Faculty of Arts Renewal Strategy

The Faculty of Arts Renewal Strategy

2008

Graduate Programs


Arts Faculty ‘Plus Two’ Degrees

Curriculum Development Proposals for MPA and MLA


DRAFT FOR DISCUSSION



Master of Public Affairs


The MPA will provide graduates from any bachelor’s degree with professional training and experiences that will facilitate their transition to professional careers in the public and private spheres. The program will blend theory and practice and is aimed at instilling in graduates the knowledge and skills needed to work in complex organisations in the public and private sector.


Intended market: The MPA is New Gen ‘Plus Two’ coursework program aimed primarily at the ‘domestic career starters’ market who are seeking graduate study to enter the job market, to round off their undergrad degrees, or as a pre-requisite to career entry (as identified in the Beaton report).

Examples of successful MPA programs can be found at most major US universities, the LSE, Sciences Po in Paris, and at the Lee Kuan Yew School in Singapore.


Course structure: The MPA program is normally 200 points, with reductions for relevant professional/leadership experience and/or Honours study. Subject exemptions due to reductions to be determined on an individual basis, depending on student’s prior learning and experience. For instance, students with an Honours degree will be exempt from the thesis option in the Capstone.

Compulsory subjects (112.5 to 150 points)

Electives (50 to 87.5 pts)


Course duration: Through 12 month calendaring of subjects, including intensives in Jan/Feb, July, September, November/December, it will be possible to do 150 points program in a calendar year, leaving the capstone and 1-2 electives to be completed in a final semester.


Subject offerings

4 Core subjects

Leadership (25 points): This subject enables students to develop an understanding of effective leadership practices and develop their own leadership skills, through a mixture of theory and practice. The subject will help students to identify their own leadership style, by improving their self-awareness and understanding of how they relate to others. The subject will provide students with tools and strategies to help them become more effective leaders in professional situations.

Professional Communication (12.5 points): In this subject, students will learn key skills for effective communication in public and professional contexts appropriate to different audiences and purposes, through a blend of theory and practice. Students will learn about the role of oral and written communications in professional settings, and will learn how to write and present a memos, letters, media releases, project reports and public relations/marketing documents.

Public Management (12.5 pts): This subject provides a broad introduction to the theory and practice of management practice in public organisations. Through the use of theory and practical case studies, students will learn skills and techniques for dealing with management issues.

Finance and Budgeting (12.5 pts): This subject introduces students to the fundamentals of financial management and budgeting. Students will learn about financial transactions and their role in management, and about the role of budgets as a planning tool for organisations. The subject combines theory and practice, and students will learn how to prepare and evaluate budgets.

Capstone (choose one)

Professional Tools (students must choose 25 to 50 pts)

Electives (50 to 87.5 pts)
(n.b. this is an indicative list only that draws on existing expertise and subjects)



Master of Liberal Arts


The MLA a New Gen ‘Plus Two’ coursework program that will provide graduates from any bachelor’s degree with an opportunity to further develop their intellectual and critical skills and their creativity through an exploration of the humanities and social sciences and they way in which they inform the world around us. The MLA is designed primarily for students who are seeking to deepen and broaden their knowledge while also broadening their skills and research expertise, either as a pathway to employment or to further graduate study at the PhD level.


Intended market: The MLA is aimed primarily at the ‘self developers’ seeking to study for personal interest and development, ‘career researchers’ who wish to pursue a career in research or academia, and to those students with a good three year degree who might not have qualified for Honours.

Examples of successful MLA programs can be found at Stanford, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, Harvard and Chicago.


Course structure: The MLA program is normally 200 points, with reductions for relevant professional/leadership experience and/or Honours study. Subject exemptions will be determined on an individual basis, depending on student’s prior learning and experience.

Compulsory subjects (100 to 137.5 pts)

Electives (62.5 to 100 pts)

A disciplinary or interdisciplinary (ID) concentration is constituted by 75 points of study in subjects that are agreed to constitute a concentration of study, including the foundation subjects and the capstone. Thus it is possible for every student enrolled in the two year program to acquire up to two disciplinary or ID concentrations in their MLA, even if they take up to 50 points of professional/research tools. Note, however, it is not compulsory for students to undertake disciplinary or ID concentrations.


Course duration: Through 12 month calendaring of subjects, including intensives in Jan/Feb, July, September, November/December, it will be possible to do 150 points program in a calendar year, leaving the capstone and 1-2 electives to be completed in a final semester.


Subject offerings:

Foundations of the Liberal Arts (25 pts): An exploration of the philosophical, political, artistic and literary developments that form the western cultural traditions and the foundation of the liberal arts, beginning with the Antiquity and finishing with the post-Enlightenment period. The subject will also explore non-western traditions including Islamic, Hinduism and Buddhism. (Stanford is the model for this subject)

Introduction to Interdisciplinary Study (25 pts): This subject explores a single issue and how it is approached by different disciplines in the humanities and social sciences (e.g. plague, food, sustainability, war, the state). (Stanford again provides the model).

Professional/Research Tools (25 to 50 points): Study of a Language, Graduate Research Methods, Scholarly Writing, *Designing a Research Proposal, or one of the MPA electives (n.b. Designing a Research Proposal is compulsory for thesis writers)

Capstone: A thesis (37.5 points) or a Research Paper (25 points)

Electives (62.5 to 100 points): This will include purpose-designed electives exclusive to the MLA. We will establish a process to invite disciplines to submit proposals for core electives in the MLA. Each discipline will be invited to submit proposals for one elective that is an ‘advanced introduction’ and therefore suitable for students without prior knowledge in the subject area, as well as an elective which will be suitable for students with prior knowledge of the subject area. Subject areas may be disciplinary such as History or Anthropology, or they may be Interdisciplinary such as Islamic or Asian Studies.




Ann Capling
Associate Dean, Graduate Studies
Faculty of Arts
26 March 2008


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