensuring that students can conduct credible and policy relevant research.
  2. To host seminars/webinars, workshops, policy dialogues and academic debates as a part of the teaching process to instill leadership qualities among students, thus serving an exceptional dual purpose.
“CPPG provided an environment to think critically about an issue and analyze it layer after layer. I leant to present my research in an understandable manner to the decision makers. Dr Saeed Shafqat along with his team is setting the tone of policy making in a subtle manner and linking CPPG alumni with global policy centres. Learning at CPPG helped me accept the most challenging responsibilities in the public sector”.
WAQAR UDDIN BUTT, Project Director, Punjab Green Development Program, Environment Protection Department, Punjab
EXEC. MASTER BATCH 2016 – 17 (HOLDER OF SHAFQAT MEDAL)
“If it was not for the training and guidance, I received at CPPG, I do not believe I would be where I am in my career right now. The environment at CPPG helped me explore the interests that eventually led me down the path of becoming an academic. The support and mentorship that faculty and staff provided made it possible for me to thrive as a student and seek out a new challenge that I genuinely enjoy doing. Thanks, CPPG!”
ADNAN RASOOL, Assistant Professor (Tenure Track) of Political Science at the University of Tennessee at Martin
EXEC. MASTER BATCH 2010 - 11
“Master’s in public policy experience has certainly added to my ability to evaluate and understand ideas, think critically, argue concepts, resolve conflict and sometimes, simply agreeing. I also believe that getting this degree has helped provide me the ability to see the “bigger picture” associated with the programs I support. I found most beneficial/rewarding about the program in my career were the classroom assignments that involved working on problem solving scenarios. By using my critical thinking skills, I was able to gather and evaluate the information given to arrive at the best possible solution. This has made me a stronger employee and smarter decision-maker”.
SARA PERVAIZ CHUGHTAI, EXEC. MASTER BATCH 2014 - 15
“I feel no hesitation to say as an accomplished practitioner in the field of youth development and youth policy that the CPPG has provided me with academic leverage and considerations for critical thinking in youth policy analysis. It has given me an advantage to complement practices with policy analysis competencies. I would encourage those interested in policy to join the CPPG that is led by a distinguished name in Pakistani social sciences and policy analysis. It would make a difference!”
IQBAL HAIDER BUTT , Youth and Social Development Consultant
EXEC. MASTER BATCH 2018 – 19 (HOLDER OF SHAFQAT MEDAL)
“The Executive Masters in Public Policy enabled me to draw decisions on evidence through critical thinking and analytical skills. The study here empowers one to combine theory and tools to formulate responses to complex issues in a deeper and more thoughtful way across a multitude of fields mirroring real life work challenges. It is not just the syllabus, or the instructors but you get to interact with the talented pool of executive students that come from a variety of professional backgrounds”.
EIRIJ RUBBANI, Deputy Director Special Sector Audit (Citizen Participatory Audit, Ethics Audit, Forensic Audit and Audit Management Information System)
EXEC. MASTER BATCH 2015 – 16 (HOLDER OF SHAFQAT MEDAL)
“I had joined the program because I felt that the world was changing fast with particular reference to policy formulation paradigms and implementation mechanisms. The courses I attended gave new strength and enthusiasm to my career and prepared me for future growth, while the program changed my concepts with regard to policy formulation, policy planning and policy implementation”.
HASSAN IQBAL, Information Commissioner (II) – Govt. of the Punjab
EXEC. MASTER BATCH 2012 – 13 (HOLDER OF SHAFQAT MEDAL)

Executive MA is a one year professional degree program comprising of two full semesters of course work, followed by a writing course in the summer which supports participants to complete their short thesis.
The course curriculum comprises of four types of courses. Participants take four Required courses for grounding in concepts and skills that are essential for today’s policy leaders. Further, a section of the curriculum is dedicated to Skills Development courses to draw attention to communication, analytical and technological skills. Lastly as an advanced degree in social sciences, the program imparts theoretical grounding and problem solving skills in two concentration areas: Governance, Democracy, and Institution Building (GDIB) and Environment, Demography, and Urban Change (EDUC). A supervised Research Thesis under active faculty guidance on an actionable policy issue provides the opportunity to develop a policy paper to re-design public policy and influence the policy process of your interest and passion.

Required

Required Courses comprise of essentials of Public Policy for working professionals. This includes: an introduction to public policy to familiarize participants with general approaches to ask questions in the policy world and answer them by using appropriate research methods; instill basic skills in economics, statistics and accounting which are required for policy analysis; and lastly acquaint participants with concepts and tools related to the use of technology in development and governance.      

Skills Development 

Skills development is essential for professionals to excel in their respective fields as thorough analytical skills are required to understand a policy problem. This is can be done through various methods whether quantitative or qualitative, and also different approaches that may either include power dynamics or concentrate on a technocratic cost-benefit analysis. Further, effective writing and communication skills are needed to both formulate a policy position as well as lobby for it through a well thought out communications strategy. Lastly modern era is increasingly defined by the use of technology both in development and governance, making technology regulation and application a critical feature of the policy domain.      

Governance, Democracy, and Institution Building (GDIB)

Skills development is essential for professionals to excel in their respective fields as thorough analytical skills are required to understand a policy problem. This is can be done through various methods whether quantitative or qualitative, and also different approaches that may either include power dynamics or concentrate on a technocratic cost-benefit analysis. Further, effective writing and communication skills are needed to both formulate a policy position as well as lobby for it through a well thought out communications strategy. Lastly modern era is increasingly defined by the use of technology both in development and governance, making technology regulation and application a critical feature of the policy domain.  

Environment, Demography, and Urban Change (EDUC)

Environmental decay, rising population and accelerated urbanization is visible in Pakistan. Demographic change is phenomenal. The country has a population of 170 million and growing at a rate of 2% per annum. Forecasts of demographic transition in Pakistan raise concerns about citizen security, environmental decay, challenges of urban governance, energy self-sufficiency, water conservation, employment generation, peace, security, governance and the list is unending. Population is a human resource that demands investment in improving its quality, productivity and skills.

The concentration will explore the nexus between environment, urban change and demographic transition, specifically exploring questions in population strategy that helps in managing demographic transition and is not simply a Family planning/Reproductive health issue but a core national issue, which has implications for the very survival and efficient functioning of the Pakistani nation-state.

  • Completion of two semesters of course work
  • Completion of writing course
  • Completion of Research Thesis

Centre for Language Development (CLD) at FC College offers personalized sessions to improve writing and analytical skills in English language. A participant may take their assignment along with feedback to the CLD to work with a language instructor to improve their grammar, sentence structure and overall writing style.

  • 16 years of education from an HEC recognized university
  • Degree in Social Sciences, Humanities, Sciences or Management
  • 4+ years of work experience   
  • Clearance of Entrance Test
  • Interview Selection by CPPG Selection Committee

Sample Program

Fall
601 Introduction to Public Policy
602 Introduction to Statistics, Economics & Accounting Concepts
603 ICT Concepts & Tools for Policy Makers
606 Policy Analysis: Policy Design
Spring
604 Research Methods
610 Cost Benefit Analysis
650 Federalism & Decentralization
655 Political Economy of Public Policy
Summer
605 Writing & Communicating Public Policy
698 Research Thesis

FAQ

Involvement of how many days per week?2022-01-04T10:51:02+00:00

Classes are held four days a week while Seminars are held on alternate weeks which are mandatory for all students to attend.

What are the class timings?2022-01-04T10:49:40+00:00

This program has been specifically designed keeping in view the needs of working professionals. Therefore class timings are 5 – 8 pm.

What is the duration of the program?2022-01-04T10:48:27+00:00

Executive Masters in Public Policy is a one year program comprising of three semesters. Students work on their research thesis in the third semester.

Course Concentrations

Required

In the real world the critical question that we try to address is: “what is to be done?” This course would aim to provide participants with general approaches for asking and answering that question in the policy world.  It would consider several key components of the policy analysis process: define problems, select criteria to evaluate alternatives, develop policy design in alternatives and examine the trade offs. Considerable time would be spent in constructing policy design and selecting criteria for evaluation. Participants would be encouraged to explore different components of the policy analysis framework. The participants would be expected to write a position paper at the end of the course.

This course is designed to provide basic statistical, economic and accounting knowledge to course participants, and will act as a    pre-requisite for all higher level economic and analytical courses. It will cover statistical concepts from both descriptive statistics (including measures of central tendency and variability, probability, correlation and causality), and inferential statistics (including sampling, hypothesis testing and regression analysis); economic concepts including GDP, growth rate, factors of production, capital accumulation, economic productivity and human capital, and open economy among others; and financial accounting concepts including analysis of income statement, balance sheet and cash flows (this does not entail bookkeeping techniques). It also imparts hands-on training for statistical and analytical calculations through the use of computing software. The course does not require prior background in any of these fields, but it is fast paced using discussions based on economic and financial articles to explore these concepts.

The purpose of the course is to inform and train students in various information and communication technologies (ICT) at play in both the public and private sectors. The first part of the course will provide hands on skills to participants in commonly used technologies (word processing in English; Urdu, if time permits), document packaging, spreadsheets, presentation, correspondence and research) for improving personal as well as institutional productivity. Instruction will be lab oriented and exercises will include practical work examples. The second part of the course will explore Management Information Systems and their evolution from standalone to enterprise systems. The participants will explore the project lifecycle of MIS using project management and process analysis and gain an understanding of how the internet and mobile telephony has created opportunities for governance and development.

The primary objective of the course is to familiarize the participants with the basic tools to conduct research. The thrust would be on qualitative aspects of research and report writing. It will expose the participants to such basic issues; how does one differentiate between facts and values, knowledge and reason? How does one go about identifying archival and non-archival sources? What are the variables; independent, dependent, spurious — and what is a hypothesis? How do you identify a research problem? What is the difference among, descriptive, relational and causal research. How does one differentiate between conceptual and operational definitions? How do you design a research proposal? How relevant is theory in developing a research proposal? How do you prepare a questionnaire? What is the difference between open ended questions and multiple questions? What are the interviewing techniques? What are the structured and participant unstructured questionnaires? And how focus group discussions are conducted? The participants would be exposed to various methods of research; case study, participant observation, content analysis, comparative studies to develop research design and submitting a research proposal.

Skills development

Thoughtful and reasoned analysis of Public policy issues is necessary but not a sufficient requirement for implementing “good public policy.” The course aims to develop professional public policy writing skills and familiarize students with the major written formats used through out the policy making process; for example, from background/white papers to legislative histories and one pagers for executive and political decision makers. The course will also concentrate on communication through short paper exercises in writing, speaking and debating, to inculcate confidence among participants to express themselves and explain complex policy ideas in clear, concise and simple language. It will also examine real world cases on how some policies have succeeded while others failed. Participants would be encouraged to take a position on how the opponents and proponents of these policies articulated their arguments and to write memos, conduct meetings, work in groups, and make presentations and to articulate their position in print and electronic media.

This would be an advance level course — a follow-up of ‘Introduction to Public Policy.’ It would provide a survey of the broad field of public policy both as an academic discipline and as a field of practice. The course would discuss and analyze the required public policy frameworks. The ongoing debates about motivational and institutional foundations of public policy would be explored. The course would cover a wide range from defining policy problems to setting up of the policy agendas; and to the issues around delivery, implementation and evaluation of public policies. The course would draw on case study material from different policy areas and present perspectives on how concepts and theories shape public policy. The participants would be required to write a paper to demonstrate that they understand concepts, decision making and can deliberate upon policy options.

The course focuses on the theory and practice of cost-benefit analysis. The purpose of the course is to inculcate skills for evaluating public projects and policies. Students will learn to differentiate between economic and financial evaluation by including economic concepts of opportunity costs, social costs and shadow exchange rates in the analysis, thereafter deliberating on the main challenges involved in accurately measuring them. The first part of the course will concentrate on theory and concepts, while the second part will evaluate existing public projects through a case study method. The course requires an understanding of economic concepts.

This course will build upon the ‘ICT Concepts and Tools for Policy Makers’ course to discuss how technology’s use in day to day tasks such as letter writing, correspondence, presentations, research, process work flow and information management can be used  to improve departmental productivity. The course will discuss in detail concepts of automation, process re-engineering and their organizational implication. The course will equip student to reassess organizational processes in view of available technologies using case studies of government departments and explore ways of transforming bureaucracies into citizen services providing organizations. The course will also discuss technology project life-cycle to prepare students to manage technology projects for their organization.

With ‘Introduction To Statistics, Economics and Accounting Concepts’ as a pre-requisite, this course will cover basic regression models, research design, data collection, data processing and presentation of research findings. The course will explore research papers to discuss how they inform public policy design, evaluation, monitoring, and administration. By end of the course, students should be able to comprehend quantitative research papers and work with statisticians to devise a quantitative research design.

This course will provide a review of literature, concepts and theories that establish linkage between demographic change in states and societies and how that helps in promoting security and in reducing conflict. The course will make a comparative analysis of countries where demographic transition, its successful or unsuccessful management, has either led to reducing conflict and promoting peace or has intensified conflict, civil strife and aggravated human security. What can states and societies learn from the experience of those who have successfully managed public policies to reduce conflict, improve quality of manpower, increase life expectancy and improve security demographic?

The course is designed to provide the student with specific responsibilities related to the analysis and evaluation of different approaches to urban growth, environment and security globally and in South Asia with particular emphasis on urban Pakistan. Urban growth is changing life styles in the states of South Asia; it is also affecting environment and human security in the region. This course will seek to understand and explain the linkages between accelerated urbanization in South Asia and the impact it is having on environment and human security. It will make a comparative analysis of urban and environment policies of South Asian states, particularly India and Pakistan. How these processes and policies are impacting the condition of human security? Besides looking at issues in urban design and development, environment and sustainability, the course will also focus on the ensuing relationship among economics, social and political factors. Upon completion of the course, students would be required to submit a report on urban planning and policy utilizing technical and knowledge based approaches towards urban issues, population growth, environment and security.

This course proposes to explore basic of concepts and theories, policies and laws on gender; how gender, culture and religion reinforce gender identities. Critical examination of changing organization of gender relations in regard to education, marriage, family and fertility, reproductive health, migration and trafficking of women and children.

Governance, Democracy, and Institution Building (GDIB)

Federation- province relations are of critical importance in defining the parameters of representative government in Pakistan. Drawing upon the insights from the Federalist Papers of the US, this course will examine the theories of federalism and relate these to the experience of Pakistan’s constitutional development. Decentralization, fiscal and cultural autonomy, how is it changing the patterns of multilayered governance — local, provincial and federal? The course will cut across the disciplines of political science and economics while theorizing the issues of power-sharing and autonomy and it will focus on specific cases providing insight into public policy.

This course will examine the relationship between political institutions and policy process. It will explore the formal and informal processes, and their relationship to intuitions. Which comes first: individuals, institutions or policy process? How decisions are made in the political parties, and how do they effect the political institutions — parliament, judiciary, media and the armed forces? What pressures do governments respond to when they make decisions about development policies? What is actually going on inside the political parties when key decisions are taken? Why does “slippage” often occur during implementation? How are policy reform initiatives introduced and sustained? How can understanding the political aspects of decision-making and implementation improve policy design and sustainability? Does civil society play any role in shaping the policy agenda of a country? How can the civil society be encouraged to influence the policy process and reshape the political institutions to meet citizens’ needs? By raising these questions, this course attempts to analyze the political economy surrounding major policies for economic and social development in developing, newly industrialized, and transitional countries-with a special emphasis on Pakistan. The course focuses on how political institutions affect the pillars of the state-the legislature, the executive, the judiciary and the army impact policy change and the roles that various interests and actors play in promoting or hindering reform initiatives. It also focuses on how power relationships are shaped by political institutions and processes and seeks to identify the non-state actors, such as the media and the NGOs, and their linkages with the political decision-making. Its purpose is to develop skills of political and bureaucratic analysis that can improve policy analysis, policy decision-making, and policy implementation.

This course will start with the assumption that we need to rethink Pakistan and South Asia — for too long policy makers have concentrated on the State and underrated or ignored cultural diversity. Multicultural society demands a change in approach, style and mode of governance and management. Increasingly the challenge in the region and in Pakistan is; how well the nations’ professionals, bureaucrats and political leaders can communicate with and manage a people who are linguistically and culturally diverse. The course will have three parts: first, it will discuss the conceptual framework for inter-cultural communications; second, it will encourage to celebrate and explore the traditions of other regions and weave together the best practices for governance and management from cultural sources; third, the course will bring together theories, techniques and policy relevant materials learned from other courses to have better insight on issues of governance and management.

This course will be conducted like a seminar where participants will be encouraged to situate and test their Leadership and Policy Skills. It is designed to help them think about skills needed for public service leadership, policymaking at senior most levels and in managing change – succession at the societal or institutional level is a challenging task for individuals in leadership positions. Through readings, discussions, case studies, simulations, and self-assessment exercises, the seminar will explore various aspects of leadership and policymaking within new, changing and mature organizations. The seminar aims to introduce mid-career participants to academic approaches on leadership and governance while examining the role that leadership plays in effectively managing, designing or re-shaping through inducing change in organizations. It will also help students to get to know their peers and refine their learning objectives for the year.

The course will explore the Organizational theories and strategies of Human Resource Management while discussing the ground realities of the public sector. It will explore in detail the role of organizational culture, job roles & responsibilities based organizational structure, competency based organizational skill set, performance based career planning, training based organizational improvement, and an incentive based compensation structure. Students will explore defining immediate and future Human Resource strategy and associated budgetary requirements for the organization.

This course aims to apply a political economy framework to encourage participants understand and analyze processes of public policy formulation and reform. A political economy framework that identifies interests, objectives, power considerations, strategic options and impact by each party in different institutional setups will be developed. The course will rely on Game Theory to formulate and promote interactive decision making among the participants. The course will have heavy application content and examples of policy reforms will be global and include; democratic economies, autocratic economies, transition economies; reforms in health, environment, transportation, trade and agriculture sectors.

Environment, Demography, and Urban Change (EDUC)

Environmental degradation and global warming are issues of concern for societies and states worldwide. This course would build on the theoretical and empirical underpinnings of the Environmental science and policy. It will make a critical evaluation of national and international laws and policies on environment. The participants would be encouraged to choose an environmental policy of interest, investigate its legislative history, examine the environmental laws, institutions that implement and regulate these. It will also explore how societies and states are responding to the concerns of international community on environmental issues and what can be done to inform and educate citizens so that debate on environment facilitates a judicious environment policy.

The extent of formality is linked to modernity, and maturity of the state sector. But a large percentage of the population in developing countries, predominantly the poor work in the informal sector with little or no relevance to regulations, labour laws, retirement benefits and direct taxation. This course will explore the informality debate moving beyond the economic to include socio-cultural domains of informality including knowledge generation, language, business dealings, education and training. The course will look at the continuum between the formal and informal variety, their linkages and relationship while exploring policy options for the informal sector in light of their impact on the poor.

This course will provide a review of literature, concepts and theories that establish linkage between demographic change in states and societies and how that helps in promoting security and in reducing conflict. The course will make a comparative analysis of countries where demographic transition, its successful or unsuccessful management, has either led to reducing conflict and promoting peace or has intensified conflict, civil strife and aggravated human security. What can states and societies learn from the experience of those who have successfully managed public policies to reduce conflict, improve quality of manpower, increase life expectancy and improve security demographic?

The course is designed to provide the student with specific responsibilities related to the analysis and evaluation of different approaches to urban growth, environment and security globally and in South Asia with particular emphasis on urban Pakistan. Urban growth is changing life styles in the states of South Asia; it is also affecting environment and human security in the region. This course will seek to understand and explain the linkages between accelerated urbanization in South Asia and the impact it is having on environment and human security. It will make a comparative analysis of urban and environment policies of South Asian states, particularly India and Pakistan. How these processes and policies are impacting the condition of human security? Besides looking at issues in urban design and development, environment and sustainability, the course will also focus on the ensuing relationship among economics, social and political factors. Upon completion of the course, students would be required to submit a report on urban planning and policy utilizing technical and knowledge based approaches towards urban issues, population growth, environment and security.

This course proposes to explore basic of concepts and theories, policies and laws on gender; how gender, culture and religion reinforce gender identities. Critical examination of changing organization of gender relations in regard to education, marriage, family and fertility, reproductive health, migration and trafficking of women and children.

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