Whether it’s setting the agenda on renewable energy, considering mass vaccination programmes, cutting cybercrime or determining alcohol pricing policy, governments face challenges that require measured approaches based on rigorous analysis of the evidence. Now, a new practice-oriented Master’s in Public Policy (MPP) launched by the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge aims to encourage long-term thinking and better strategic planning among policy professionals.
The course, which launched yesterday (29 November) at an event at the Institute for Government in London and will take its first students in October 2013, draws on teaching from across the University as well as from professionals in the policy world.
Director of the MPP, David Howarth, a Reader in the Department of Land Economy and a former Member of Parliament, explained how the course aims to help policy making: “It’s important to make sure that enough people in the political system respect evidence and rational argument. The course presents a series of policy problems from a set of disparate disciplines – historical, scientific, political, economic, ethical, technological, legal and managerial. Policy makers can’t be experts in all areas but we aim to equip them with the broad range of skills needed to understand the types of evidence there is and the questions to ask.”
Read the full story
Image: Alison Richard Building
University of Cambridge
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
___________________________________